Wikipedia is a collaboratively edited, free online encyclopedia. The provided text gives an overview of its history, creation, governance, community, and content policies. It also addresses criticisms, such as accuracy concerns, biases, censorship, and explicit content. The text highlights Wikipedia’s language editions, its access methods, and its cultural influence including its impact on education and journalism. It details various studies about the reliability of Wikipedia content. Finally, the source also lists awards that the website has won and describes associated projects.

Wikipedia: A Comprehensive Study Guide

Content Overview

This study guide covers the history, structure, policies, community, and cultural impact of Wikipedia, drawing from the provided Wikipedia article. It’s designed to help you review the key concepts and details presented in the source material.

Key Concepts

• History and Founding: Understand the origins of Wikipedia and its relationship to Nupedia.
• Openness and Collaboration: Explore Wikipedia’s model of open collaboration and its consequences, including vandalism and edit wars.
• Policies and Content: Familiarize yourself with the core content policies, including Neutral Point of View (NPOV), Verifiability, and No Original Research.
• Governance: Learn about the roles of administrators and the Arbitration Committee in managing disputes and maintaining order.
• Community and Diversity: Understand the demographics of Wikipedia editors and the ongoing challenges related to diversity and bias.
• Language Editions: Explore the multilingual nature of Wikipedia and the variations in content and policies across different language versions.
• Reception and Criticism: Consider the criticisms of Wikipedia, including concerns about accuracy, systemic bias, and discouragement in education.
• Operation and Technology: Review the technological infrastructure, including the LAMP platform, automated editing, and mobile access.
• Cultural Influence: Examine Wikipedia’s impact on education, journalism, and research.

Quiz: Short-Answer Questions

Answer each question in 2-3 sentences.

1. What were the two main goals of Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger in creating Wikipedia?
2. Explain the meaning of the name “Wikipedia.”
3. What is the “neutral point of view” policy, and why is it important to Wikipedia?
4. Describe the role of Wikipedia administrators.
5. What is the Arbitration Committee, and what does it do?
6. What are some of the challenges Wikipedia faces related to diversity?
7. List three of the largest language editions of Wikipedia by article count as of February 2025, according to the document.
8. Explain the concept of “systemic bias” in the context of Wikipedia.
9. What are Wikipedia bots, and what role do they play in maintaining the encyclopedia?
10. How does Wikipedia combat misinformation about current events, like the COVID-19 pandemic?

Quiz: Answer Key

1. Jimmy Wales aimed to create a publicly editable encyclopedia, while Larry Sanger suggested using a wiki to achieve this goal. Together, they wanted to create a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality, accessible to every person in their own language.
2. The name “Wikipedia” is a blend of the words “wiki,” referring to the collaborative editing system, and “encyclopedia,” indicating its purpose as a comprehensive source of information. This combination highlights the collaborative nature of the encyclopedia.
3. The “neutral point of view” (NPOV) policy requires articles to represent significant views fairly, proportionately, and without bias. NPOV is crucial for ensuring the encyclopedia is seen as objective and trustworthy by a global audience.
4. Wikipedia administrators are volunteer editors who have been granted additional technical abilities, including the ability to delete pages, protect pages from editing, and block users. They help enforce policies and maintain order within the Wikipedia community.
5. The Arbitration Committee is a group of editors elected by the Wikipedia community to resolve disputes that cannot be solved through other methods. They have the authority to issue binding rulings and sanctions to maintain the integrity of the encyclopedia.
6. Wikipedia faces challenges related to gender, geographic, and ideological diversity among its editors and content. These challenges can lead to systemic biases in the coverage of topics and perspectives.
7. As of February 2025, the English Wikipedia had 6,956,747 articles, the Cebuano Wikipedia had 6,116,785 articles, and the German Wikipedia had 2,989,789 articles.
8. “Systemic bias” refers to the ways in which Wikipedia’s content and structure may reflect the perspectives and priorities of certain groups, such as Western cultures or English speakers. This bias can result in underrepresentation or misrepresentation of other cultures, topics, or viewpoints.
9. Wikipedia bots are computer programs used to perform simple and repetitive tasks, such as correcting common misspellings, formatting articles, and detecting vandalism. These bots help maintain the encyclopedia’s quality and consistency.
10. Wikipedia combats misinformation by relying on its community of editors to monitor and verify content, citing reliable sources, and adhering to its neutral point of view policy. It also partners with organizations like the World Health Organization to combat health-related misinformation.

