Hello all,
Dominic and I are excited to share an article that we had the opportunity
to write for the American Historical Association's newsmagazine, *Perspectives
on History*. We have a bit more context about why this is an exciting
opportunity here on the GLAM-Wiki US blog (which also includes the article
in full).
http://blog.us.glamwiki.org/2012/12/historians-in-wikipedia/
Typically this publication keeps its most recent online articles gated, but
they released ours to the public early due to the nature of our content.
Here's the AHA blog announcing this.
http://blog.historians.org/publications/1870/reading-list-two-new-articles-…
This article would not have happened without Sarah, who was first
approached about the opportunity and who helped in the shaping of the
article. So this was truly a group Wiki-in-Res effort : )
For mobile-friendliness and general ease, here is the article text in its
entirety...
*Historians in Wikipedia: Building an Open, Collaborative History*
What will the historian's craft look like in the age of social media,
crowdsourcing,
and Wikipedia? It is a question often addressed in the pages
of this magazine, and here we want to expand on one answer offered last
year by AHA President William Cronon, who encouraged historians to
"contribute to the greatest encyclopedia the world has ever known." As
Wikipedians in residence, we facilitate the contribution of subject matter
expertise from cultural institutions—such as the Children's Museum of
Indianapolis, the National Archives, and the Smithsonian—to Wikipedia. The
future will see more of this type of engagement, which brings the insights
of authorities to the world's most widely accessed online encyclopedia.
Many see Wikipedia's open, collaborative editing
model to be contradictory
to established processes within the academic
world. In fact, the work of
academics is not in competition with Wikipedia, but is the key to its
quality and development. Ultimately, if the field of history is to become a
part of an online collaborative culture, historians will need to be full,
participating members of the Wikipedia community. We see this happening
through partnerships with cultural institutions and through an embrace, by
Wikipedians and historians alike, of an emerging model of collaboration
called "open authority."
In urging historians to join in the improvement of
Wikipedia, Roy
Rosenzweig, founder of the Center for History and
New Media, called
Wikipedia an example of "the massive democratization of access to
knowledge."1 As the world's fifth most-visited website, Wikipedia and its
sister projects receive around 490 million unique visitors a month, and its
openly licensed content frequently appears on other websites.2 The
popularity of Wikipedia, and especially of its history articles, makes it,
for better or worse, the most prominent public history project in the
world. Compare, for example, the 20 million page views in 2011 of
Wikipedia's "United States" article to the 17 million views of all the
National Archives webpages on
archives.gov in the same year. Trends like
these prompted the National Archives to make a concerted effort to
collaborate with Wikipedians. In the words of Archivist of the United
States David Ferriero, "You need to be where the people are."3 Historians
will continue to publish their scholarship in academic journals, but that
scholarship is best communicated to the general public through Wikipedia.
Wikipedia needs the contributions of expert
historians. Although Wikipedia
generally succeeds at providing an amazing
breadth of knowledge, it needs
historians and other experts on specific topics who can provide depth.
However, because any person is entitled to contribute to Wikipedia
regardless of credentials, experts often struggle with their role as
authorities within Wikipedia. They often fear worthy contributions are not
given proper recognition in a community of amateurs. But, in fact,
collaboration with Wikipedia does not undermine scholarly authority.
Rather, it enhances it by putting it to work and adding value to a
high-profile public representation of the topics experts are passionate
about.
The combination of expertise and transparent
collaboration is an emerging
model known as open authority.4 Public
historians, academics, and many
others have expressed concern over the shifting role of expert authority in
an increasingly connected digital world where everyone is a curator. Open
authority is the coming together of expert authority with user-generated
content on free and open platforms. This typically takes the form of
dialogue between experts and the public on a virtual forum, leading to a
more inclusive representation of a topic. Wikipedia, as an open forum for
discussion and collaboration, is one of the best examples of open
authority. The open-source software movement from which Wikipedia evolved
has demonstrated that open, collaborative communities can create large,
complex projects that meet even the highest standards of the profession.
Experts in diverse fields are learning to embrace the potential of
collaborative online communities, and are entering dialogue within
transparent, open forums that reflect the connected environment in which we
live.
