Awyn Boyd Patrick Graybill IRLS 617

8/14/2019 Awyn Boyd Patrick Graybill IRLS 617

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Awyn BoydPatrick Graybill

IRLS 617


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Detailed policies and guidelines govern the creation ofcontent in Wikipedia. These policies and guidelines (whichhave been collaboratively written by users) providestandards for writing articles and rules of conduct forworking with other users. Key standards state that anarticle must have a neutral point of view, include onlyverifiable information, cite sources, and must not includeoriginal research (Lally and Dunford, 2007).


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Of these standards, it seems that aneutral point of view and verifiableinformation are most likely to be in

question.

Wikipedias reliability is

questionable, to say the leastand can we expect that it willremain neutral when gender comesinto play?


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Some Basic Definitions

What is feminism?

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary, feminism is "the theory of thepolitical, economic, and social equality of the sexes."

What is epistemology?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as "the study or a theory ofthe nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to itslimits and validity."


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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 whichgender does and ought to influence our conceptions of knowledge, theknowing subject, and practices of inquiry and justification."


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Wikipedia & the Spread of Information

Encyclopedias exist with the goal of spreading information.Wikipedia has an added advantage over the regularencyclopedia when it comes to fecundity - it is available tomillions of people all the time. Generally speaking, an

epistemic objective would be to facilitate the spread ofinformation to the most people possible. However, whenreliability is in question, it seems to work against the epistemicobjective to have that information spread.


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A feminist epistemic objective would be acknowledgementof subjective positions and identities and the sociopoliticswhich influence the acquisition of knowledge.


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Wikipedia's Information Breakdown

Who contributes to Wikipedia?

A recent survey claims that only 13% of the contributions toWikipedia are made by women. That means that the remaining87% of contributions are made by men. This is far from equal.

For more information -http://www.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/wikipedia-and-wome
http://www.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/wikipedia-and-womenhttp://www.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/wikipedia-and-women


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Who is Online?

In a 2005 report, the following statisticsare show to represent the internetpopulation in the US:

68% of men use the internet66% of women use the internet

Women actually outnumber men by a little in terms of internetuse because there are more women than men in the populationof the United States as a whole.

While more women have access, men actually use the internetmore frequently, often logging on many times a day. (Fallows,

2005).


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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 inrelatively equal numbers (Fallows, 2005).

Women are more skeptical of the information they encounter

online than men (Fallows, 2005). Men and women communicate differently.


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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 beapplied to the physical world. Men are looking for more variedinformation. Men are also more likely to write product reviews

(Fallows, 2005).

Women are interested in how the information they find can improverelationships and provide them with a sense of community. Womenread more product reviews than men (Fallows, 2005).


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Men and Women Seeking Information

Men and women are seeking information in relatively equal

numbers.

The most common information seeking behavior used by bothmen 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 asbeing used with less frequency, though no specific names ornumbers were given (Fallows, 2005).


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Confidence and TrustMen and women are both generally satisfied with the

information they find online. Both genders say that if they arelooking for something specific, they typically find thatsomething. However, men are more likely to feel confident intheir abilities to find that information than women. Also, womenare 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 thereis such a wealth of information available, but women tend to getbogged down by the overabundance more easily than men

(Fallows, 2005).


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More Information for you...

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

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/How-Women-and-Men-
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/How-Women-and-Men-Use-the-Internet.aspx?r=1http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/How-Women-and-Men-Use-the-Internet.aspx?r=1


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Communication Barriers?Men and women communicate differently... ask anyone who

has ever been in a relationship with a member of the oppositesex - communication can be an issue. For women, differentwords have different shades of meaning. For both men andwomen, what's said and what's heard are often entirelydifferent. This begs the question: if men are doing the majority

of the communicating on Wikipedia, are women interpretingthat information in the way that it is intended? For the entriesedited by women, does their content mean the same thing formen that it does for them? Is it possible to maintain a

neutral point of view,as Wikipediarequires, in this situation?


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Gender Bias

While Wikipedia is not intentionally biased, because more menparticipate, the bias exists. What is important is whether thisbias 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.


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Could it Really be so Simple?

Why don't more women use Wikipedia? As stated by the Pewdocument, women are more wary of the information they get fromthe 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/ ), Ihave a hypothesis - women don't think Wikipedia is an accuratesource of information.
http://mashable.com/2009/09/01/women-wikipedia/http://mashable.com/2009/09/01/women-wikipedia/


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"Wikipedia's authors do not come from a cross-section ofthe world's population. They are more likely to beEnglish-speaking, males, and denizens of the Internet"

(Rosenzweig, 2006).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20PlHx_JjEo


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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-dominatedWikipedia?

Are gender differences in communication style relevant to the usefulness and/orreliability 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 whena man does?

Discussion Questions:


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References:Anderson, E. 2009. "Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science." The StanfordEncyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Retrieved October 29, 2009, fromhttp://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-epistemology/

Fallows, D. 2005. How men and women use the internet. Washington, DC: Pew Internet and AmericanLife Project. Retrieved fromhttp://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=c044815http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-epistemology/

Rosenzweig, R. "Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past." Center for Historyand New Media, June 2006,
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-epistemology/http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/How-Women-and-Men-Use-the-Internet.aspx?r=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Academic_use&oldid=c044815http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-epistemology/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-epistemology/http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Academic_use&oldid=c044815http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/How-Women-and-Men-Use-the-Internet.aspx?r=1http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-epistemology/

Awyn Boyd Patrick Graybill IRLS 617

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