Die minimale Politik der Wikipedia

Wikipedia has become ‘mainstream’ and is one of the major actors in the field of commons based peer production. One question has not been asked yet by cultural studies and internet research: To what extent can Wikipedia’s knowledge coproduction be qualified as being political? Beyond a state and policy centered understanding of politics, the analysis starts where people interact publicly with each other.

To search for politics in new places, in places beyond the protocols of the parliaments, beyond the published opinion in the major newspapers – this is both starting point and aim of the study. It looks into areas where the category of the political becomes blurred. In doing so, the English and German language versions of Wikipedia and its strategies of politicization are explored. Also, a theoretical model of political knowledge cultures is proposed and the idea of creative politics developed