Editor usage of Wikipedia has slowed down considerably in the last three years.

Analysis from the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) reveals that growth in the number of articles posted to, and edits on, Wikipedia rose sharply between 2005 and 2007 before declining between 2007 and 2008 and following a downward trend.

Specifically, since its peak in March 2007 (820,532 active editors), the number of monthly active editors on Wikipedia has been fluctuating between 650,000 and 810,000, with the number declining overall.

According to the folks at PARC the slow-down in Wikipedia contributions reflects a ‘logistic’ growth pattern, where growth slows down due to constraints in the system. What exactly are all the constraints confronting the Wikpedia ‘system’ are not all that clear…

Source: Ed H. Chi, “PART 1: The slowing growth of Wikipedia: some data, models, and explanations,” Augmented Social Cognition, Palo Alto Research Center, July 22, 2009

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