Serial Singularities: Developing a Network Organization by Organizing Events

Abstract

Recent research on organized events highlights their transitory and distinctive nature. In contrast, we reconceptualize events by challenging their singularity. We focus on events as recurring and organized activities in terms of serial singularities, while still acknowledging their individual distinctiveness. Using a case study of Wikimedia, the formal organizational body that supports and coordinates organizational arenas such as Wikipedia, we show how interorganizational events and structures reinform each other, thereby enabling coordinating and boundary spanning practices. We (re)produce these functions by using an event choreography that targets three different levels of Wikimedia: local grass-roots, national, and transnational events.

Keywords: Convening, Event Choreography, Interorganizational Network Management, Practice, Structuration Theory, Wikimedia Foundation

JEL Classification: L2