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Digital Media and Information in Society/Classes/Conceptualizing Wikipedia

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What is Wikipedia, anyway?

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Consider ways we've used wikipedia in scholarly pursuits.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:List_of_academic_studies_about_Wikipedia&oldid=1075716512

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_studies_about_Wikipedia


Explore these ideas:

  • presents a contemporary examination of what information is  represented  and  discusses  how  that  information  is  presented  and  who gets to participate (and serve as gatekeeper) in the world’s largest online repository for information, Wikipedia
  • the experiences of students on Wikipedia are that of new users, in general
  • reflect on not just the process of how Wikipedia  represents  reality  but  also  the  experience  of  participating  in  that process.
  • Instead,  we  read  how  Wikipedia  “works”  through  understanding  users’  experiences  of  Wikipedia,  both  in  how  users  grapple  with  stated  guidelines  and  policy,  but  also  the  experience  of  dealing  with  the interface and the community[2]

Dealing with Historical Negationism[3]

  • Grabowski & Klein describe how this phenomenon evolves on Wikipedia. In Wikipedia’s Intentional Distortion of the History of the Holocaust,[4] they argue that certain editors, referred to as distortionists, manipulate Wikipedia policies and practices to intentionally distort the historical record by contesting reliable research definitions, legitimizing fringe academics and nonacademic sources, while undermining trustworthy works and authors.
  • The article title invites an analysis that seeks to distinguish the human community and the dynamic content (need to improve this phrasing)
    • Wikipedia the human community (the group of people engaged in its continuous production, distribution and consumption) has agency in its ability to manage content on Wikipedia the digital and dynamic "content". In this case, it would seem that the authors of the study are describing the behavior of the human community, and suggesting that the human editors of wikipedia are engaged in intentional distortion of history, or "historical negationism"
    • The behavior of the human community is captured through a close examination of Wikipedia page versions and their associated talk pages, as well as in interviews with Wikipedia editors, noting how a group of "distortionist editors ... abuse this system by contesting the very definition of reliable research" and "spend a considerable amount of time legitimizing nonacademic sources and authors, and, conversely, delegitimizing trustworthy works and authors."
    • What does this article suggest about Wikipedia and its role in contemporary culture and society?
  1. ↑ Mostafa, Mohamed M. (2023-02-14). "Twenty years of Wikipedia in scholarly publications: a bibliometric network analysis of the thematic and citation landscape". Quality & Quantity. doi:10.1007/s11135-023-01626-7. ISSN 1573-7845. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-023-01626-7. Retrieved 2023-07-12. 
  2. ↑ McDowell, Zachary J.; Vetter, Matthew A. (2021-08-30). Wikipedia and the Representation of Reality (in en) (1 ed.). New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003094081. ISBN 978-1-003-09408-1. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781003094081. 
  3. ↑ "Historical negationism". Wikipedia. 2023-07-20. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Historical_negationism&oldid=1166196127. 
  4. ↑ Grabowski, Jan; Klein, Shira (2023-02-09). "Wikipedia’s Intentional Distortion of the History of the Holocaust". The Journal of Holocaust Research 37 (2): 133–190. doi:10.1080/25785648.2023.2168939. ISSN 2578-5648. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/25785648.2023.2168939. 
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