Digging Wikipedia: Notes on the public communication of archeology in a free and collaborative encyclopedia

We present and reflect the potentialities of public communication in archaeology through the Wikipedia encyclopaedia, based on our experience as the Equipo de Wikimedistas de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata (WikiUNLP). Wikipedia is a multilingual, online, free, and open encyclopaedia, which contains geopolitical, gender, and knowledge biases that reflect the communities that edit it. We aimed to reduce these biases through content editing and improving content on Wikipedia as a powerful way to communicate science. In this work, we analyse some edits made on this encyclopaedia related to archaeological content, such as the creation of biographies of archaeologists and academic journals, and a few articles on archaeological topics. In general, we identify a lack of information in articles about archaeologists and journals, as well as frictions that they must overcome to be considered relevant by editors from the Global North. We also observe that the incorporation of references and the improvement of articles increase the average monthly visits. Finally, we discuss the challenges posed by Open Science and Public Communication of Science from the collaborative perspective proposed by Wikimedia Projects, as well as the commonalities and tensions between the scientific and Wikimedia communities.

• Main Authors: Zubimendi, Mikel, Cueto, Jorge Julian, Béguelin, Marien, Archuby, Fernando M.
• Format: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• Language: spa
• Published: Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Museo de Antropología 2024
• Subjects: Wikipedia; Public knowledge of science; University; Editathons; Conocimiento público de la ciencia; Universidad; Editatones; Compreensão pública da ciência; Universidade
• Online Access: https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/antropologia/article/view/43539; https://suquia.ffyh.unc.edu.ar/handle/suquia/175188