Essay Questions

1. Discuss the impact of Wikipedia’s open editing model on the quality and reliability of its content. What are the benefits and drawbacks of allowing anyone to edit?
2. Analyze the challenges Wikipedia faces in achieving and maintaining a neutral point of view across its diverse range of articles and language editions.
3. Explore the criticisms of Wikipedia’s coverage of topics and the existence of systemic biases. How might these biases be addressed and mitigated?
4. Evaluate Wikipedia’s role as a source of information in education. Should students be encouraged to use Wikipedia, and if so, how should they be taught to critically assess its content?
5. Discuss the role and impact of Wikipedia bots on the functioning and content of the website. How do these bots help maintain the integrity of Wikipedia, and what are the potential downsides to relying on automated editing?

Glossary of Key Terms

• Administrator: A Wikipedia editor granted additional technical abilities, including the ability to delete pages, protect pages, and block users.
• Arbitration Committee (ArbCom): A group of editors elected by the Wikipedia community to resolve complex disputes.
• Bot: A computer program used to perform automated tasks on Wikipedia, such as correcting errors or reverting vandalism.
• CC Attribution / Share-Alike 4.0: A Creative Commons license allowing users to share and adapt content with proper attribution.
• Edit War: A content dispute on Wikipedia where editors repeatedly revert each other’s changes to an article.
• GFDL (GNU Free Documentation License): A copyleft license for free documentation, often used in conjunction with Creative Commons on Wikipedia.
• LAMP platform: A web service stack comprising Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Python/Perl.
• MediaWiki: The wiki software used by Wikipedia.
• Nupedia: A free online encyclopedia project that predated Wikipedia and served as its original inspiration.
• Neutral Point of View (NPOV): A core content policy requiring articles to represent significant viewpoints fairly, proportionately, and without bias.
• No Original Research: A core content policy prohibiting the inclusion of unpublished facts, ideas, or arguments in Wikipedia articles.
• Systemic Bias: Skews in Wikipedia content resulting from the demographics and perspectives of its editors.
• Vandalism: Deliberate attempts to disrupt Wikipedia by adding false, biased, or nonsensical content.
• Verifiability: A core content policy requiring all material in Wikipedia articles to be attributable to reliable, published sources.
• Wikimedia Foundation: The American nonprofit organization that hosts Wikipedia and its sister projects.
• Wikipedians: Volunteers who write and maintain Wikipedia.
• Wikification: The process of finding “missing” links in Wikipedia.
• Wiki: Software that allows users to easily create and edit web pages collaboratively.
• Wikipedia Zero: An initiative to provide free access to Wikipedia in developing countries, which was later discontinued.

Wikipedia: History, Content, Community, and Challenges

Wikipedia Briefing Document

This document summarizes the main themes and important ideas presented in the provided Wikipedia article about Wikipedia itself.

I. Overview & Key Facts:

• Definition: Wikipedia is a “free-content online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki.”
• Scale: It is “the largest and most-read reference work in history” and consistently ranked among the most visited websites globally.
• Founding & Hosting: Founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger on January 15, 2001, and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation since 2003.
• Governance: The Wikimedia Foundation is an American nonprofit funded by donations from readers.
• Language Editions: As of February 2025, there are 341 language editions. The largest editions (by article count) are English, Cebuano, German, French, Swedish, and Dutch.
• Active Users: Over 309,457 active editors, and over 117,918,423 registered users.
• Content License: CC Attribution / Share-Alike 4.0; most text is also dual-licensed under GFDL.
• Traffic: As of February 2023, Wikipedia attracts around 2 billion unique devices monthly, with the English Wikipedia receiving 10 billion pageviews each month.

