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Wikipedia and the COVID-19 pandemic

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Page view statistics for the "2019–20 coronavirus pandemic" Wikipedia article from 1 January to 24 March 2020
Screenshot of a navigation template displaying a collection of Wikipedia articles related to the coronavirus pandemic, as of 22 April 2020

Wikipedia experienced an increase in readership during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.[1] Editors have worked to remove disinformation and misinformation.[2][3]

In his article "Why Wikipedia Is Immune to Coronavirus", Omer Benjakob of Haaretz wrote, "Wikipedia has stepped in to provide relief. So much so that it has become the go-to source for COVID-19 information." The numbers of Wikipedia viewers globally rose to record levels because of the pandemic.[4]

English Wikipedia

Viewership of WikiProject COVID-19, WikiProject Medicine, and WikiProject Viruses during March 2020

The "Coronavirus" page was created in 2013, and the "2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak" Wikipedia article, which evolved into the English Wikipedia's main article about the pandemic, was created on 5 January. Wikipedia entries were subsequently created for "Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2" and "Coronavirus disease 2019".[2]

By 9 February, the main article had been edited more than 6,500 times by approximately 1,200 editors, and six of the primary Wikipedia articles about the pandemic were viewed more than 18 million times. Other early entries included an overview of the pandemic by country and territory, a timeline, and another focused on xenophobia and racism. The Wikipedia pages about bats as food, the Corona beer brand, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Wuhan also saw increased editing.[2]

As the pandemic spread, editors worked to keep up with the barrage of new information and misinformation being added to the site. Information on Wikipedia was used to create data visualisations and shared on Reddit, Twitter, and other social media platforms.[2] More than 2,100 editors had contributed to the main article about the pandemic by 19 March.[5]

Editors formed WikiProject COVID-19, a WikiProject dedicated to the disease and pandemic. Volunteers have worked to translate short entries into Wikipedias of other languages. The WikiProject had 90 members by 24 March.[6] Members of WikiProject Medicine have also worked to improve coverage of COVID-19.[2]

Wikipedia editors deleted and later restored an entry called "2020 Tablighi Jamaat coronavirus hotspot in Delhi", which project founder Jimmy Wales said "was incredibly poorly written and had zero sources".[7][8] Wales responded to accusations on Twitter stating that Wikipedia did not accept payment for the article's deletion.[9][10]

German Wikipedia

There are hundreds of Wikipedia articles about the coronavirus pandemic at German Wikipedia. Editors began writing about the pandemic in January 2020, when the outbreak was advancing in China. The main article about the pandemic was being accessed 150,000 times per day, as of March 2020.[6]

Indian languages

SWASTHA is a WikiProject focused on fighting misinformation related to COVID-19 in Indian languages[11]
Logo for WikiProject COVID-19 at Urdu Wikipedia

Wikipedia had COVID-19 information in nine Indian languages by 27 March 2020: Arabic, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. SWASTHA (acronym for Special Wikipedia Awareness Scheme for the Healthcare Affiliates),[12] a division of WikiProject Medicine, is working with Johns Hopkins University, India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and National Health Authority, and the World Health Organization to improve coverage.[11][13]

Urdu Wikipedia

Besides writing numerous articles on the Urdu Wikipedia with the scope of their separate Covid19 Project, its editors have designed graphics and especially started a special series of Did You Know infographic posts, which is being circulated all over the social media platforms as well. Urdu Wikipedia has made a specific section for information and graphics related to Coronavirus pandemic on its main page.

One among many from the DYK series of Urdu Wikipedia

Wikidata

According to Wired, BridgeDb[clarification needed] is creating coronavirus gene and protein mapping databases from information supplied by Wikidata, a sibling project of Wikipedia, as part of a collaboration with Wikidata's WikiProject COVID-19.[14]

Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that supports Wikimedia movement projects, including Wikipedia, had employees work remotely. The foundation's executive director, Katherine Maher, has encouraged editors and readers to work together to improve Wikipedia's coverage of COVID-19.[6]

References

  1. ^ Koeze, Ella; Popper, Nathaniel (2020-04-07). "The Virus Changed the Way We Internet". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  2. ^ a b c d e Benjakob, Omer (2020-02-09). "On Wikipedia, a fight is raging over coronavirus disinformation". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  3. ^ Dodds, Laurence (2020-04-03). "Why Wikipedia is winning against the coronavirus 'infodemic'". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  4. ^ Benjakob, Omer (2020-04-08). "Why Wikipedia Is Immune to Coronavirus". Haaretz. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  5. ^ Harrison, Stephen (2020-03-19). "The Coronavirus Is Stress-Testing Wikipedia's Systems—and Editors". Slate. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  6. ^ a b c "Hochzeiten für Wikipedia: Dauerhafte Coronavirus-Updates" [Golden era for Wikipedia: substantial coronavirus updates]. Heise Online (in German). Heinz Heise. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  7. ^ Chitra, Rachel. "On Wikipedia, Quora & Twitter, battle rages against communalisation of Covid-19, Jamaat event". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-04-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ Jena, Smrutisnat (19 April 2020). "Wikipedia Founder Responds To Angry Indians Who Ask Him If He Knows How Wikipedia Works". ScoopWhoop. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  9. ^ Gaur, Viraj (18 April 2020). "Twitter Users Accuse Wikipedia of Taking Bribes, Founder Responds". The Quint. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  10. ^ "Wikipedia's befitting reply to 'bribe to delete Tablighi' page". The Siasat Daily. 19 April 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ a b "Wikipedia's SWASTHA project to help fight Covid-19 fake news in India: Report". Hindustan Times. 2020-04-03. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  12. ^ "Wikipedia Has a Special Project to Fight Coronavirus Fake News in India". NDTV. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  13. ^ "Wikipedia has COVID-19 information in Bangla, Hindi, Tamil and 6 other Indian languages". Hindustan Times. 2020-03-27. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  14. ^ Sterling, Bruce (21 April 2020). "A Covid19 data portal". Wired. Retrieved 22 April 2020.

Further reading

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