The "wisdom of crowds" argument emphasizes the importance of diversity
in online collaborations, such as open source projects and Wikipedia.
However, decades of research on diversity in offline work groups have
painted an inconclusive picture. On the one hand, the broader range of
insights from a diverse group can lead to improved outcomes. On the
other hand, individual differences can lead to conflict and diminished
performance. We examine the effects of group diversity on the amount
of work accomplished and on member withdrawal behaviors in the context
of WikiProjects. We find that increased diversity in experience with
Wikipedia increases group productivity and decreases member withdrawal
-- up to a point. We also look at the effectiveness of these groups at making collective
decisions in the presence of disagreement. We examined over 100,000
decisions made by small working groups in Wikipedia, and analyzed how
decision quality in these online groups is influenced by four group
composition factors: the size of the group, how members were invited
to the group, the prior experience of group members, and apparent bias
shown by the group administrator. Our findings lead us to
recommendations for designers of social production communities.
