Hello everyone,
The next Research Showcase will be live-streamed Wednesday, November 16, at
9:30 AM PST/16:30 UTC. Find your local time here
<https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1668619830>.
YouTube stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFanZoHjUnY
Members of the Research team will collect questions on IRC at
#wikimedia-research and YouTube.
This month's theme is 'Libraries and Wikipedia Knowledge.'
In the first talk, Laurie Bridges (Oregon State University) and Michael
David Miller (McGill University) will co-present on Wikipedia and Academic
Libraries.
Abstract: In 2021 an open-access edited book, Wikipedia and Academic
Libraries: A Global Project <https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11778416>, was
published, featuring 20 chapters from over 50 authors. In this
presentation, Laurie Bridges, one of the co-editors, will discuss the
process for creating and publishing an OA-edited book. Michael David
Miller, one of the chapter authors, will discuss his chapter about
contributions to local Québécois LGBTQ+ content in Francophone Wikipedia.
The second talk will be on Ethical Considerations of Including Gender
Information in Open Knowledge Platforms, presented by Nerissa Lindsey (San
Diego State University).
Abstract: In recent years, galleries, libraries, archives, and museums
(GLAMs) have sought to leverage open knowledge platforms such as Wikidata
to highlight or provide more visibility for traditionally marginalized
groups and their work, collections, or contributions. Efforts like Art +
Feminism, local edit-a-thons, and, more recently, GLAM institution-led
projects have promoted open knowledge initiatives to a broader audience of
participants. One such open knowledge project, the Program for Cooperative
Cataloging (PCC) Wikidata Pilot, has brought together over seventy GLAM
organizations to contribute linked open data for individuals associated
with their institutions, collections, or archives. However, these projects
have brought up ethical concerns around including potentially sensitive
personal demographic information, such as gender identity, sexual
orientation, race, and ethnicity, in entries in an open knowledge base
about living persons. GLAM institutions are thus in a position of balancing
open access with ethical cataloging, which should include adhering to the
personal preferences of the individuals whose data is being shared. People
working in libraries and archives have been increasingly focusing their
energies on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in their descriptive
practices, including remediating legacy data and addressing biased
language. Moving this work into a more public sphere and scaling up in
volume creates potential risks to the individuals being described. While
adding demographic information on living people to open knowledge bases has
the potential to enhance, highlight, and celebrate diversity, it could also
potentially be used to the detriment of the subjects through surveillance
and targeting activities. In our research we investigated the changing role
of metadata and open knowledge in addressing, or not addressing, issues of
under- and misrepresentation, especially as they pertain to gender identity
as described in the sex or gender property in Wikidata. We reported our
findings from a survey investigating how organizations participating in
open knowledge projects are addressing ethical concerns around including
personal demographic information as part of their projects, including what,
if any, policies they have implemented and what implications these
activities may have for the living people being described.
You can also watch our past research showcases here:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Research/Showcase
We hope you can join us!
Warm regards,
Emily, on behalf of the WMF Research team
--
Emily Lescak (she / her)
Senior Research Community Officer
The Wikimedia Foundation