Wikipedia: Medium & Model of Collaborative PD

Caitlin Byrne, an assistant professor of international relations and a former CPD Research Fellow (2010-2012), and Jane Johnston, an associate professor of media and communication, both at Bond University in Australia, have published a new article. Their piece, "Wikipedia: Medium and Model of Collaborative Public Diplomacy," appeared in the current edition of The Hague Journal of Diplomacy. The authors, recognizing that “public diplomacy is an inherently social endeavour,” evaluate the role of new media platforms in 21st century communications, focusing specifically on Wikipedia as a forum for co-creation, collaboration, and community engagement. The article takes a case-study approach to Wikipedia, unpacking the social platform in three distinct sections: its organizational structure and pedagogy; its functionality as both a crowd-sourced platform for knowledge and for community relations; and finally, the relevance of Wikipedia for public diplomacy.The article, while noting both the limitations of public diplomacy 2.0, broadly, and Wikipedia, specifically, concludes that Wikipedia “supports the current practice of and aspirations for public diplomacy 2.0,” 

The full article is available here. 

Photo by Giulia Forsythe | CC By 2.0