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Truth in Numbers?
Film poster
Directed byScott Glosserman
Nic Hill
Produced byMichael Ferris Gibson
Scott Glosserman
Nic Hill
Gabriel London
Zackary Rice
Craig Shapiro
CinematographyEric Koretz
John Murillo
Edited byMadeleine Gavin
Nic Hill
John Murillo
Music byJeff MacDonald
Production
company
Distributed byGlenEcho Entertainment
Release date
  • July 2010 (2010-07)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$55,134

Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia is a 2010 American documentary film which explores the history and cultural implications of the online user-editable encyclopedia Wikipedia. The film attempts to answer the question of whether all kinds of individuals or just experts should be tasked with editing an encyclopedia. A history and background of the website is given, as well as commentary from Wikipedia founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. Commentators that appear in the film include author Howard Zinn, Len Downie of The Washington Post, Bob Schieffer of CBS News, former Encyclopædia Britannica chief Robert McHenry, and former Central Intelligence Agency director James Woolsey. The documentary discusses incidents which shed a negative light on Wikipedia, including the Essjay controversy and the Wikipedia biography controversy.

The idea for the documentary was conceived from a suggestion by film producer Michael Ferris Gibson, the filmmaker behind 24 Hours on Craigslist. Gibson contacted co-director Nic Hill, and financed his travels following Jimmy Wales around the globe. Filming began in August 2006 at the Wikimania 2006 conference. Hill traveled to China, Indonesia, India, South Africa, Australia and Europe to interview Wikipedia contributors for the documentary. Scott Glosserman signed on to the film; he was contacted in order to provide creative direction to the project. The production team refocused their efforts on answering how Wikipedia presents truth.

The film premiered at Wikimania 2010 in Gdańsk in July 2010, and was screened at the Paley Center for Media in New York City in October 2010. It was shown as part of the Savannah Film Festival on November 3, 2010, at Savannah College of Art and Design's Trustees Theater. Truth in Numbers? has received a positive reception, with favorable commentary from author Ted Leonsis, in the AOL publication Urlesque, and coverage of the Savannah Film Festival by Carlos Serrano of District.

Contents

Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia, an American documentary film,[1] explores the history and cultural implications of Wikipedia.[2] Wikipedia is presented in the documentary as a new form of communication and cultural dialog.[3] The documentary directors attempt to answer the question, "Should you and I be charged with canonizing the sum of human knowledge for everyone, or should we be leaving that to the experts?"[4] The film gives an overview of the history of the website, as well as biographical information on founder Jimmy Wales.[5] Wales is shown discussing Wikipedia with an Indian reader, who points out an inaccuracy in an article.[6] Wales responds, "Then change it," and proceeds to show the reader how to click the "edit" tab on the website.[6] Wikipedia founder Larry Sanger is featured in the documentary and speaks critically about the website's embracing of editors from the general public as opposed to soliciting expert contributors.[7]

Journalism and media commentators who appear and are interviewed in the film include author Howard Zinn; Len Downie, executive editor with The Washington Post; Bob Schieffer, news anchor for CBS News; Robert McHenry, formerly the chief of Encyclopædia Britannica; James Woolsey, formerly the director of the Central Intelligence Agency; reporter Chris Wilson of Slate Magazine;[5] Cade Metz, a journalist for The Register who has written critically about Wikipedia; Richard Branson;[4] and Noam Chomsky.[8] The film documents an initiative in India and Africa called "Wikipedia Academies".[9] Controversies discussed in the film include the Essjay controversy, where a member of Wikipedia stated false assertions about his academic background;[10] and the Wikipedia biography controversy, where false statements were inserted into the Wikipedia entry for journalist John Seigenthaler.[11] Musician KRS-One appears in the film, and is quoted with his assessment of Wikipedia, "I can say to you, these are the facts but they are not true."[7]

Production

Conception

Documentary production team in Indonesia (February 2007)

The idea for the film originated from a suggestion by Michael Ferris Gibson, who had made the 2005 documentary 24 Hours on Craigslist.[12] Gibson, a producer on the film, met with co-director Nic Hill.[2] Gibson financed Hill's travels filming events related to Wikipedia.[2] The working title for the film was Truth in Numbers: The Wikipedia Story.[1] Gibson chose to finance the film through a request for funding from Internet visitors; the initial request drew in US$20,000 in initial investment.[1] The production team made their initial work on the project known to Internet viewers via the website www.wikidocumentary.org.[1] Another collaborative website focused on the documentary was formed at Wikia,[13] located at wikidocumentary.wikia.com.[14][15] Regarding the financing strategy of the film, Gibson commented to the San Francisco Chronicle, "People have contributed $50 here, $20 there. Raising money this way is proof on some level that people have to show an interest in this project, and then their interest creates the film itself."[1]

