Editing Wikipedia, a new iteration of Diderot emerges

Editing Wikipedia, a new iteration of Diderot emerges

Step into the Acadia Virtual Museum via Wikipedia's Gateway. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, houses a portal system - thematic groupings of articles. In the French version, there are over 1810 portals, with a focus on Acadian subjects alone boasting over 2040 articles. These include articles on Caraquet, Matapédia, Gamaliel Smethurst, and the history of Acadia.

But who exactly are the Acadians? And how is this minority, marginalized, and stateless people portrayed through these thousands of encyclopedic entries? Various aspects of Acadia are explored in the book The Wikimedia Movement in Canada, contributed by University of Moncton faculty members Gabriel Arsenault (politics) and Mathieu Wade (sociology). The Wikimedia organization includes platforms such as Wikimedia Commons (for image, sound, and other audiovisual content), Wikidata (for free data), and Wikipedia, the encyclopedia itself.

As Arsenault and Wade point out, "There's no other place with as much accessible information about Acadia." In their article titled The Acadia portal of Wikipedia. A Fair Portrait?, they dive into the complexities surrounding Acadia's geographical and temporal boundaries, a significant political and scientific challenge.

The central article Acadia encapsulates the geographical-historical ambiguity, with its opening sentence stating it is "considered a nation or a set of North American communities," further referencing the four Atlantic provinces, Quebec, Maine, and Louisiana. This ambiguity mirrors Canada itself, a country with an identity that gains from its pluralistic nature.

Professor Marie D. Martel of the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Montreal and Jean-Michel Lapointe, in charge of pedagogical-numerical projects at UQAM's Innovation and Pedagogy Hub, collaborated on the book. Lapointe shares, "Ten years ago, when I mentioned Wikipedia to people, I'd get a brick and a lantern in response. Today, they say it needs improvement, rather than criticizing its quality."

CanadaPedia

Martel and Lapointe were inspired to write the book due to changes in public perception of Wikipedia. They aim to explore the role of the Canadian Wikimedia initiatives in shaping knowledge and understanding of history, politics, and culture.

One chapter focuses on encyclopedic literacy, or the various competencies prompted or stimulated by Wikipedia. Denise Smith's chapter discusses information about the COVID-19 pandemic, where Wikipedia eventually provided reliable information to internet users. Despite internet relaying countless conspiracy theories and misinformation about the virus, the encyclopedia served as a reliable and useful network, thanks to its constant corrections and modifications.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada article, launched on February 26, 2020 (before the WHO officially declared the epidemic a pandemic), was edited by over 600 Wikipedia contributors, accumulating 4,500 modifications through December 2022. By that time, the article had been consulted over 1.7 million times, with an average of 10,000 views per day. The article now boasts nearly 300 unique references, and there are individual articles on the pandemic by provinces as well.

Organizations like the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (where Nathalie Thibault is an archivist) and institutions collaborate on the global project. They host Wikipedia editing workshops to make their collections more accessible through free licenses. Miguel Tremblay presents a similar project televerting meteorological data produced by the Canadian government.

Lapointe mentions, "There's rarely praise for the American government these days. Yet, most government documents are in the public domain, allowing anyone to use them. In Canada, we're still stuck with Crown copyright."

Wikimedia Canada, a non-profit organization, calls for the abolition of section 12 of the Canadian Copyright Act, which retains exclusive ownership of federal government documents for 50 years. This provision makes it difficult for platforms like Wikipedia or Wikidata to reuse state data, resulting in the lack of official photos from the archives of Her Majesty in articles like the one on the Canadian Parliament - yet another unique Canadian quirk...

A Global Time Capsule

Wikipedia was publicly launched on January 15, 2001. Its name is derived from the Hawaiian language, meaning 'quick' and 'instruction,' inspired by Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie. After a rapid debut, the first English network grew to over 20,000 articles within a year, while the German, Catalan, and French versions appeared in mid-March 2001. Today, the digital galaxy spans nearly 350 languages, surpassing and overshadowing older and more prestigious encyclopedia giants like Encyclopædia Universalis, Britannica, or Brockhaus Enzyklopädie.

Quebecers represent only 7% of French-speaking contributors to the French portals. Wikimedia Canada, established in 2011, was created to promote Canadian content on the platform. Even though it has many challenges, Wikipedia has revolutionized the accessibility and democratization of knowledge and has become a valuable source for understanding various subjects, including the complex history of Acadia.

Further Reading

• Janette Bertrand, Cultural disruptorA closer look at the impact of Janette Bertrand on Quebec's cultural landscape.
• "Closed Doors": The ActivistExamining the struggles women face in pursuing political careers, through Aude Seppey's exploration of the subject.
• Up to 40 cm of snow expected in Quebec from Wednesday eveningRecommendations for travel during inclement weather in Quebec, where Montreal advises avoiding travel due to weather conditions.
• To watch in videoVarious video content recommendations for deeper exploration on the topics discussed.

1. In their book The Wikimedia Movement in Canada, Gabriel Arsenault and Mathieu Wade discuss the Acadia portal on Wikipedia, questioning its fair representation of Acadian culture.
2. The central Wikipedia article Acadia explores the geographical-historical ambiguity of Acadia, encapsulating it as "considered a nation or a set of North American communities."
3. Jean-Michel Lapointe, co-author of the book CanadaPedia, shares that ten years ago, Wikipedia was met with skepticism, but today, it's seen as an essential tool for accessing and understanding Canadian history, politics, and culture.
4. Wikimedia Canada, a non-profit organization, advocates for the abolition of section 12 of the Canadian Copyright Act, which restricts platforms like Wikipedia from reusing state data, hindering the development of comprehensive and accurate articles on Canadian subjects.

Read also: