Wikipedians among Us: From Allies to Reformers

Abstract

As a response to Piotr Konieczny’s article on the relationship between academia and Wikipedia, this commentary addresses several key points regarding the site’s clash with academia, use of the site by practitioners, and differences in the writing and review processes. It sheds light on some of Konieczny’s oversights, including the still-present issues of bias and gaps in content and quality due to a lack of diversity in editorship. It also raises questions about the extent to which traditional structures will be disrupted. Finally, it suggests that cultural change and other measures can encourage a reformation in the relationship between academics and Wikipedia.

Keywords

• Wikipedia
• academia
• culture change
• gender gap
• diversity