Filming

Filming started in August 2006 at the Wikimania 2006 conference, and by April 2007 the team had aggregated 100 hours of footage.[12] Co-director Nic Hill accompanied Jimmy Wales during 2007, and filmed him as he journeyed around the globe.[16] Hill took a two-person film crew and traveled to China, Indonesia, India, South Africa, Australia and Europe, in order to interview editors and contributors to the website.[1] Hill is himself an editor of Wikipedia, having written an article about a graffiti artist.[16] Gibson and Hill required expertise from an individual versed in the more creative and funding aspects of film-making, and contacted Scott Glosserman to join the venture.[2] Glosserman's involvement with the film began during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.[17] After Glosserman signed on, the breadth of the endeavor became larger.[2] It ended up taking an additional three years to finish after Glosserman joined the production.[2]

Eric Koretz served as director of photography for the film; he joined the film's production team during a shift in focus of the endeavor in January 2008.[5] Koretz used a Panasonic camera during production, an AG-HPX500 P2 HD camcorder.[5] He commented to the industry publication Videography about the choice of film technique, "We’ve been traveling to up to five cities per week for the past six months, and tape simply wouldn’t work. I didn’t want to check it or transport it, and tape is easily damaged. P2 cards are robust, reliable, and you can see your work right away. I far prefer P2 to any HDD-based system, where I wouldn’t be confident that the footage would be there at the end of the day."[5] During the editing process, Glen Echo Entertainment utilized eight Apple Macintosh computers with Intel processors, equipped with Apple's Final Cut Pro editing software.[5]

Re-focus

Nic Hill editing the movie

Glosserman and the rest of the production team met together to put together a focus for the film; they centered their efforts on answering the question: "How does Wikipedia get at the truth?"[2] They also focused on providing information for the viewer which they presumed everyday individuals would ask about the background of Wikipedia and how it functions.[2] Experts were sought out, including the author of The Age of American Unreason Susan Jacoby, to discuss Wikipedia's approach to scholars knowledgeable about specific subject matter.[2] Glosserman commented in an interview with IndieWire, "We tried to get people offering compelling arguments for either side of any particular topic because our intention was to be objective and to let the viewer make up his or her own mind about the merits or consequences of Wikipedia."[2] The narrative structure of the film What the Bleep Do We Know!? served as an inspiration for Glosserman during the production process.[2] As a non-profit project, the film had received more than $55,000 in donations by March 2009.[18]

Release

(left to right) The directors Nic Hill and Scott Glosserman with Jimmy Wales (in Gdańsk (July 10, 2010)
Interview with Nic Hill about the documentary in Gdańsk (July 2010)

The release for the film was originally planned for 2007, then 2008, and 2009.[19] Clips of the film were shown at Wikimania 2007 in Taipei prior to its completion.[16] The segments from the film were shown in the Red House Theater.[16] Wikipedia editors in the audience had mixed views on the film, which elicited positive and negative responses at varying points.[16] In 2008, footage from the film was used in an official fundraising video by the Wikimedia Foundation.[20] The film had its premiere at Wikimania 2010 in Gdańsk in July 2010,[21] before an audience of approximately 300 people.[6][22] A trailer for the movie was released in October 2010.[23]

The film was screened at the Paley Center for Media in New York City on October 20, 2010.[10][24] It was shown in conjunction with the Robert M. Batscha University Seminar Series.[10] The Paley Center for Media screening included a simultaneous streaming broadcast of the event online—this was the first instance where a film screening and panel question-and-answer was made available on the Internet at the same time as to the local audience.[25][26] The panel discussion at The Paley Center for Media was moderated by The New York Times journalist Noam Cohen, and featured both of the film's co-directors, in addition to Wikimedia Foundation representative Samuel Klein, and Wikipedian in Residence at the British Museum Liam Wyatt.[25] After the event, SnagFilms subsequently made the film available for free for six days to viewers in the United States.[25][27]

The film was screened at the Savannah Film Festival on November 3, 2010,[28] at Savannah College of Art and Design's Trustees Theater.[29][30] It was scheduled for a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 30, 2010.[31]

