Cooperation technology and timeliness of information: Comparing travelbooks, wikis and online communities

Abstract

Based on an information systems metaphor for virtual communities this paper discusses up-todateness as one crucial factor of travel information quality. Two empirical studies are presented which show that the up-to-dateness of information in travelbooks, wikis and in forum communities does not differ systematically. Based on this empirical evidence we focus on understanding the factors influencing the up-to-dateness of the three media. We propose a framework with three determining factors: 1) the initial up-to-dateness at the time the information is first available for the user 2) the information volatility in a certain domain and 3) the length of the revision cycles. From these factors we hypothesize a) that the initial up-to-dateness is best in travelbooks and worst in forums and b) that the revision cycle is shortest in forums and longest in travelbooks. Since wikis come close the initial up-to-dateness of travelbooks and its revision cycle is almost as short as in forums, we finally argue why we believe wikis to be the most up-to-date medium in the long run.

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