‘Anyone Can Edit’, Not Everyone Does: Wikipedia and the Gender Gap

‘Anyone Can Edit’, Not Everyone Does: Wikipedia and the Gender Gap - scientific work related to Wikipedia quality published in 2017, written by Heather Ford and Judy Wajcman.

Overview

Feminist STS has long established that science’s provenance as a male domain continues to define what counts as knowledge and expertise. Wikipedia, arguably one of the most powerful sources of information today, was initially lauded as providing the opportunity to rebuild knowledge institutions by providing greater representation of multiple groups. However, less than ten percent of Wikipedia editors are women. At one level, this imbalance in contributions and therefore content is yet another case of the masculine culture of technoscience. This is an important argument and, in this article, authors examine the empirical research that highlights these issues. Authors main objective, however, is to extend current accounts by demonstrating that Wikipedia’s infrastructure introduces new and less visible sources of gender disparity. In sum, aim here is to present a consolidated analysis of the gendering of Wikipedia.