Matter racconta la storia dei 36 steward di Wikipedia, 36 figure con ruolo di “super-user” che servono a intervenire e risolvere dispute, impedire i vandalismi e che in genere hanno diritto e ultima parola su qualsiasi modifica. Provengono da diverse parti del globo, in media conoscono 3.6 lingue a testa, e — per lo spirito egualitario del progetto — sono figure quasi anonime, delle quali si sa pochissimo, che collaborano solo per passione — dietro a nessun compenso.
Wikimedia, the “movement” that includes Wikipedia and all the other Wiki-things, shouldn’t really exist. Its basic operating procedure defies our strongest convictions about incentives, work, and community: It is made with no form of payment, has a very thin formal hierarchy, and users lack any real common history other than their participation.
And yet it not only exists, it almost is the Web: Wikipedia is the sixth most popular website in the world, with 22.5 million contributors and 736 million edits in English alone. It’s as if the entire population of Australia (23.6 million) each contributed 30 times.