From Adversaries to Allies? The Uneasy Relationship between Experts and the Wikipedia Community

Konieczny, Piotr

doi:10.1016/j.sheji.2020.12.003

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…In the case under analysis, the article on desinformación, its creator, has been expelled from Wikipedia in Spanish, and its last editor, who took the reins for the improvement of the term in November 2021, defines himself as an itinerant 'wikipedian' of the project "Improvement of scientific content in Wikipedia," an initiative jointly promoted by Wikimedia Spain and the Madrimasd Foundation and is the coordinator of the editing of a hundred entries, chosen by professors from Madrid universities, in collaboration with students. Despite all the above, Konieczny (2021) assures that this crisis of confidence is progressively diminishing. Other experts emphasize the encyclopaedia's efforts to reinforce its trustworthiness, such as the fight against vandalism to avoid article editing wars by varied interests (Zazo et al, 2015;Sant, 2021); the composition of the Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) that watches over defending the truth on the platform (Armstrong, 2018); the creation of a register of hoaxes, false information, hoaxes that are published on Wikipedia, a decalogue to combat disinformation (Martínez, 2021); or the peer reviews that some of its most read articles have undergone to demonstrate that they do not contain more errors than those found, for example, in scientific journals (Quian, 2021).…”

Section: Credibility Confidence and Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Its completeness should also be valued, a property that, according to a study by Meseguer-Artola (2014) of young student users of Wikipedia, is what the latter value as the worst property, in general, of the encyclopaedia. Here, this peculiarity invites debate, as it is an encyclopaedia in constant growth (Konieczny, 2021). However, it cannot be considered a complete text if we take into consideration, for example, that in the History section, it briefly addresses the origins of the term but does not develop its evolution over time or place it in the current historical context.…”

Section: Structural Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, the measure adopted by Wikipedia is understandable, given the infodemic context in which the entry was created, i.e., when the abundance of information was excessive and confusing and users needed credible and reliable information to make accurate decisions about their health and other issues. On the other hand, that measure also reopened the debate about the delegation of Wikipedia knowledge to, exclusively, the hands of scientists and experts (Aibar et al, 2016;Konieczny, 2021;Petiška & Moldan, 2021). Likewise, it also evidenced the existence of "noisy" or "contradictory" articles that should be discarded (Hsu et al, 2021) and the use of Wikipedia for ideological purposes (Quian, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The role of Wikipedia in the dissemination of new knowledge: Analysis of the entry «desinformación» as a changeable concept

Escolar

Herrero-Diz

2022

Communication & Society

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The main goal of Wikipedia’s founders, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, was to create a collaborative encyclopaedia driven by the users of the internet who, on a nonprofit basis, would compile and share all human wisdom and knowledge. In times of crisis, such as the coronavirus pandemic, Wikipedia has emerged as a reference point for users around the world. In this vein, Wikipedia once again highlighted its cultural role in the production of available knowledge in the face of new knowledge. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to analyse the specific entry of desinformación –disinformation in English– in the Spanish version of Wikipedia, given the importance that this concept has acquired during the coronavirus crisis and given the need to disseminate a homogeneous definition of this term. For that purpose, we have applied the content analysis method to a textual case, that is, to the disinformation entry in Wikipedia. The main results show that the basic characteristics of the Spanish entry of desinformación on Wikipedia are not the suitable ones to inform users or readers of the real meaning of this concept. Furthermore, the content of the Wikipedia disinformation entry is incomplete, disjointed and of dubious reliability. Therefore, this research advocates the creation of a homogeneous definition that permeates the common imaginary and that is the result of a combination of experts’ opinions and the definitions proposed by institutions, governments, media and organizations.

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Section: Credibility Confidence and Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Structural Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The role of Wikipedia in the dissemination of new knowledge: Analysis of the entry «desinformación» as a changeable concept

Escolar

Herrero-Diz

2022

Communication & Society

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“…In the most recent research, Konieczny (2020) and Jemielniak (2019) related to the afore-mentioned subjects. They raised the issue of encouragement and retention of specialists and experts in Wikipedia in order to protect its content quality.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forms of Adaptation of Newcomers in Wikipedia as Online Sharing Knowledge Project

Karczewska

2022

ECKM

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Wikipedia is one of the largest virtual communities of practice aimed at building and sharing knowledge online. Its ambitious goals require the cooperation of millions of users around the world. The development of the project has slowed down over the last few years, hence the acquisition and retention of new users is becoming more and more challenging. Consequently, properly organized adaptation, and encouragement of newcomers to become a part of the community emerges as a crucial issue for the existence of Wikipedia. This paper presents the results of the quantitative research carried out with the use of the content analysis method on the different language versions of Wikipedia. The issues investigated included the following aspects: the level of advancement of the newcomers’ adaptation process, the use of various adaptation tools, forms of welcoming and enhancing newcomers to learn and edit the Wikipedia content, while also their potential effect on the productivity and engagement of users. The results of the research indicate great diversity among the tools used, depending on the language version of the project. Not all the statements directed to the newcomers are encouraging and friendly, as some cultures create more restrictive and punitive content than the others. The latter leaves the newcomer with the responsibility for the process of learning the rules of behaviour of the Wikipedia community. The more advanced the adaptation process is, the more active and productive users are. The conclusions of the research may be of use to different virtual communities of practice and organizations which face the problem of adapting newcomers in the online activity connected with knowledge sharing.

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“…While academia and Wikipedia have historically had an uneasy relationship, Wikipedia assignments offer an opportunity to bridge the gap between scholarly information and the public (Jemielniak and Aibar, 2016;Konieczny, 2021). Students can play a critical role in this process by adding missing information to articles and thereby improving a freely-accessible resource.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Wikipedia Assignments to Teach Critical Thinking and Scientific Writing in STEM Courses

et al. 2022

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While many instructors have reservations against Wikipedia use in academic settings, editing Wikipedia teaches students valuable writing, editing, and critical thinking skills. Wikipedia assignments align with the community of inquiry framework, which focuses on the elements needed for a successful online learning experience. We report on a faculty mentoring network, created by WikiProject Limnology and Oceanography, which helped 14 instructors with little to no prior experience implement a Wikipedia assignment in their classes. We found that Wikipedia assignments increase students’ motivation to produce high quality work and enhance their awareness of reliable scientific sources. Wikipedia assignments can be comparable to other writing assignments in length and complexity, but have a far wider audience than a traditional research paper. Participants in our mentoring network reported challenges with implementing this new type of assignment, and here, we share resources and solutions to those reported barriers.

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From Adversaries to Allies? The Uneasy Relationship between Experts and the Wikipedia Community

Cited by 9 publications

References 39 publications

The role of Wikipedia in the dissemination of new knowledge: Analysis of the entry «desinformación» as a changeable concept

The role of Wikipedia in the dissemination of new knowledge: Analysis of the entry «desinformación» as a changeable concept

Forms of Adaptation of Newcomers in Wikipedia as Online Sharing Knowledge Project

Using Wikipedia Assignments to Teach Critical Thinking and Scientific Writing in STEM Courses

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