As the largest site for knowledge in the world, Wikipedia has become a reference website - "the planet's library" - despite the fact that it is not a formally published resource that is paid for and edited in "traditional" ways. It is openly editable and updated constantly, exemplifying the phrase, “work in progress.”
The good parts: anyone can add knowledge which dismantles the elitism of our cultural biases. There are more pages created - and knowledge generated - every day written by people all over the world.
But what or who are the subjects of these pages? Who is writing them? From whose perspective? And why?
Most Wikipedia editors have to rely on mainstream press and publications for sourcing and content - thus merely replicating (exponentially) the status quo systemic and institutional issues endemic to the Western media-publishing-journalism industrial complex cultural biases, causing even more problems with representation: skewing the lens, narrative, perspective, and culture of content creation. These issues have been extensively covered in the press, and Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Katherine Maherexplored it further during the widely reportedDonna Stricklandscandal.
But those at the academy and its libraries and archives have access to much more than the average person - a plethora of journals, publications and other content that can dismantle and eliminate these structural and systemic institutional biases, thus "disrupting" the status quo. Want to learn more? Columbia Librarian Sophie Leveque talks about systemic problems within Wikipedia on Columbia University School of Social Work's Social Impact LIVE, and Columbia's Wikipedia Fellow, Resident and Visiting Scholar Darold Cuba has written about them here and here.
On Thursday, November 14, 2019, from 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm, a panel discussion and edit-a-thon at Barnard College's Milstein Center Digital Humanities Center in Milstein 103: "In honor of Trans Awareness Week, the Digital Humanities Center in collaboration with LGBTQ at Columbia" hosted a wikipedia edit-a-thon to "correct inequities and boost visibility of trans individuals, activists, and organizations on Wikipedia." Barnard's Wikimedian-In-Residence & Art & Architecture Librarian Meredith Wisner presented an editing demo at the start of the event.
The Butler Library panel featured rockstars in the Wikiverse: AfroCrowd's Sherry Antoine, and OCLC's Merrilee Proffitt, moderated by Columbia's Wikimedian-In-Residence, Wikipedia Fellow and Visiting Scholar Darold Cuba. Barnard's Wikimedian-In-Residence & Art and Architecture Librarian Meredith Wisner presented a demo on the ins and outs of editing Wikipedia, and on the issues of representation on Wikipedia. The goal was to inspire a campus-wide community to engage with Wikipedia enthusiastically, provide space and support, and to encourage them to continue to contribute after each monthly event.
4. Staff & Wikipedia: How to Edit & Why We Care - A "meet-cute" for your brain.
On Thursday, July 25th from 1-5, in Butler Library 203, Columbia & Barnard Wikimedians hosted a seminar to introduce Wikipedia to the university communities "for anyone who wants to learn more about Wikipedia editing, and why library staff are particularly well-suited for contributing."