Reception

Jimmy Wales wrote favorably about the film in 2007 during its production, and noted, "Director Nic Hill is making what looks to be a fabulous film about Wikipedia and Wikipedians worldwide."[13] Wales commented negatively about the timing of the film's release, in a statement to PRNewser.[32] Wales stated, "The film is out of date and should have been released three or four years ago."[32] He commented that the documentary consisted of "too many talking heads, and it does not show the community aspect of Wikipedia."[32] Wales posted to a Wikimedia Foundation mailing list, "the film was poorly received in Poland, and it is seriously out of date."[33] Larry Sanger commented he thought the film was, "Not too bad, from what I saw."[34] Wikimedia Foundation board member Samuel Klein commented, "In general, I like the film a lot more after seeing it for the second time, in a very different audience (and seeing their live reactions)."[35] Sage Ross, an attendee of Wikimania 2010, commented that the film appears to take a mainly negative point of view towards Wikipedia, "The film gives a lot of focus to some shallow or misleading lines of criticism, and on an intellectual level, it comes off as largely anti-Wikipedia, contrasting the reasonable-sounding arguments of mature critics with the naive optimism of youthful Wikipedians."[4] Author Ted Leonsis commented favorably about the documentary, at his blog, Ted's Take.[36] Leonsis characterized the documentary as, "A great film about the Wikipedia movement."[36] He concluded, "This is a must see film, a premiere film. You gotta watch it to remain socially relevant!"[36]

"This is definitely a solid film. ... It's interesting, well made, and presents varied perspectives on Wikipedia that help the narrative stay interesting."

 —District, Savannah College of Art and Design[37]

Daniel D'Addario reviewed Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia for the AOL Inc. publication, Urlesque.[38] D'Addario commented, "the film raises interesting questions about authority, only somewhat intentionally."[38] He noted the dated nature of the film with respect to the material it presented and discussed and its actual release date, and observed, "Truth in Numbers? may well be coming too late."[38] D'Addario concluded his assessment by noting that at the time of his review, the Wikipedia article for the film itself was under threat of being deleted: "According to the site, the entry for Truth in Numbers? is being considered for deletion – it links to few other articles on the site, and is an 'orphan.' Given the tenor of Truth in Numbers?, which combines avid interest in Wikipedia with wide-eyed dismay at much of its particulars, this is either very surprising or not surprising at all."[38]

