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Social information processing
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<p>Social information processing is "an activity through which collective human actions organize knowledge." It is the creation and processing of information by a group of people. As an academic field Social Information Processing studies the <a href="/facts/Information_processing_(psychology)/cbNEeq06">information processing</a> power of networked <a href="/facts/Social_system/crIBHftt">social systems</a>. </p><p>Typically computer tools are used such as: </p> <ul><li>Authoring tools: e.g., <a href="/facts/Blogs/bb6awu2X">blogs</a></li> <li>Collaboration tools: e.g., <a href="/facts/Wikis/uCKCEzqb">wikis</a>, in particular, e.g., <a href="/facts/Wikipedia/KDRNKWnc">Wikipedia</a></li> <li>Translating tools: <a href="/facts/Duolingo/px8dHhQW">Duolingo</a>, <a href="/facts/ReCAPTCHA/mlH8SurM">reCAPTCHA</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Tag_(metadata)/9CfRkCpI">Tagging</a> systems (social bookmarking): e.g., <a href="/facts/Del.icio.us/J0kjpxfL">del.icio.us</a>, <a href="/facts/Flickr/BvB6ubLr">Flickr</a>, <a href="/facts/CiteULike/w5egSse4">CiteULike</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Social_networking/qFIh6VT1">Social networking</a>: e.g., <a href="/facts/Facebook/0IhXFR6u">Facebook</a>, <a href="/facts/MySpace/dES860Ro">MySpace</a>, <a href="/facts/Essembly/pvSxkgHL">Essembly</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Collaborative_filtering/NhSFypjN">Collaborative filtering</a>: e.g., <a href="/facts/Digg/3nnkjwnn">Digg</a>, the <a href="/facts/Amazon.com/YzUTUVE8">Amazon Product Recommendation System</a>, <a href="/facts/Yahoo!_Answers/sNKzajSh">Yahoo! Answers</a>, <a href="/facts/Urtak/eIMmwwwM">Urtak</a></li></ul> <p>Although computers are often used to facilitate networking and collaboration, they are not required. For example the <i><a href="/facts/Trictionary/3cjBBLh8">Trictionary</a></i> in 1982 was entirely paper and pen based, relying on neighborhood social networks and libraries. The creation of the <i><a href="/facts/Oxford_English_Dictionary/qaxKX8Bc">Oxford English Dictionary</a></i> in the 19th century was done largely with the help of anonymous volunteers organized by help wanted ads in newspapers and slips of paper sent through the postal mail. </p>