2023:Program/Submissions/Wikimedia counter disinformation: research and practice - VRCXHF

The following is a mirror of what are publicly available details of submission made at the call for proposal platform, Pretalx. Any changes here may be overwritten by a bot while syncing updates from Pretalx ([1]). Changes are monitored and may be updated into Pretalx if they do not change the context of the submission (i.e. correcting typographical errors).

Title: Wikimedia counter disinformation: research and practice

Speakers:

Pablo

Hello, World! My name is Pablo, I joined the Wikimedia Foundation in February 2021 as a Research Scientist in the Research team. I focus on knowledge integrity and resilience to disinformation in Wikipedia and its sister projects. I am based in Barcelona. Picture is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pablo_Aragon.jpg)

Ziski Putz and FPutz (WMF)

I joined the Foundation's Global Advocacy team because I’m passionate about using digital technologies to help communities have their voices heard in policy arenas so they can counteract extractive and oppressive practices. I've dedicated my career to exposing surveillance technologies and organizing campaigns to dismantle these as digital-rights activist, researcher, and a policy consultant. I've worked with organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, International Red Cross, Microsoft, and UK grassroots groups on topics that include algorithmic bias, surveillance technology, and the use of emerging technologies like blockchain in humanitarian contexts. My background is varied by my focus is singular. I applying that grass-roots energy to help Wikimedia fight for policies that will protect and promote the open web so that everyone has a chance to access and share information. I hold an MA in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh and an MPhil in International Development Studies from the University of Oxford. I might sound American, but I'm Austrian.

Costanza Sciubba Caniglia

Costanza Sciubba Caniglia is the Anti-Disinformation Lead at the Wikimedia Foundation. She previously worked in journalism and public information at the United Nations in New York, including as a spokesperson for Italy on the U.N. Security Council. She is affiliated with the Shorenstein Center at Harvard and is an editor and co-founder of the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. She regularly writes and speaks about disinformation and digital governance.

Pretalx link

Etherpad link

Room:

Start time:

End time:

Type: Roundtable / open discussion

Track: Research, Science, and Medicine

Submission state: submitted

Duration: 90 minutes

Do not record: false

Presentation language: en

Abstract & description

Abstract

Disinformation has become one of the largest threats of the information ecosystem, including Wikimedia projects. As editors spent time and effort in patrolling tasks to detect low-quality and misleading content, several initiatives have been proposed to increase their literacy and capacities. In this session we will address existing opportunities and challenges in this domain.

Description

In the first half of the session, we will share opportunities found by recent projects by the WMF's Global Advocacy and Research teams. First, the public mapping of initiatives and tools by Wikimedia local communities to counter disinformation will be reviewed [1]. Then, we will present novel language-agnostic machine learning models to help editors in any language version of Wikipedia identify edits that might affect knowledge integrity [2].

The second half of the session will be an open discussion to bring different community perspectives on existing challenges. In particular, we will focus on how to make these resources not only publicly available, but also actionable and tailored to the specific needs of Wikimedia communities.

[1] https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/08/09/help-wikimedia-counter-disinformation

[2] https://research.wikimedia.org/knowledge-integrity.html

Further details

Qn. How does your session relate to the event themes: Diversity, Collaboration Future?

⦿ Diversity: This session will cover multiple initiatives and tools by different local communities of the Wikimedia movement together with approaches by the Wikimedia Foundation. We believe that connecting this diverse background is crucial to expand our existing knowledge on anti-disinformation strategies in Wikimedia. Our findings also reinforce the fact that diversity is crucial to the resilience and sustainability of our movement - fostering participation on Wikimedia projects from people with different backgrounds, locations, and lived experience is what makes us strong.

⦿ Collaboration: The session has been designed to create an open space to learn the different approaches to counter disinformation. The ultimate purpose of the panel is to discuss how to collaborate to make them actionable and tailored to the specific needs of Wikimedia communities.

⦿ Future: Knowledge as a service is a core goal of the 2030 Wikimedia Movement Strategy. To serve knowledge it is essential to increase the capacities to identify the effects and mitigations of misinformation and disinformation (Initiative 38 at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Initiatives). In addition, the discussion on how to tailor approaches to the specificities of each Wikimedia community is inspired by the core goal of Knowledge Equity.

Qn. What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Some experience will be needed

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