Blogs and research

Blogs related to and exploring all things Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikimedia related.

Selected blogs

Selected articles and research 

Vandalism on Collaborative Web Communities: An Exploration of Editorial Behaviour in Wikipedia - “Preliminary analysis reveals (∼90%) of the vandalism or foul edits are done by unregistered users… community reaction seemed to be immediate: most vandalisms were reverted within 5 mins on average” – University of Glasgow researchers Alkharashi, A. and Jose, J. (2018)

Science Is Shaped by Wikipedia: Evidence From a Randomized Control Trial. Research paper about how Wikipedia actively influences science development, providing evidence of causality, instead of the usual correlation. (Video)

Reasons to use Wikipedia.

'Shiver-inducing contacts with the past' - Bodleian Wikimedian, Martin Poulter, says that the digital world can play a crucial role in sharing those shiver-inducing moments of contact with the past, such as seeing Charles Darwin’s actual handwriting, and libraries can involve more people in that authentic experience.

COVID-19

"Sudden Attention Shifts on Wikipedia Following COVID-19 Mobility Restrictions" by Horta Ribeiro et al.  Study on how the pandemic, alongside the severe mobility restrictions that ensued, impacted information access on the world's largest online encyclopaedia.

Wikipedia in the British Medical Journal - "Enriching Wikipedia content is, potentially, a powerful way to improve #healthliteracy and it is possible to test the effects of seeding pages with evidence. This trial should be replicated, expanded and developed".

"Covid-19 is one of Wikipedia’s biggest challenges ever. Here’s how the site is handling it." - in the Washington Post.

"COVID-19 research in Wikipedia" Colavizza, 2020 - Study investigates the surge of new scientific publications on COVID-19 (>20,000 new articles).