II. History & Development:

• Nupedia Precursor: Wikipedia began as a complementary project for Nupedia, a free online encyclopedia with expert-written and formally reviewed articles.
• Wiki Strategy: Larry Sanger is credited with the idea of using a wiki to create a publicly editable encyclopedia. On January 10, 2001, Sanger proposed on the Nupedia mailing list to create a wiki as a “feeder” project for Nupedia.
• Neutral Point of View: The “neutral point-of-view” policy was established early in Wikipedia’s development.
• Rapid Growth: The site experienced rapid growth after its launch.

III. Openness & Community:

• Open Collaboration: Wikipedia relies on the principle of open collaboration by a community of volunteer editors.
• Restrictions: Certain tasks require registration, like editing protected pages or creating new pages.
• Review of Changes: Changes are reviewed by other editors, and some pages are protected to prevent vandalism.
• Vandalism & Disputes: Vandalism and disputes are ongoing challenges, addressed through various mechanisms, including dispute resolution processes and the Arbitration Committee.

IV. Policies & Content:

• Content Policies: Core content policies and guidelines exist, including the requirement for verifiable information and a neutral point of view.
• “Five Pillars”: Wikipedia operates under five fundamental principles (not explicitly defined in the excerpt but referenced).
• Verifiability: “Wikipedia’s verifiability policy requires inline citations for any material challenged or likely to be challenged, and for all quotations, anywhere in article space.”
• Notability: Articles must meet specific notability criteria to warrant inclusion.
• No Original Research: “Wikipedia does not publish original thought.” Articles should be based on reliable, published sources.

V. Governance & Administration:

• Administrators: Administrators have elevated privileges to manage the site and enforce policies.
• Dispute Resolution: A formal dispute resolution process exists, culminating in the Arbitration Committee.

VI. Language Editions & Cultural Influence:

• Global Reach: Jimmy Wales described Wikipedia as “an effort to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single person on the planet in their own language.”
• Independent Editions: While sharing global policies, language editions may diverge in policy and practice.
• Meta-Wiki Coordination: Meta-Wiki coordinates the various language editions and provides statistics.
• Systemic Bias: There is recognition of systemic biases, leading to efforts to address them.
• Combatting Fake News: Wikipedia is seen as a “trusted source to combat fake news.”
• COVID-19 Coverage: The encyclopedia has been used extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic to disseminate information and combat misinformation.

VII. Challenges & Criticisms:

• Accuracy of Content: The accuracy of Wikipedia’s content is a recurring topic of debate and research.
• Discouragement in Education: Some educators discourage students from citing Wikipedia due to concerns about reliability.
• Systemic Bias: Concerns about systemic bias exist, including gender bias, geographical bias (“Wikipedia’s view of the world is written by the west”), and ideological bias.
• Sexism: The article highlights specific instances raising concerns about sexism, such as the initial rejection of an article about Nobel Prize winner Donna Strickland due to perceived lack of media coverage, attributed partly to gender bias in media.
• Vandalism & Edit Wars: The website faces constant challenges of vandalism and edit warring, requiring constant moderation.

VIII. Operation & Technology:

• Wikimedia Foundation: The Wikimedia Foundation oversees the technical infrastructure and operations.
• Automated Editing: “Computer programs called bots have often been used to perform simple and repetitive tasks, such as correcting common misspellings and stylistic issues, or to start articles such as geography entries in a standard format from statistical data.”
• Mobile Access: Wikipedia is accessible through mobile apps and optimized for mobile devices.
• Wikipedia Zero (Discontinued): An initiative to provide free access to Wikipedia in developing countries.

IX. Cultural Influence:

• Impact on Publishing: Wikipedia’s availability has affected the biography publishing business.
• Research Use: Wikipedia is widely used as a corpus for linguistic research.
• Academic Studies: Studies have explored the influence of Wikipedia on various aspects of knowledge and culture.

X. Key Quotes:

• “Wikipedia is a free-content online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki.”
• “Wikipedia is the largest and most-read reference work in history.”
• Jimmy Wales: “an effort to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single person on the planet in their own language.”
• “Wikipedia’s verifiability policy requires inline citations for any material challenged or likely to be challenged, and for all quotations, anywhere in article space.”
• “Computer programs called bots have often been used to perform simple and repetitive tasks, such as correcting common misspellings and stylistic issues, or to start articles such as geography entries in a standard format from statistical data.”

