2023:Program/Submissions/What Is Wikipedian?: Community-Side Content Moderation and the Struggle to Define the Project's Ethos - JEPPAL
Title: What Is Wikipedian?: Community-Side Content Moderation and the Struggle to Define the Project's Ethos
Speakers:
Ryan McGrady
Ryan McGrady is Senior Researcher with the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure and Researcher with Media Cloud focused on the International Hate Observatory. He is based at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and lives in Brooklyn. He has been researching, teaching about, organizing, and volunteering for Wikimedia projects since 2007.
Room:
Start time:
End time:
Type: Lecture
Track: Research, Science, and Medicine
Submission state: submitted
Duration: 30 minutes
Do not record: false
Presentation language: en
Abstract & description[edit source]
Abstract[edit source]
How should Wikipedia, which is both an encyclopedia and a community, address the community-side content moderation issue of productive users whose talk page behaviors fall short of expectations? This session approaches the subject through multiple case studies from the English Wikipedia, including an analysis of block log data, to explain it in terms of content moderation, competing sociotechnical imaginaries, and ultimately as a struggle to frame the ethos of the Wikipedia community.
Description[edit source]
Additional track consideration: Equity, Inclusion, and Community Health
A great deal of research has been published about the many ways Wikipedia contributors build and maintain article content, the content moderation interventions they employ to preserve the quality of that content, and the complex sociotechnical processes which occur behind the scenes as disputes emerge. Another body of research examines social challenges the community faces such as harassment, gender or race-based discrimination, and other behaviors which run contrary to core collaborative principles.
At the intersection of these two bodies of literature is an internally well-known but understudied phenomenon: how the community contends with editors whose talk page statements or behaviors fall short of social expectations but whose article contributions are positive. This presentation approaches this subject through multiple case studies from different eras in the history of the English Wikipedia, including an analysis of block log data, to explain it in terms of content moderation, competing sociotechnical imaginaries, and ultimately as a struggle to frame the ethos of the Wikipedia community.
This session is based on research focused on the English Wikipedia, and I see Wikimania as an opportunity to learn how other communities approach similar community-side content moderation challenges, and how those challenges might different between projects. To that extent, this may fit best as part of a larger roundtable discussion or otherwise in a format which allows time to discuss among presenters and/or with the audience. The time and format is flexible.
Further details[edit source]
Qn. How does your session relate to the event themes: Diversity, Collaboration Future?
This session is especially relevant to Diversity and Collaboration. More research is needed to understand how content moderation functions within Wikipedia communities, and not just as it relates to article content. The ways in which Wikimedians interact with each other is complex, with competing priorities and understandings of what it means to contribute to Wikipedia (or another Wikimedia project). Sometimes, these differences affect the extent to which groups or individuals feel confident participating, or the extent to which healthy collaboration can take place. While this session is oriented towards sharing (and hopefully expanding!) research rather than advocacy, its subject matter is also directly relevant to multiple of the Movement Strategy Recommendations: sustainability, inclusion, and evaluation, for example. More concretely, I would like for this session to be an exercise in collaboration among the diverse group which gathers for Wikimania, learning about content moderation practices employed on other projects.
Qn. What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
Everyone can participate in this session
Qn. What is the most appropriate format for this session?
Onsite in Singapore
Remote online participation, livestreamed- Remote from a satellite event
- Hybrid with some participants in Singapore and others dialing in remotely
- Pre-recorded and available on demand
