No abstract
In its first 30 years the world wide web has revolutionized the information environment. However, its impact has been negative as well as positive, through corporate misuse of personal data and due to its potential for enabling the spread of disinformation. As a large-scale collaborative platform funded through charitable donations, with a mission to provide universal free access to knowledge as a public good, Wikipedia is one of the most popular websites in the world. This paper explores the role of Wikipedia in the information ecosystem where it occupies a unique role as a bridge between informal discussion and scholarly publication. We explore how it relates to the broader Wikimedia ecosystem, through structured data on Wikidata for instance, and openly licensed media on Wikimedia Commons. We consider the potential benefits for universities in the areas of information literacy and research impact, and investigate the extent to which universities in the UK and their libraries are engaging strategically with Wikimedia, if at all.
We explore gaps in Wikipedia's coverage of the visual arts by comparing the representation of 100 artists and 100 artworks from the Western canon against corresponding sets of notable artists and artworks from non-Western cultures. We measure the coverage of these two sets of topics across Wikipedia as a whole and for its individual language versions. We also compare the coverage for Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata, sister-projects of Wikipedia that host digital media and structured data. We show that all these platforms strongly favour the Western canon, giving many times more coverage to Western art. We highlight specific examples of differing coverage of visual art inside and outside the Western canon. We find that European language versions of Wikipedia are generally more "Western" in their coverage and Asian languages more "global", with interesting exceptions. We suggest how both Wikipedia and the wider cultural sector can address this gap in content and thus give Wikipedia a truly global perspective on the visual arts.
We explore gaps in Wikipedia's coverage of the visual arts by comparing the representation of 100 artists and 100 artworks from the Western canon against corresponding sets of notable artists and artworks from non-Western cultures. We measure the coverage of these two sets of topics across Wikipedia as a whole and for its individual language versions. We also compare the coverage for Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata, sister-projects of Wikipedia that host digital media and structured data. We show that all these platforms strongly favour the Western canon, giving many times more coverage to Western art. We highlight specific examples of differing coverage of visual art inside and outside the Western canon. We find that European language versions of Wikipedia are generally more "Western" in their coverage and Asian languages more "global", with interesting exceptions. We suggest how both Wikipedia and the wider cultural sector can address this gap in content and thus give Wikipedia a truly global perspective on the visual arts.
Berners-Lee saw that the Web needed an encyclopedia. This would be "An attempt by the knowledgeable, the learned societies or anyone else, to represent the state of the art in their field. [It] will be a living document, as up to date as it can be, instantly accessible at any time." Nearly 20 years on, it is time to revisit the idea of organizing the world's knowledge. Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, has become the fifth most visited site on the Web, with nearly half a billion visitors per month. It fits Berners-Lee's description, but is still (and always will be) a work in progress.This article looks at two developments. Having established itself as the largest reference work ever created, Wikipedia is looking to be ever more reliable and detailed in what it covers. This involves collaborating with scholarly communities, including the Institute of Physics (which publishes Physics World), and individual educators or researchers. If you want to inform and excite the public about the techniques and discoveries of your favourite area of physics, Wikipedia is a way to reach the greatest audience.Additionally, although a great many articles are incomplete, this is increasingly being seen as an educational opportunity. Some university courses have started to assign students the task of improving Wikipedia articles. This process encourages some very good habits, such as proper sourcing of statements and respectful collaboration with others. The same opportunity is open to anybody with the right skills. If you can look up facts; summarize, structure or illustrate them; and make them understandable to other people, then Wikipedia needs you.
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