Wikipedia as a research tool
Most people use Wikipedia as an encyclopedia – a digital reference work for looking up facts and information about people, issues and past and present events. But Wikipedia is much more than that: it has become a collaborative tool for writing and rewriting history, a cultural reference work and a negotiation tool. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is one of the lecturers at this mini-symposium about Wikipedia as a research tool.
Date and time: 15 January 2015, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Venue: Trippenhuis Building, Kloveniersburgwal 29, 1011 JV Amsterdam
Registration
Wikipedia Foundation
At this mini-symposium, four experts will discuss how Wikipedia has become a rich source of cultural research. How does this online encyclopedia also mediate in disputes? How does Wikipedia maintain its neutral point of view as an arbiter of encyclopedic content? And how can we use Wikipedia as a valuable research tool?
Lecturers:
José van Dijck, University of Amsterdam – Introduction
Richard Rogers, University of Amsterdam – Wikipedia is not an encyclopedia
Esther Weltevrede and Erik Borra, University of Amsterdam – Wikipedia and the value of dispute
Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia – The open nature of Wikipedia
For more information about the programme and how to register, please visit our website.
You are very welcome to attend this symposium. Participation is free, but registration is compulsory. You will find the registration form on our website.
Het Trippenhuis
Kloveniersburgwal 29
P.O. Box 19121
1000 GC Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Telephone +31 20 551 0727
knawgenootschap@knaw.nl
www.knaw.nl
Study Shows: women don’t like Wikipedia!!
Females have played a significant roles in blogging, social networking, and shaping the internet…but apparently not Wikipedia. A recent study conducted by the Wikimedia Foundation found that only 13% of Wikipedia contributors are women.
The results were presented last week at a conference in Buenos Aires. (The study itself was taken last Novemeber.) A total of 53,888 respondents indicated that they were Wikipedia contributors, but only 6,814 of them were women. According to the Wall Street Jorunal, “among the reasons for not contributing, many respondents cited time constraints, satisfaction with just reading entries or simply not knowing how to edit the pages. One quarter, however, said they’re afraid of making a mistake “and getting ‘in trouble’ for it.”
It wasn’t just fear that stopped them…According to Jennifer Van Grove of Mashable.com, it may have been their educational background as well. “The research also showed that women are less likely to read articles as well, with 31% of women and 69% of men reading entries, but not writing or editing them.” Here are even further statistics to support that claim:
69% of respondents were motivated to contribute to Wikipedia to fix an error
Nearly 73% contribute because they “like the idea of sharing knowledge”
19% of Wikipedia contributors hold Masters degrees
[from marketingblog.net]
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