Ford, H orcid.org/0000-0002-3500-9772 and Wajcman, J (2017) ‘Anyone can edit’, not everyone does: Wikipedia’s infrastructure and the gender gap. Social Studies of Science, 47 (4). pp. 511-527. ISSN 0306-3127
Abstract
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, we examine the empirical research that highlights these issues. Our 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, our aim here is to present a consolidated analysis of the gendering of Wikipedia.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Authors 2017. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Social Studies of Science. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | expertise; feminism; gender; platforms; infrastructure; technoscience; Wikipedia |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Media & Communication (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 20 Jan 2017 13:29 |
Last Modified: | 04 Sep 2017 14:59 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312717692172 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0306312717692172 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:110764 |