Web Based Authorship in the Context of User Generated Content: An Analysis of a Turkish Web Site: Eksi Sozluk

Abstract

Recent developments in the Internet technology have offered various formations online, many of which can be brought together in the frame of Web 2.0. Among these, some applications have put the user on the foreground, placing him/her to a fairly active position. In that manner Eksi Sozluk (www.eksisozluk.com), one of the most popular web sites in Turkey, has attracted attention as an output of online collaboration. 1 It’s described as ‘a collaborative hypertext dictionary based on the concept of web sites built upon user contribution’ (Turkish Daily News Web site, 14th August 2006) enabling its users to express themselves in different ways. Although there are some similar (but different on a larger scale) worldwide web site formations, Eksi Sozluk is still unique with its format. This paper locates Eksi Sozluk among these other forms of online web applications via drawing the frame of its functions. Although it has emerged as a database with the catch-phrase ‘sacred source of knowledge’, it is used in a sense of a blog diary and a web forum at the same time. In this study, attributes of authors are examined for the reason why they contribute to such community by reproducing texts. © Inter-Disciplinary Press 2009