It is important to understand that Wikipedia
contributors are not amateur
historians but encyclopedists. Wikipedia, as a
tertiary source, does not
seek to crowdsource the interpretation of the past, but to document the
state of the field on a given topic. Scholars sensitive to this mission
will understand Wikipedia's policy of "no original research," which
ensures
that all interpretive claims are referenced to a published and accepted
source. This insistence on verifiability is necessary to maintain the
reliability of contributions, and avoids the slippery slope of (sometimes
eccentric) self-proclaimed experts promoting unpublished interpretations.
That said, Wikipedia does not reject the use of primary sources altogether.
Wikipedia editors will, however, question contributions based on primary
sources alone when they offer an interpretation that cannot be found in the
secondary literature.
Just as historians are moving towards a better
understanding of the
Wikipedia community, the Wikipedia community
itself is becoming more
welcoming and accessible to new contributors, professional historians
included. To this end, the Wikipedia community is developing an improved
editing interface and supporting new editors through various projects. In
recent years, a community-driven project known as GLAM-Wiki ("GLAM" stands
for Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) has united hundreds of
Wikipedians around the world with the goal of supporting cultural
institutions as they share subject matter expertise with Wikipedia.5
Initiatives like these will lower the barriers to entry for new expert
contributors—but there is still much more work to do. And, as with any open
community, the best way to make it reflective of one's values and
experience is simply to join in.
In the meantime, Wikipedians in residence are bridging
the gap between the
Wikipedia community and cultural professionals by
providing insight,
outreach, and in-person assistance for institutions committed to
establishing partnerships with Wikipedia. Wikipedians in residence work for
an institution—often a museum, library, or archive—to serve as a liaison
between experts and the Wikipedia community. Wikipedians in residence have
been supported in esteemed institutions around the world, from the British
Museum and the Smithsonian Institution to the United States' National
Archives and the Israel Museum—and interest continues to grow. This
enthusiasm illustrates the cultural sector's growing acceptance of
Wikipedia, not only as a platform for sharing content, but as a valuable
community worthy of long-term partnership. This coupling of expert
authority with the collaborative community of Wikipedia is open authority
in action.
Issuing a challenge to scholars, Rosenzweig wrote,
"historians probably
have a professional obligation to make
[Wikipedia] as good as possible."6
While Wikipedia continues to provide free knowledge to millions each day,
the discipline of history risks becoming isolated if scholars do not become
more engaged with the online communities of this new information
commons. Contributing to Wikipedia makes a scholar's work more accessible
than ever before. As a wiki that is open to everyone, Wikipedia only works
if everyone feels empowered to be involved. To this end, we urge historians
to make the first step in contributing. Follow Wikipedia's unofficial
mantra and "Be Bold!" Do not be afraid to click that edit button.
—Lori Byrd Phillips is the 2012 US cultural
partnerships coordinator for
the Wikimedia Foundation and a digital marketing
content coordinator at The
Children's Museum of Indianapolis. She has served as the Children's
Museum's Wikipedian in residence since 2010, and holds a Masters in museum
studies from Indiana University and a BA in history from George Mason
University.
—Dominic McDevitt-Parks has been the Wikipedian in residence for the
National Archives and Records Administration
since May 2011. He holds a BA
in history from Reed College and is currently completing his MS in library
science from Simmons College.
Notes
1. Roy Rosenzweig, "Can History Be Open Source?
Wikipedia and the Future
of the Past," Journal of American History
93:1 (June 2006), 117–146.
2. All figures include information from all Wikimedia projects, including
all Wikipedia languages and projects such as
Wikiquote, Wikinews, etc.
Monthly stats can be found in the Wikimedia Foundation's Monthly Report.
3. David Ferriero, "Remarks of Archivist of the United States David S.
Ferriero" (Speech presented at the Wikipedia
in Higher Education Summit,
Simmons College, Boston, MA, July 9, 2011).
www.archives.gov/about/speeches/2011/7-9-2011.html.
4. Lori Byrd Phillips, "Defining Open Authority in Museums," MIDEA Blog
(New Media Consortium, January 13, 2012).
5. "GLAM-Wiki US," Wikipedia. (2012).
6. Rosenzweig, see note 1.
--
Lori Phillips
Digital Marketing Content Coordinator
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
US Cultural Partnerships Coordinator
Wikimedia Foundation
703.489.6036 |
http://loribyrdphillips.com/