ABSTRACT
Wikipedia is a prime example of social sharing, since it is exclusively run by volunteers who have come together to produce user generated content. What mainly distinguishes Wikipedia from all the other group projects are its far lower transaction costs due to the technology involved. This dramatic lowering of costs applies both from the entire enterprise and from the volunteers who run it. Wikipedia comes into the category of projects which could not even have been considered before the Internet, and specifically before wiki software was conceived. To understand Wikipedia's minimal costs, one might start with Benkler's dissection of communication systems in general. For Wikipedia, or more precisely for the Wikimedia Foundation which operates it, the costs derive almost entirely from the first of these layers, the physical layer. The extreme modularity of Wikipedia means that there are tasks available for all, and no one need undertake anything beyond their available time or capacity.
