We Need to Talk About Paid Editing: Sorting Out Wikipedia's Most Enduring Argument
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We Need to Talk About Paid Editing… Sorting Out Wikipedia’s Most Enduring Argument Presented by: Andrew Lih (User:Fuzheado) Christophe Henner (User:Schiste) William Beutler (User:WWB) Conference Wikimania 2014 Barbican Centre, London #wikimania2014 Date August 10, 2014
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This presentation explores the past, present and future of paid editing on Wikipedia, now one of the world's top 5 websites. Originally presented at Wikimania 2014 in London by Andrew Lih (User:Fuzheado), Christophe Henner (User:Schiste), and William Beutler (User:WWB).
Transcript of We Need to Talk About Paid Editing: Sorting Out Wikipedia's Most Enduring Argument
We Need to Talk About Paid Editing… Sorting Out Wikipedia’s Most Enduring Argument
Presented by:
Andrew Lih (User:Fuzheado)
Christophe Henner (User:Schiste)
William Beutler (User:WWB)
Conference
Wikimania 2014
Barbican Centre, London
#wikimania2014
Date
August 10, 2014
The Ghosts of Paid Editing Past WikiScanner, MyWikiBiz, Bell Pottinger, Wiki-PR, and how we got to where we are now
01.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
History of COI Editing Conflict-of-interest editing on
Wikipedia catalogues the “greatest
hits” in self-interested Wikipedia
edits from the site’s early years
through today
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
WP:COI—the first version Fun fact: the Conflict of interest
guideline was first created by an
account blocked for sock puppetry...
by Essjay!
Paid
Unconflicted
Unpaid
Conflicted
Paid
Unconflicted
Unpaid
Conflicted
Passionate advocate
GLAM / Like-minded institution
Volunteer Wikipedian
Paid advocate / consultant
Paid
Unconflicted
Unpaid
Conflicted
Passionate advocate
• POV warrior
• Booster of alma mater
GLAM / Like-minded institution
• Wikipedian-in-residence
Volunteer Wikipedian
• Seasoned editor in good
standing
Paid advocate / consultant
• PR firm
• Bright Line compliant?
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Part of the problem
¡ Everyone caught by WikiScanner
– In 2006, a clever tool associated edits with IP addresses for virtually every well-known
company, organization and government in the world
¡ Bell Pottinger
– Well-known British PR firm caught deleting negative information from clients’ pages in 2011
¡ Wiki-PR
– Little-known US startup caught with massive sock puppet army in 2013
¡ US Congress
– They just can’t help themselves!
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Part of the solution
¡ Corporate Representatives for Ethical Wikipedia Engagement (CREWE)
– Facebook group created in 2012 to foster discussion between the communications industry
and the Wikipedia community
¡ Chartered Institute for Public Relations (CIPR)
– UK-based trade association created a best practices guide, in cooperation with Wikimedia
UK, advising companies to follow the “Bright Line”
“It’s imperative … that the public relations industry demonstrate by cooperation and good behavior that it can work with the Wikipedia community instead of taking the quick, easy-fix route”
— Phil Gomes, Edelman Digital
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
CREWE flow chart An attempt to guide communications
professionals through the process of
using the talk page to suggest
changes to articles
Detail from CREWE flow chart
The Present Circumstances How to win friends and influence Wikipedia, Bright Line and its discontents
02.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Adventures in Paid Editing
¡ New Media Strategies (2008–10)
– First efforts to bridge gap between clients and Wikipedia
– Domino’s Pizza, McAfee
¡ Beutler Wiki Relations (2010–13)
– Set up shop as a consultancy to do the same
– C-SPAN, Glover Park Group
¡ Beutler Ink (2013–PRESENT)
– Team of 6 writer-researchers + project managers working with major US firms, writing and
proposing new pages, training and coaching communications professionals
– Verizon, Thunderbird School of Global Management
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Jimbo’s Bright Line
¡ Introduced in 2012
¡ The only clearly-articulated “best practice” now operating
¡ Not a policy on English Wikipedia, but widely recognized
¡ “Focus on the edit, not the editor”? Not here
“I am opposed to allowing paid advocates to edit in article space at all, but am extremely supportive of [giving them] other helpful paths to assist us”
— Jimmy Wales
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Donovan House Group A group of 12 digital PR leaders,
Wikipedians and academics met
here on February 7, 2014 to discuss
issues affecting both communities
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Statement on Wikipedia from participating communications firms Not the catchiest name, or the most
specific, but we’re pretty sure it’s
the right one
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Key points from the statement
Participating firms pledged…
¡ To seek to better understand the fundamental principles guiding Wikipedia
and other Wikimedia projects.
¡ To act in accordance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines, particularly
those related to "conflict of interest."
¡ To abide by the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use.
¡ To the extent we become aware of potential violations of Wikipedia policies by
our respective firms, to investigate the matter and seek corrective action, as
appropriate and consistent with our policies.