In his review of the film in coverage of the Savannah Film Festival, Carlos Serrano of District wrote that though the subject matter of the film covered a lot of ground and encompassed the website's influence on the world, it utilized an efficient presentation: "Sounds like a lot to put in to one movie, but the film manages to make good use of its 85 minute running time."[37] Serrano commented on the presentation of Jimmy Wales during the film, "In the end, I came out of the theater thinking of him as a three-dimensional figure, very much a man with passion but neither completely good or evil. To be honest, this is very important in a film like this and is a definite plus for the movie."[37] Serrano recommended the documentary, and concluded, "This is definitely a solid film. ... This film is definitely worth a viewing. It’s interesting, well made, and presents varied perspectives on Wikipedia that help the narrative stay interesting."[37]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Hart, Hugh (March 11, 2007). "Industry Buzz". San Francisco Chronicle. www.sfgate.com. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Midterm Madness. Wikipedia Exposed: Scott Glosserman on his Provocative Documentary". IndieWire. www.indiewire.com. October 21, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-27.
  3. ^ "Wikipedia, le film". Premiere.fr. www.premiere.fr. February 5, 2009. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  4. ^ a b c Haines, Lester (July 16, 2010). "Reg hack gives forth in Wikipedia doco". The Register. www.theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Staff (September 25, 2008). "Wikipedia Documentary "Truth in Numbers?" Shot with Panasonic P2". Videography. www.videography.com. Retrieved 2010-11-10. alternate link
  6. ^ a b c Hamann, Mathias (July 12, 2010). "Woodstock im Schatten der Zensur". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Munich, Germany: Südwestdeutsche Medienholding.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  7. ^ a b "Wiki movie stirs geeky trouser worms". The Inquirer. www.theinquirer.net. August 6, 2007. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  8. ^ Underdog Pictures (2007). "Synopsis". Website: Truth in Numbers – The Wikipedia Story. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  9. ^ McIntosh, Ewan (December 4, 2007). "The truth in numbers: creating communities". Ewan McIntosh's edu.blogs.com. edu.blogs.com. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  10. ^ a b c "Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia". The Paley Center for Media. www.paleycenter.org. 2010.
  11. ^ Foglia, Marc (March 11, 2009). "Scott Glosserman fait tout un cinéma sur Wikipédia". Rue89 (in French). www.rue89.com. Retrieved 2010-11-10.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  12. ^ a b "LunchMeet: Truth In Numbers, the Wikipedia Story". Podtech.net. www.podtech.net; Interview with Nic Hill. April 5, 2007; at 6:40, 10:10, 11:00. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ a b Wales, Jimmy (February 16, 2007). "Truth in Numbers". Jimmy Wales: Free knowledge for free minds. jimmywales.com. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
  14. ^ Okoli, Chitu (2008). "A Brief Review of Studies on Open Source Software in Developing Countries in Peer-Reviewed Journals". Sprouts: Working Papers on Information Systems. 8 (45). Sprouts Alliance. ISSN 1535-6078. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  15. ^ Okoli, Chitu (2009). "Beyond Open Source Software: An Introduction to Researching Open Content and Wikipedia". Sprouts: Working Papers on Information Systems. 9 (64). Sprouts Alliance. ISSN 1535-6078. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  16. ^ a b c d e Cohen, Noam (August 4, 2007). "Cheers and Boos as Wikipedians See Themselves on Film". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  17. ^ Brown, Todd (February 4, 2009). "News: Scott Glosserman adds to the Wiki..." Twitch. twitchfilm.com. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  18. ^ Devillard, Arnaud (March 12, 2009). "Wikipedia, le film". 01.net.com (in French). www.01net.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  19. ^ "Chérie, je t'emmène voir Wikipedia au ciné !". Les news cinéma de fluctuat.net. cinema.fluctuat.net. February 5, 2009. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  20. ^ Wikimedia Foundation (October 2008). "Free Access To All Human Knowledge, A Video Appeal From Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales". YouTube. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  21. ^ Jopkiewicz, Izabela (July 8, 2010). "Gdańsk. Rusza światowy zjazd Wikipedystów". Gazeta Wyborcza. trojmiasto.gazeta.pl/. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  22. ^ "Truth in Numbers?". Wikimania 2010. wikimania2010.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  23. ^ "Truth in numbers trailer". Trailerdownload.net. www.trailerdownload.net. 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
  24. ^ "Release info". Internet Movie Database. www.imdb.com. 2010.
  25. ^ a b c Spiers, Katherine (October 19, 2010). "American Premiere of 'Wikipedia' Movie Will Also Stream Online". The Wrap. www.thewrap.com. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  26. ^ Thompson, Anne (October 20, 2010). "Paley Center and SnagFilms Stream Live Doc Debut". Digital Future. IndieWire. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  27. ^ Merin, Jennifer (October 20, 2010). "Snag Truth By Numbers on October 21". Documentaries Guide. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  28. ^ "Schedule" (PDF). Savannah Film Festival. www.scad.edu. 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  29. ^ "What to watch...". Savannah Morning News. Savannah, Georgia. October 28, 2010. p. 12E.
  30. ^ "Savannah Film Festival 2010". Savannah Morning News. Savannah, Georgia. November 3, 2010. p. 1E.
  31. ^ "Truth in Numbers? (2010)". Moviefone. www.moviefone.com. 2010. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  32. ^ a b c Lazarus, Nancy (October 15, 2010). "Jimmy Wales: 'Wikipedia Assumes Good Faith'". PRNewser. www.mediabistro.com. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  33. ^ Wales, Jimmy (October 21, 2010). "Truth in numbers". WikiX-l. lists.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  34. ^ Sanger, Larry (November 2, 2010). "Truth in Numbers". Twitter. twitter.com. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  35. ^ Klein, Samuel (October 21, 2010). "Truth in numbers". WikiX-l. lists.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  36. ^ a b c Leonsis, Ted (October 22, 2010). "Truth in Numbers?". Ted's Take. www.tedstake.com. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  37. ^ a b c d Serrano, Carlos (November 3, 2010). ""Truth in Numbers" raises insightful questions". District. www.scaddistrict.com; Savannah Film Festival Coverage; Savannah College of Art and Design. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  38. ^ a b c d D'Addario, Daniel (November 2, 2010). "'Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia' – The Documentary Reviewed". Urlesque. AOL Inc. Retrieved 2010-11-10.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Truth in Numbers?.
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