Hi all,
The next Research Showcase will be live-streamed next Wednesday, January
19, at 9:30 AM PST/17:30 UTC. The theme is: Beyond English Wikipedia.
YouTube stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRaCa-v8nfQ
As usual, you can join the conversation on IRC at #wikimedia-research. You
can also watch our past research showcases here:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Research/Showcase
The Showcase will feature the following talks:
Comparing Language Communities - Characterizing Collaboration in the
English, French and Spanish Language Editions of WikipediaBy *Taryn Bipat
<https://tarynbipat.me/> (Microsoft, formerly University of Washington)*Is
Wikipedia a standardized platform with a common model of collaboration or
is it a set of 312 active language editions with distinct collaborative
models? In the last 20 years, researchers have extensively analyzed the
complexities of group work that enable the creation of quality articles in
the English Wikipedia, but most of our intellectual assumptions about
collaborative practices on Wikipedia remain solely based on an Anglocentric
perspective. This research extends the current Anglocentric body of
literature in human-computer interaction (HCI) and computer-supported
cooperative work (CSCW) through three studies that mutually help build an
understanding of collaboration models in the English (EN), French (FR), and
Spanish (ES) editions of Wikipedia. In the first study, I replicated a
model by Viégas et al. (2007) based on editors' behaviors in the English
Wikipedia. This model was used as a lens to examine collaborative activity
in EN, FR, and ES. In the second study, I leveraged a collaboration model
by Kriplean et al. (2007) that suggested editors used “power plays” – how
groups of editors claim control over article content through the discourse
of Wikipedia policy – in their talk page debates to justify their edits
made on articles. In the third study, I interviewed editors from each
language edition to build a typology of collaborative behavior and further
understand the editor's perceptions of power and authority on Wikipedia.
Understanding Wikipedia Practices Through Hindi, Urdu, and English Takes on
an Evolving Regional ConflictBy *Jacob Thebault-Spieker
<https://jacob.thebault-spieker.com/> (Information School, University of
Wisconsin – Madison)*Wikipedia is the product of thousands of editors
working collaboratively to provide free and up-to-date encyclopedic
information to the project’s users. This article asks to what degree
Wikipedia articles in three languages — Hindi, Urdu, and English — achieve
Wikipedia’s mission of making neutrally-presented, reliable information on
a polarizing, controversial topic available to people around the globe. We
chose the topic of the recent revocation of Article 370 of the Constitution
of India, which, along with other recent events in and concerning the
region of Jammu and Kashmir, has drawn attention to related articles on
Wikipedia. This work focuses on the English Wikipedia, being the preeminent
language edition of the project, as well as the Hindi and Urdu editions.
Hindi and Urdu are the two standardized varieties of Hindustani, a lingua
franca of Jammu and Kashmir. We analyzed page view and revision data for
three Wikipedia articles to gauge popularity of the pages in our corpus,
and responsiveness of editors to breaking news events and problematic
edits. Additionally, we interviewed editors from all three language
editions to learn about differences in editing processes and motivations,
and we compared the text of the articles across languages as they appeared
shortly after the revocation of Article 370. Across languages, we saw
discrepancies in article tone, organization, and the information presented,
as well as differences in how editors collaborate and communicate with one
another. Nevertheless, in Hindi and Urdu, as well as English, editors
predominantly try to adhere to the principle of neutral point of view
(NPOV), and for the most part, the editors quash attempts by other editors
to push political agendas.Best regards,
Emily
--
Emily Lescak (she / her)
Senior Research Community Officer
The Wikimedia Foundation