¡ Beyond our own firms, to take steps to publicize our views and counsel our
clients and peers to conduct themselves accordingly.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Participating Firms, June 2014
¡ Beutler Ink
¡ Ogilvy & Mather
¡ FleishmanHillard
¡ Peppercomm
¡ Burson-Marsteller
¡ Ketchum
¡ Porter Novelli
¡ Voce Communications
¡ Edelman
¡ Allison+Partners
¡ Glover Park Group
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Participating Firms, Aug. 2014 ¡ Beutler Ink
¡ Ogilvy & Mather
¡ FleishmanHillard
¡ Peppercomm
¡ Burson-Marsteller
¡ Ketchum
¡ Porter Novelli
¡ Voce Communications
¡ Edelman
¡ Allison+Partners
¡ Glover Park Group
¡ Hill+Knowlton Strategies
¡ MSLGROUP
¡ Augur
¡ LEVICK
¡ RFBinder + Partners
¡ Roepke Public Relations
¡ Text100
¡ New Venture Communications
¡ DeMoss
¡ Fahlgren Mortine
¡ Lawson Mulvihill
¡ Weber Shandwick
¡ Keene Communications
¡ Waggener Edstrom
¡ Cohn & Wolfe
¡ Finn Partners
¡ Kwittken
¡ Access Communications
¡ Golin
¡ Linhart PR
¡ Chandler Chicco Companies
¡ Citizen Relations
¡ Nereus
¡ Ruder Finn
¡ MM2 Public Relations
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Industry Coverage Plus: AdAge, Al Jazeera America,
BBC, CNET, Gawker, HBR, Inc.,
Politico, Slate, TechDirt, The Daily
Dot, The Independent, The Verge,
TIME, Wall Street Journal, Wired,
ZDNet... and many more!
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Industry Reaction Agencies are very interested in this;
here’s an internal memo from a
global firm directing its team
members to follow these principles
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
A French perspective
¡ Orange / France Telecom
– A study case of correct company engagement
¡ How COI is dealt with on the French Wikipedia
– Much simpler than you would expect from French!
¡ Yamaha
– We’re pushing away free knowledge…
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
CAC40 Wikipedia’s article On the French Wikipedia, even
articles regarding the most
important French companies are far
from being good articles. Some are
even just stubs
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Orange improved Orange’s article
Big time. And nothing was rolled
back
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
On the Village Pump (le Bistro)
¡ Some editors asked questions, but these were quickly answered
It’s key to distinguish an edit with a COI that is purely promotional from one that is fixing a mistake.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Yamaha wants to value its history
And they put up a wiki so their
community can edit it
Progetto Telecom Italia The first (to our knowledge) joint project between a company, a university and a local Wikimedia chapter
03.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Who we are ¡ Wikimedia Italia
Italian chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation
– Frieda Brioschi (President at the time)
– Cristian Consonni (Vice President at the time)
¡ Telecom Italia Leading Italian telecom operator: Telecom Italia, Tim, Tim Brazil, Sparkle, Olivetti are the Group’s main brands. – Federico Ascari (Former Corporate Communication, now Brand Development
Projects)
¡ Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano Private university founded in Milan in 1920 – Nicoletta Vittadini (Associate Professor, Sociology of communication and
culture)
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
What we have done ¡ Training phase
We organised lessons about:
– Wikipedia and its policies
– History of telecommunication in Italy – History of the former telco in Italy – Recent history of Telecom Italia – Wikipedia as an important business “tool” (Lundquist) – The experience of an it.wiki sysop – Visit of historical archive in Turin
¡ Editing phase Students were divided in two groups who edited: – Telecom Italia articles in Italian and English
– Related articles
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Who was involved and why A group of six university students chose the project for their final bachelor dissertation • Completing and extending articles that refer to Telecom Italia on Wikipedia • Enriching these articles with external sources but with sources by Telecom Italia historical archive too
The project
(1) Valentina Frigato (Valentina F.) (2) Snowdrop (Giulia) (3) Chiarada91 (Chiara) (4) Vale14orla (Valentina O.) (5) Kate Riddle (Eleonora) (6) Valeria Sorrenti (Valeria)
“Be transparent and this project will work well!”
— Mono the monkey
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
How we avoid NNPOV ¡ Being transparent! (i.e. following the «Paid editing
guidelines» before they even existed) – The students had a template in their user page
– When updating pages they left a message in the talk page before starting to modify
– Two peer review processes were requested
¡ “Gated” approach
Company → Students → Wikipedia
Wikimedians
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Outcomes ¡ Results
– Mapping Telecom Italia presence on Wikipedia – Benchmarking of articles about other telcos – ~ 200 new references (100 in Telecom Italia article) – ~ 20 images uploaded
– 2 new articles written – 2 articles peer reviewed (Telecom Italia and STIPEL) – ~ 650 total edits on articles
¡ Things to watch out for – Scale can be hard to reach (i.e. more students, more articles,
more companies) – Explain that a Wikipedia article is not a Facebook page – Expect interactions to follow the corporate style
Ar$cles in Italian involved: Telecom Italia, Telve, Set, S$pel, Te$, Telecom Argen$na, Tim Brasil, Franco Bernabè e Marco Patuano. Ar$cle in English involved: Telecom Italia
The Future of Whatever We Decide to Call It Beyond Donovan House and CIPR
04.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Coming in September 2014
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
A professional guide —Where Wikipedia is coming from
—Why to follow these rules
—How to set up an account
—How to ask for help
—Troubleshooting common issues
—Creating a company policy
—Guidelines + glossary
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Language is part of the problem
¡ On the Wikipedia side…
– Conflict of interest (COI)
– Paid editing
– Paid advocacy
¡ On the industry side…
– Public relations
– Marketing
– Marcomms
– Communications
¡ We need a better vocabulary
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PAID EDITING WIKIMANIA - AUG 10, 2014
Where do we go from here?
¡ Toward a more professional Wikipedia?
¡ Will there ever be an official policy?
¡ WMF of Content Creation?
¡ OTRS of Content Triage?
¡ Relationship to GLAM?
Thanks, Wikimania 2014!
