Presentation given at the end of an IOCT-funded project examining social behaviour in the "A Million Penguins" wiki novel.

1. A Million Penguins: Chaos and Order in a WikiNovel Bruce Mason Presented at the Institute of Creative Technologies, De Montfort University 23 April 2008

3. Background - the original question

9. Background – The first line

13. Case Study 1 – Pabruce’s 1 st edit Before Pabruce’s edit I could feel it dancing across my skin: the electricity in the air made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I anticipated the roar of thunderous claps followed by the intense light show . Above, the storm had … My skin crawled as the strychnine kicked in and the acid slowly crept up my spine. Was I ready for eight more hours of this? Harold used to talk about making the grass grow into monsters, or the songs ice crystals made at midnight, but this was normal for me. As normal as anything could be. HA! I could feel it dancing across my skin. Electricity. The very air made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Now I had only to anticipate the roar of thunder that always followed the laser show. Above, the storm had…

17. YellowBanana’s first edit Before After You do not know me. "My" name is not attached it is born of a million syllables and floats like astronauts read on... My long-winded diatribe is over - if you still have the will to live, continue reading...

18. YellowBanana destroying text Before After Hi everyone, my name is sentinel. Here are some principles I am trying to follow 1. as far as possible, try to keep other's work in the text and as intact as possible.. Hi everyone, my name is sentinel. Here are some principles I am trying to follow 1. as far as possible, try to insert the word 'smegma' into the text at random

23. Sentinel68 working behind the scenes

26. Example of a “wiki gnome” at work Before After "I think we should blown them to hell," you replied "I think we should blow them to hell," you replied. "Gladly," you say , as you eagerly swung around in your chair, pressed the red "fire" button, and watched as the Vangorn personnel carrier broke up in space, killing all 150 men aboard. "Gladly," you said , as you eagerly swung around in your chair, pressed the red "fire" button, and watched as the Vangorn personnel carrier broke up in space, killing all 150 men aboard.

33. Did a community write the wiki novel?

34. Amount of wiki edited by type of editor

35. Putting it together