This briefing document provides a comprehensive overview of Wikipedia based on the provided source material, touching on its history, governance, content, community, challenges, and cultural impact.

Wikipedia: Origins, Governance, and Impact

How did Wikipedia originate?

Wikipedia began as a complementary project to Nupedia, a free online encyclopedia where articles were written and reviewed by experts. Larry Sanger proposed using a wiki as a feeder project for Nupedia, leading to Wikipedia’s launch on January 15, 2001. Jimmy Wales is credited with the vision of a publicly editable encyclopedia, and Sanger with the wiki strategy.

What are the core principles that govern Wikipedia’s content?

Wikipedia’s content is guided by several key policies, including “neutral point of view” (NPOV), verifiability, and no original research. Articles must be written from a neutral perspective, representing significant viewpoints fairly and proportionately. All material must be attributable to reliable, published sources, and original research is prohibited. Citing sources is required for anything challenged or likely to be challenged.

How is Wikipedia governed and how are disputes resolved?

The Wikimedia Foundation hosts Wikipedia and oversees the project, but the community of editors plays a significant role in governance. Disputes are resolved through discussion, and when necessary, more formal mechanisms like dispute resolution processes. Administrators have the ability to enforce policies, and the Arbitration Committee is the final step in dispute resolution.

How does Wikipedia address vandalism and ensure the accuracy of information?

Wikipedia employs various methods to combat vandalism, including bots that detect and revert malicious edits. Edits by new or unregistered users are closely monitored, and pages prone to vandalism can be protected, restricting editing to established users or administrators. “Flagged revisions” allow for community review of changes before they are visible to all readers. Despite these measures, errors and biases can still occur.

What is the role of bots in Wikipedia’s operation?

Bots play a crucial role in Wikipedia by performing simple, repetitive tasks such as correcting misspellings, standardizing article formats, and notifying editors of common errors. Some bots are designed to create geography entries and other articles from statistical data. Anti-vandal bots quickly detect and revert vandalism. All bots must be approved before activation.

How does Wikipedia address systemic bias and ensure diversity in its content?

Wikipedia acknowledges the existence of systemic biases, including gender, geographical, and ideological biases. Efforts are underway to counter these biases, such as initiatives to increase the representation of women editors and topics related to underrepresented regions and groups. The various language editions diverge on some points of policy and practice, which can lead to differing coverage of topics.

How is Wikipedia funded, and how can users access it?

Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization primarily funded by donations from readers. Wikipedia’s content is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, allowing free use and distribution with attribution. Content can be accessed through the website, mobile apps, and some offline versions. The Wikimedia Foundation also promotes access in developing countries.

How is Wikipedia being utilized and how is its influence perceived in various fields?

Wikipedia has become a widely used general reference website. It serves as a corpus for linguistic research in computational linguistics, information retrieval, and natural language processing. It is used in entity linking (wikification) and word-sense disambiguation. Some view it as a trusted source to combat fake news. Wikipedia is cited by courts and has been suggested to have influenced a drop in biography sales.

Wikipedia: Definition, Scope, History, Content, Community, and Criticism

Here is a discussion of the overview of Wikipedia, based on the provided source:

