2025:Program/Content gaps: Native American perspectives on Wikipedia coverage
Session title: Content gaps: Native American perspectives on Wikipedia coverage
- Session type: Lecture
- Track: Diversity & Inclusion
- Language: en
đ„ Session recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIKIMANIA_Day_3_Nyeri_-_Content_gaps;_Native_American_perspectives_on_Wikipedia_coverage.webm đ„
Content gaps about Native American topics persist on Wikipedia - with real world consequences for Native people. A Native and non-Native team need your help closing these gaps. This session reviews common gaps in coverage about Native Americans on Wikipedia, explains the real world impacts, reviews past and proposed solutions involving Wikipedians of all races, and shares a special address from a Native tribal council member to the Wikipedia community. Any Wikipedian can help, but Wikipedians interested in sociology, history, politics, gender, and other content gaps may be especially interested.
Description
A lecture supplemented with PowerPoint slides and a video address from a tribal council member at the conclusion. The aim of this session is to share the experiences of Native wikipedians and non-native wikipedians editing in the Native American topic area with the intent to create broader awareness in the wiki community of basic Native topic facts and etiquette that are frequently encountered. We will briefly summarize previous and upcoming research, include the perspectives of the presenter and Native stakeholders, address common issues, present past and future possible solutions to the Native American content gap, and play a video address from a tribal councilmember who has been engaged with us and is interested in sharing their perspective with the Wikipedia community in hopes of improving coverage of Native people on Wikipedia. Some current issues facing the Native topic area include widespread use of outdated literature that is compounded by inaccurate sources being easiest to access, racism and interpersonal and political conflict between Native and non-native users, intertribal political conflict which bleeds onto Wikipedia, lack of high speed internet access for Native people, lack of regular editors in the Native topic area on Wikipedia, and ambiguity in Wikipedia rules and guidelines and admin action when applied to the Native topic and Native users. We will distribute a sheet with sources and resources. We intend to equip the average Wikipedian with the basic knowledge to engage further in the Native topic area, including adding and verifying content, interpersonal interactions with Native and non-Native topic editors, resources for updated sources and verification, and the ability to follow further research on this content gap.
- How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 â Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?
We want more inclusion of Native users and Native sources, as well as more content on Native people that is respectful and adheres to Wikipedia rules. We use our work and this session to bridge the gap between Native people and Wikipedia, such as including their perspectives and the video in the session. We also aim for our efforts to be sustainable by targeting high impact areas such as basic training for wiki users and connecting to Native GLAM institutions.
- What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
Everyone can participate in this session
Resources
Speakers
- Pingnova
- Pingnova (who uses he/him pronouns) focuses on content gaps about Hmong and Dakota in Minnesota, and more broadly on ethnic and gender/sexual minorities in Minnesota and globally. He helped found the new Wikimedians of Minnesota User Group and participates in Wikimedia LGBT+. Professionally he has history in archives, digital automation, media criticism, and nonprofit administration. Currently he is part of a Native and non-Native team administering a Wikimedia Foundation grant to research how Native American identity is covered on Wikipedia.