Should I pay for a Wikipedia article?
At the end of August, volunteer editors on the English Wikipedia blocked 381 user accounts for so-called “black hat” editing—or more specifically, undisclosed paid advocacy. As the Wikimedia Foundation’s blog post defined it, undisclosed paid advocacy is “the practice of accepting or charging money to promote external interests on Wikipedia without revealing their affiliation, in violation of….
The first smile and photobomb ever photographed
Six months of work at the National Library of Wales is already showing great benefits.
Writing an open-access encyclopedia in a closed-access world
On Friday, Elsevier, one of the world’s largest academic publishers, announced its recent partnership with the Wikipedia Library—a program that helps editors access reliable sources to improve Wikipedia. The collaboration gave 45 ScienceDirect accounts to Wikipedia volunteers, to use the database’s scholarly literature for research when writing and editing the encyclopedia. The announcement led to….
Hundreds of “black hat” English Wikipedia accounts blocked following investigation
After weeks of investigation, volunteer editors on English Wikipedia announced today that they blocked 381 user accounts for undisclosed paid advocacy.
Despite headlines, frequent edits don’t cause inaccuracy
Wikipedia is the encyclopedia anyone can edit. It didn’t surprise us to learn that articles considered to be controversial are frequently edited.
Wikipedia is better equipped to deal with systemic bias than traditional publishers
In 2010, the artists Ditte Ejlerskov and EvaMarie Lindahl contacted Taschen, a book publisher, to point out that out of 97 volumes published in the Basic Art series, only five included women: Tamara de Lempicka, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Jeanne-Claude (who shares a volume and a Wikipedia article with her collaborator and husband Christo). Taschen asked the pair about which….
7,473 volumes at 700 pages each: meet Print Wikipedia
Wikipedia has finally been printed! Ever wonder what your favorite Wikipedia article would look like in real life? Well know you can check out the exhibit Print Wikipedia in Denny Gallery (261 Broome Street), New York.
Securing access to Wikimedia sites with HTTPS
The Wikimedia Foundation is happy to announce that we are implementing HTTPS to encrypt all traffic on Wikimedia sites. With this change, nearly half a billion monthly visitors on Wikipedia and its sister projects will be able to share in the world’s knowledge more securely.
What we learned from the Inspire campaign to increase gender diversity on Wikimedia
The Inspire Campaign sought ideas for initiatives to increase gender diversity in Wikimedia projects. Community members proposed 266 ideas, leading to 16 grant-funded projects. Here's what we learned from this pilot.
A dark side of comedy: the impact of John Oliver’s ‘fowl’ jokes on Wikipedia
After John Oliver called on the Internet to vandalize the Wikipedia biographies of US congressional representatives, Wikipedia's volunteer editors cleaned up the vandalism.