• Definition: Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers known as Wikipedians. It uses open collaboration and the MediaWiki software.
• Scope and Popularity: Wikipedia is the largest and most-read reference work in history and is consistently ranked among the top ten most visited websites. As of December 2024, it was ranked fifth by Semrush and seventh by Similarweb.
• History:
• Wikipedia was founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger on January 15, 2001.
• It began as a complementary project for Nupedia, a free online English-language encyclopedia project with articles written by experts and reviewed under a formal process.
• The name “Wikipedia” is a blend of the words “wiki” and “encyclopedia”.
• Content and Policies:
• Wikipedia operates under a policy of “neutral point-of-view“.
• Entries must be encyclopedic and meet standards of “notability,” meaning the topic has been covered in mainstream media or major academic journal sources independent of the article’s subject.
• Wikipedia aims to convey established and recognized knowledge, avoiding original research.
• Content requires references to reliable sources.
• Wikipedia does not take sides and strives to present information from a neutral point of view.
• Community and Editing:
• Wikipedia is maintained by a community of volunteers, and each article has a “talk” page for discussion, coordination, and debate.
• The community has been described as “cultlike“.
• Editing restrictions exist for certain controversial or vandalism-prone pages, where only registered, autoconfirmed, or extended confirmed editors can make changes.
• Dispute Resolution:
• Wikipedia has a semi-formal dispute resolution process.
• Editors can raise issues in community forums, seek third opinions, or initiate a “request for comment” to determine community consensus.
• Language Editions:
• Wikipedia aims to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every person on the planet in their own language.
• Each language edition functions independently but is coordinated by Meta-Wiki.
• Reception and Criticism:
• Wikipedia has faced criticism regarding its reliability, systemic bias, and unevenness of coverage.
• Some critics argue that articles can be dominated by persistent voices with an “ax to grind”.
• However, Wikipedia has also been lauded as a valuable source of information and a means to combat fake news.
• Cultural Influence:
• Wikipedia’s coverage of events such as the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates its cultural significance and role in providing information [10.2.1].
• Operation:
• Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization funded mainly by donations.
• It involves software operations, automated editing, and hardware support.
• Access to Content:
• Wikipedia’s content is available under the CC Attribution / Share-Alike 4.0 license, with most text also dual-licensed under GFDL.
• Content can be accessed through various methods, including mobile access [9.2.1].
• Awards and Recognition:
• Wikipedia has received awards such as the Erasmus Prize and the Princess of Asturias Award on International Cooperation.
• Explicit Content:
• Wikipedia has faced criticism for allowing information about graphic content, including images and videos of sexual content.
• The policy of “Wikipedia is not censored” has been controversial.

Wikipedia Community Dynamics: Culture, Contributions, and Challenges

Here’s a discussion of the community aspects of Wikipedia, based on the provided source:

• Community Maintenance: Wikipedia is maintained by a community of volunteers. These volunteers are known as “Wikipedians” [Me].
• Communication Channels: Each article and user on Wikipedia has a dedicated “talk” page that serves as the primary communication channel for editors to discuss, coordinate, and debate.
• Community Culture:Wikipedia’s community has been described as cultlike.
• There is a preference for cohesiveness, which sometimes requires compromise, even if it means disregarding credentials. This has been referred to as “anti-elitism”.
• Becoming a Wikipedia insider involves learning Wikipedia-specific technological codes, submitting to a dispute resolution process, and learning the internal culture.
• Editor Contributions and Activity:The English Wikipedia has a large number of registered editors, but only a fraction are considered active. An editor is considered active if they have made one or more edits in the past 30 days.
• Editors who do not comply with Wikipedia cultural rituals may be seen as outsiders, which could affect how their contributions are received.
• Editors who do not log in may be considered “second-class citizens” because their contributions cannot be attributed to a particular editor with certainty.
• Community Diversity & Bias: Academic studies show that Wikipedia over-represents the views of a specific demographic, typically an educated, technically inclined, English-speaking white male from a developed Christian country in the northern hemisphere. This bias results in cultural, gender, and geographical biases on Wikipedia.
• Dispute Resolution: Wikipedia has developed a semi-formal dispute resolution process to determine community consensus. Editors can raise issues in community forums, seek third opinions, or initiate a “request for comment”. Wikipedia encourages local resolutions of conflicts. The Arbitration Committee is the ultimate dispute resolution process, but it focuses on how disputes are conducted rather than ruling on specific views.
• Language Editions: Although each language edition of Wikipedia functions independently, some efforts are made to supervise them all. They are coordinated in part by Meta-Wiki.
• Wikimedia Movement Affiliates: Wikipedia is supported by independently-run organizations and groups affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation, including Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups. These affiliates participate in the promotion, development, and funding of Wikipedia.
• Editor Harassment: Editor harassment has been identified as an issue within the Wikipedia community.
• Increasing Diversity: Increasing diversity within the Wikimedia community is a focus.

