[[Wikipedia]] /past /present /future… [[en:user:Phoebe_Ayers]]

Wikipedia: the past What is it? How did it get so big?! Why are we talking about this?

What is it? An encyclopedia But also: A repository of open-source media Testing ground for wikis Related to wiki-dictionaries, textbooks and citizen journalism A reference desk A huge community One of the world’s most popular websites A philosophical problem for information science…

Why is Wikipedia special? Multilingualism/multiculturalism People are using it Astonishing size It’s remarkably good Fundamental change to information production, dissemination, and authority: You’ve never seen anything like this before, ever

Wikipedia is “more popular” than… Ask Jeeves Altavista Google Canada (and other local Googles) NY Times Imdb.com Slashdot.org Britannica.com (100x more popular) AOL (passed Jan. 2006)

960,000+ articles in English 3M+ pages in English 20,000+ active users, 800k+ accounts Over 2M articles total Average article has been edited 15 times requests a second A sense of size… Based on Erik Zachte’s scripts and Samuel Klein’s estimations – Dec 2005

What’s it good for, anyway? “Gateway source” When you know nothing about a topic Casual information needs

What topics is it good for? Current topics Popular culture Computers, math and (some) science Try it!

Wikipedia: the present How does it work? Who’s in charge? Will it bite?!

How do articles get written? Someone starts it Someone else checks it A (possibly third) party edits it…

Article Criteria Notable (encyclopedic) Not vanity Not duplication Community consensus…

Edit wars… and other things that go boom

Predictable vandalism… posted and reverted the same minute (10:31)

Lots of community debate … “Organized POV pushing, IMO, will be the major threat to Wikipedia in the upcoming decade - much more serious than scalability, server issues, or the threat of litigation.” “If Congress has so much time that they can surf, edit, delete, or otherwise modify community contributed content, then they should have no problem editing, deleting, or modifying poilcy such as the Patriot Act. …” “I'm in favor of banning the entire IP range for both House and Senate... These people's salaries are paid with our tax dollars.” “I don't think the all the staffers should be barred when only some of them are causing problems, …” “Most congressional staffers are intelligent people who are perfectly capable of making valuable contributions to Wikipedia. If we assumed good faith about them, as we do for other contributors, and tried to understand any concerns they have about Wikipedia articles, this wouldn't even be an issue. … “

It was a waste of energy and an error in judgment on the part of my staff to have allowed any time to be spent on updating my Wikipedia entry. –Marty Meehan

Who’s in charge? “Wikipedia's present power structure is a mix of anarchic, despotic, democratic, republican, technocratic, and even plutocratic elements” Meta:Power structure

Who’s in charge? Answer: this guy

Wikimedia Foundation Governed by Board of Directors (5 positions: 1 permanent (Jimmy Wales) 2 Bomis reps, 2 community reps) Foundation coordinates official (volunteer) positions: Fundraising, legal, technical development, press, etc MediaWiki (software) And the projects: Local chapters: English (en); German (de); Italian (it); etc.: 215 languages in total Wiktionary Wikinews Wikipedia Wikiversity Wikiquote Wikisource Commons

English-language Wikipedia Meritocracy (who’s respected) Admins Long-term users, lots of contribs, heavy community participation Logged-in users with some contributions less community participation Anonymous IP edits Vandals, trolls, sockpuppets Foundation board Developers, stewards, bureaucrats Arbcom

Lots of communication… On-wiki –Talk pages –Project pages –Meta, Community areas and votes Off-wiki – lists –IRC

Why does it work? Does it bite?

Wikipedia culture and principles Official policies – based on: The 5 pillars of Wikipedia: –Wikipedia is an encyclopedia –Neutral-Point-Of-View (NPOV) –Free content –Be bold, but stay cool –No firm rules!

Wikipedia culture, cont. Hacker and open source culture {{sofixit}} “We make the Internet not suck” – Jimmy Wales

Wikipedia: the future What’s the future hold? What can I do?

“…if someone is going to slander me horribly on the Web, I'd rather that he chose an editable medium." – Bertrand Meyer, “ Defense and Illustration of Wikipedia ”

What does it mean: When “authorship” disappears? When the world’s largest reference work challenges copyright? When millions of users don’t appear to care about “accuracy”… as long as it’s “good enough”? When “free information for all” becomes a cause?

The future Wikipedia 1.0 Verifiability Is Wikipedia sustainable?

Wikipedia and Librarians Talk to your patrons –Gateway source –Not uniformly reviewed –May be inaccurate Check cataloging Just another source…

Evaluation criteria Edit history – how many, who References Text style – wikified? Follows formatting conventions? Verifiable?

What can an info pro do? Edit Add sources! Categorize Provide input … –For instance, citation format proposal

How? Create an account Dive in… –Start with topics you love –Participate in clean-up or fact-check projects –Tap into the community –Be bold!

Questions? Phoebe Ayers: UC Davis, Physical Sciences & Engineering Library gmail.com Handout: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Phoebe Ayers