Page 14 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016

14survive, and may or may not be modi ed, but it will emerge with changes for the better after a session that may last for months.Ultimately, this ‘mediated production’ carried out for the common good, despite not being conducted in a subtler or even more civilised manner, nonetheless encourages the ongoing improvement of the knowledge of which Wikipedia is a repository.Systemic biasThere are certain factors that determine Wikipedia’s version of the facts. Despite its principle of openness and inclusiveness, in its capacity to generate revisions and criticisms of its non-permanent knowledge, the encyclopaedia depends on an element that even in 2015 is a factor of economic and social exclusion, despite the e orts to reduce these situations even in emerging societies: the Internet. Access by region has a discriminating e ect on their opportunities to learn, and to obtain and consume information. In short, what for Wikipedia is a social vehicle for disseminating knowledge to a general public is a hindrance in another context: without the Internet there’s no Wikipedia.The digital and gender gaps are impairments that hinder Wikipedia’s activity as a social vehicle for disseminating knowledge. It aims to progressively reduce them.This discrimination, which establishes a di erence not only between people but between whole societies and the so-called information society, creates a gap, resulting in a systemic bias that Wikipedia is striving to reduce progressively.An anonymous survey6 conducted by the Wikimedia Foundation on volunteers worldwide in 2012 revealed that international Wikipedia editors are typically white, with an averageage of 33, live in the United States or Europe, have jobs and devote their free time to theencyclopaedia. They also have degrees that enable them to work and carry out related digital volunteer work.A contributor’s conclusions and handling ofa particular subject may even unwittingly condition a version or vision that aspires tobe diverse in today’s world. Certain issues of Spanish-speaking societies are dealt with in di erent depth and may not even exist in other editions. Idiosyncratic subjects are much more popular in a particular encyclopaedia edition than in others. Or they can be laden with much more prejudice than in other societies, or give prominence to a particular piece of information over another because a volunteer with the same interest in the subject will then check the version.Technical disadvantages in Internet connections make some countries more vulnerable than others. Such is the case of Bolivia, where the Internet service is one of the poorest andmost expensive in the world. This naturally leads to lower participation in the project and discourages or reduces the number of Wikipedia editors. Countries’ social conditions also determine their enthusiasm for collaboratingon a project based on volunteer work. Interest and participation are not the same in countries where people have more time to collaborate on voluntary initiatives – that is, giving away time that can potentially devoted to paid work as opposed to volunteer work (though the latter could probably satisfy other aspects and be psychologically rewarding for collaborators).Reference sources likewise condition the coverage and availability of the documentation needed to build Wikipedia. In the case of remote countries, despite interest in coverage, it is absolutely essential today to travel to other cities or countries to obtain reliable sources of this information.THE WIKIPEDIA PHENOMENON IN TODAY’S SOCIETY: FIFTEEN YEARS ON · IVÁN MARTÍNEZSmart Culture: Impact of the Internet on Artistic Creation