Wikipedia Content Accuracy and Reliability

Here’s a discussion of content accuracy on Wikipedia, based on the provided source:

• No Guarantee of Validity: Wikipedia “makes no guarantee of validity” of its content because no one is ultimately responsible for the accuracy of the claims made in it [24, W 54].
• Expertise vs. Open Structure: Traditional encyclopedias, such as Encyclopædia Britannica, are written by experts, giving them a reputation for accuracy. Wikipedia’s open structure allows anyone to contribute.
• Nature Study: A peer review in 2005 of scientific entries in both Wikipedia and Encyclopædia Britannica by the journal Nature found few differences in accuracy. The study concluded that “the average science entry in Wikipedia contained around four inaccuracies; Britannica, about three”.
• However, this study has faced criticism regarding its sample size and selection method.
• Encyclopædia Britannica disputed the findings by Nature, and Nature issued a rebuttal.
• Vandalism: Any change that deliberately compromises Wikipedia’s integrity is considered vandalism. Obvious vandalism is generally easy to remove from Wikipedia articles, with a median time to detect and fix it being a few minutes. However, some vandalism can take much longer to detect and repair.
• Seigenthaler Biography Incident: In the Seigenthaler biography incident, an anonymous editor introduced false information into the biography of American political figure John Seigenthaler in May 2005, falsely presenting him as a suspect in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It remained uncorrected for four months. This incident led to policy changes at Wikipedia for tightening up the verifiability of biographical articles of living people.
• “Verifiability, Not Truth”: Among Wikipedia editors, the guiding principle is often phrased as “verifiability, not truth,” meaning that readers are responsible for checking the truthfulness of articles and making their own interpretations [11, W 35]. This can sometimes lead to the removal of valid information if it is not properly sourced.
• Conflicting Views on Reliability:
• Tyler Cowen suggests that Wikipedia may be more likely to be accurate than the median refereed journal article on economics, while also cautioning that errors are frequently found on Internet sites.
• Amy Bruckman argues that the content of a popular Wikipedia page is actually the most reliable form of information ever created due to the number of reviewers.
• Critics argue that Wikipedia’s open nature and lack of proper sources for much of the information makes it unreliable.
• Editors of traditional reference works such as the Encyclopædia Britannica have questioned the project’s utility and status as an encyclopedia.
• Use as a Source: Legal Research in a Nutshell (2011) cites Wikipedia as a “general source” that “can be a real boon” in “coming up to speed in the law governing a situation” and, “while not authoritative, can provide basic facts as well as leads to more in-depth resources”.
• Medical Information: A 2014 article in The Atlantic stated that 50% of physicians look up conditions on Wikipedia. James Heilman of WikiProject Medicine noted that less than 1% of Wikipedia’s medical articles have passed Wikipedia’s peer review process to be classified as “good” or “featured”.
• Combating Fake News: Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has claimed that Wikipedia has largely avoided the problem of “fake news” because the Wikipedia community regularly debates the quality of sources in articles. In 2017–18, Facebook and YouTube announced they would rely on Wikipedia to help their users evaluate reports and reject false news.

Wikipedia’s Language Editions: Structure, Content, and Global Reach

Here’s a discussion of language editions of Wikipedia, based on the provided source:

• Number of Editions: There are currently 341 language editions of Wikipedia, also referred to as language versions, or simply Wikipedias.
• Article Count: As of February 2025, the six largest editions, in order of article count, are English, Cebuano, German, French, Swedish, and Dutch.
• Bot Contributions: The Cebuano and Waray Wikipedias owe their positions to the article-creating bot Lsjbot. As of 2013, this bot had created about half the articles on the Swedish Wikipedia and most of the articles in the Cebuano and Waray Wikipedias.
• Million+ Article Editions: Besides the top six, twelve other Wikipedias have more than a million articles each: Russian, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Egyptian Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Waray, Arabic, and Portuguese.
• Traffic Distribution: As of January 2021, the English Wikipedia receives 48% of Wikipedia’s cumulative traffic, with the remaining traffic split among other languages. The top 10 editions represent approximately 85% of the total traffic.
• Contributors: Since Wikipedia is web-based, contributors to the same language edition may use different dialects or come from different countries, potentially leading to conflicts over spelling or points of view.
• Global vs. Local Policies: While various language editions adhere to global policies like “neutral point of view”, they may diverge on policy and practice points, such as the use of non-free images under fair use claims.
• Goal: Jimmy Wales described Wikipedia as “an effort to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single person on the planet in their own language” [22, W 49].
• Coordination: Though each language edition functions independently, efforts are made to supervise them, coordinated in part by Meta-Wiki. Meta-Wiki provides statistics and maintains a list of articles every Wikipedia should have, covering basic content by subject.
• Article Availability: Articles strongly related to a particular language may not have counterparts in other editions, even if they meet notability criteria.
• Translation: Translated articles represent a small portion of articles in most editions, partly because fully automated translation is not allowed. Articles available in multiple languages may offer “interwiki links” to counterpart articles.
• Regional Contributions: A 2012 study estimated that North America contributed 51% of the edits to the English Wikipedia and 25% to the Simple English Wikipedia.
• Editor Retention: The Economist noted in 2014 that the English-language Wikipedia had seen a decline in the number of editors, while non-English Wikipedias had maintained a relatively constant number of active editors.

