Awyn Boyd

Patrick Graybill
IRLS 617
Detailed policies and guidelines govern the creation of
content in Wikipedia. These policies and guidelines (which
have been collaboratively written by users) provide
standards for writing articles and rules of conduct for
working with other users. Key standards state that an
article must have a neutral point of view, include only
verifiable information, cite sources, and must not include
original research (Lally and Dunford, 2007).
 
 
 Of these standards, it seems that a
neutral point of view and verifiable
information are most likely to be in
question.

Wikipedia’s reliability is
questionable, to say the least…
and can we expect that it will
remain neutral when gender comes
into play?
Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia that is written and edited
entirely by visitors to its website. I argue that we are misled
when we think of it in the same epistemic category with
traditional general encyclopedias. An empirical assessment
of its reliability reveals that it varies widely from topic to
topic. So any particular claim found in it cannot be relied on
based on its source. I surveyed some methods that we use
in assessing specific claims and argue that the structure of
the Wikipedia frustrates them. (Magnus, 2006).
Some Basic Definitions

What is feminism?

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary, feminism is "the theory of the

political, economic, and social equality of the sexes."

What is epistemology?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as "the study or a theory of

the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its
limits and validity."
Definitions continued...

What is feminist epistemology?

As defined by Elizabeth Anderson's 2000 article Feminist Epistemology

and Philosophy of Science, feminist epistemology is "the ways in which
gender does and ought to influence our conceptions of knowledge, the
knowing subject, and practices of inquiry and justification."
Wikipedia & the Spread of Information

Encyclopedias exist with the goal of spreading information.

Wikipedia has an added advantage over the regular
encyclopedia when it comes to fecundity - it is available to
millions of people all the time. Generally speaking, an
epistemic objective would be to facilitate the spread of
information to the most people possible. However, when
reliability is in question, it seems to work against the epistemic
objective to have that information spread.
A feminist epistemic objective would be acknowledgement
of subjective positions and identities and the sociopolitics
which influence the acquisition of knowledge.
Wikipedia's Information Breakdown
Who contributes to Wikipedia?

A recent survey claims that only 13% of the contributions to

Wikipedia are made by women. That means that the remaining
87% of contributions are made by men. This is far from equal.

For more information -

http://www.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/wikipedia-and-women
Who is Online?

In a 2005 report, the following statistics

are show to represent the internet
population in the US:

68% of men use the internet

66% of women use the internet

Women actually outnumber men by a little in terms of internet

use because there are more women than men in the population
of the United States as a whole.

While more women have access, men actually use the internet
more frequently, often logging on many times a day. (Fallows,
2005).
Some Points to Note...
• Men and women have different goals when it comes to
internet use and information they seek online (Fallows,
2005).
• Women and men are out there looking for information in
relatively equal numbers (Fallows, 2005).
• Women are more skeptical of the information they encounter
online than men (Fallows, 2005).
• Men and women communicate differently.
Information Goals of Men and Women
The use of the information individuals seek is online is different based
on gender.

Men search for practical every-day information and facts that can be
applied to the physical world. Men are looking for more varied
information. Men are also more likely to write product reviews
(Fallows, 2005).

Women are interested in how the information they find can improve
relationships and provide them with a sense of community. Women
read more product reviews than men (Fallows, 2005).
Men and Women Seeking Information
Men and women are seeking information in relatively equal
numbers.

The most common information seeking behavior used by both

men and women is the search engine. 90% of internet users,
both male and female, use search engines. Only around 40%
use them daily. Other information websites were mentioned as
being used with less frequency, though no specific names or
numbers were given (Fallows, 2005).
Confidence and Trust
Men and women are both generally satisfied with the
information they find online. Both genders say that if they are
looking for something specific, they typically find that
something. However, men are more likely to feel confident in
their abilities to find that information than women. Also, women
are more skeptical of the validity of information they they find.
Women are more worried about issues of security online,
predators, and theft of information. Both genders like that there
is such a wealth of information available, but women tend to get
bogged down by the overabundance more easily than men
(Fallows, 2005).
More Information for you...

If you would like more information on the points in the last few
slides, go to the following link to read Pew Internet's report:

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/How-Women-and-Men-U
Communication Barriers?
Men and women communicate differently... ask anyone who
has ever been in a relationship with a member of the opposite
sex - communication can be an issue. For women, different
words have different shades of meaning. For both men and
women, what's said and what's heard are often entirely
different. This begs the question: if men are doing the majority
of the communicating on Wikipedia, are women interpreting
that information in the way that it is intended? For the entries
edited by women, does their content mean the same thing for
men that it does for them? Is it possible to maintain a
neutral point of view,as Wikipedia
requires, in this situation?
Gender Bias
While Wikipedia is not intentionally biased, because more men
participate, the bias exists. What is important is whether this
bias makes a real difference in the information available.

It can be said that the truth is no more true when spoken by a

man than a woman.
Could it Really be so Simple?

Why don't more women use Wikipedia? As stated by the Pew

document, women are more wary of the information they get from
the internet. Coupling that with reading the completely non-
academic comments on an article with some stats on Wikipedia
usage (http://mashable.com/2009/09/01/women-wikipedia/), I
have a hypothesis - women don't think Wikipedia is an accurate
source of information.
"Wikipedia's authors do not come from a cross-section of
the world's population.  They are more likely to be
English-speaking, males, and denizens of the Internet"
(Rosenzweig, 2006).
 Discussion Questions:

To what extent do you think gender influences our conception of knowledge?

Can you think of a way (or ways) that Wikipedia could close the gender gap?

What are some potential problems that you see arising from a male-dominated
Wikipedia?

Are gender differences in communication style relevant to the usefulness and/or

reliability of the information available on Wikipedia?

Why do you think women contribute to Wikipedia less frequently than men?

Does Wikipedia satisfy any feminist epistemic objectives, or is it just reflecting

society's complexity?

Do you respond differently to information when a woman provides it versus when

a man does?
References:
 
Anderson, E.  2009.  "Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science." The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.).  Retrieved October 29, 2009, from 
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-epistemology/

Fallows, D.  2005.  How men and women use the internet.  Washington, DC: Pew Internet and American 
Life Project.  Retrieved from 
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/How-Women-and-Men-Use-the-Internet.aspx?r=1

Lally, A., Dunford,C. 2007. "Using Wikipedia to Extend Digital Collections."  D-Lib Magazine 13(5/6).
 
Magnus, P. D. 2006. "Epistemology and the Wikipedia."
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Academic_use&oldid=c044815
 
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-epistemology/ 

Rosenzweig, R. "Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past." Center for History
and New Media, June 2006,