Wikipedia’s Cultural Impact and Significance

Here’s a discussion of the cultural impact of Wikipedia, based on the provided source:

• Trusted Source: Wikipedia has become a trusted source to combat fake news. In 2017–18, Facebook and YouTube announced they would rely on Wikipedia to help their users evaluate reports and reject false news.
• Cultural Significance:
• Wikipedia’s content has been used in academic studies, books, conferences, and court cases [33, W 122, 272, 273].
• The Parliament of Canada’s website refers to Wikipedia’s article on same-sex marriage in the “related links” section of its “further reading” list for the Civil Marriage Act.
• The encyclopedia’s assertions are increasingly used as a source by organizations such as the US federal courts and the World Intellectual Property Organization.
• Content appearing on Wikipedia has also been cited as a source and referenced in some US intelligence agency reports.
• In December 2008, the scientific journal RNA Biology launched a new section for descriptions of families of RNA molecules and requires authors who contribute to the section to also submit a draft article on the RNA family for publication in Wikipedia.
• Wikipedia has also been used as a source in journalism, often without attribution, and several reporters have been dismissed for plagiarizing from Wikipedia.
• Recognition:
• In 2006, Time magazine recognized Wikipedia’s participation (along with YouTube, Reddit, MySpace, and Facebook) in the rapid growth of online collaboration and interaction by millions of people worldwide.
• The Washington Post reported in 2007 that Wikipedia had become a focal point in the 2008 US election campaign.
• A 2007 Reuters article reported the recent phenomenon of how having a Wikipedia article vindicates one’s notability.
• Governmental Affairs: Wikipedia was involved in a governmental affair in 2007, when an Italian politician raised a parliamentary question about the necessity of freedom of panorama, claiming that the lack of such freedom forced Wikipedia to forbid all images of modern Italian buildings and art, damaging tourist revenues.
• Crowdsourcing: A working group led by Peter Stone called Wikipedia “the best-known example of crowdsourcing…that far exceeds traditionally-compiled information sources, such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, in scale and depth”.
• Open and Decentralized Web: Hossein Derakhshan describes Wikipedia as “one of the last remaining pillars of the open and decentralized web”.
• Awards: Wikipedia has won many awards, including a Golden Nica for Digital Communities of the annual Prix Ars Electronica contest in 2004, a Judges’ Webby Award for the “community” category in 2004, the Quadriga A Mission of Enlightenment award in 2008, the annual Erasmus Prize in 2015, and the Spanish Princess of Asturias Award on International Cooperation in 2015 [37, 38, W 123, 292, 294, 295, 296].
• Satire: Wikipedia has been the subject of satire.
• Publishing: The most obvious economic effect of Wikipedia has been the death of commercial encyclopedias, especially printed versions like Encyclopædia Britannica.
• Biography Publishing: Wikipedia’s influence on the biography publishing business has been a concern for some.
• Research Use: Wikipedia has been widely used as a corpus for linguistic research in computational linguistics, information retrieval, and natural language processing.

By Amjad Izhar
Contact: amjad.izhar@gmail.com
https://amjadizhar.blog

Affiliate Disclosure: This blog may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you click on the link and make a purchase. This comes at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers. Your support helps keep this blog running and allows me to continue providing you with quality content. Thank you for your support!