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The War of 1812@Wikipedia
Richard [email protected] State University
WikimaniaWashington July 13, 2012
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War of 1812 Monument, Toronto 2008, by Douglas Coupland
Most popular topics? web searches by K-12 students in U.S.
1. Games2. Dogs3. Animals4. Civil War5. George Washington6. Holocaust7. Abraham Lincoln8. Multiplication9. Math games10. Weather11. Frogs12. Fractions13. Planets14. Sharks
source: "What Do 'Games, ' 'George Washington' and 'Sharks' Have in Common? They Can All Be Found on New Rankings of the Most Frequently Searched Keywords by K-12 Students" T H E Journal Volume: 35. Issue: 6. 2008. p. 1
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Wikipedia usage• Who uses it? (everybody, especially students)• When: weekdays in school year• Average time on Wikipedia (all articles) – 4.5 minutes
• Users want summary– Most just browse the opening lead
• Advanced users – they want main text, graphics, footnotes & bibliography
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“History of Canada”: 33,000
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“American Revolution: 138,000
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“American Civil War: 331,000
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“World War II: 670,000
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War of 1812: 390,000 hits in June 2012versus 162,000 in June 2011
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Popularity of “War of 1812”among all articles in military history
hits per month----per day
Major articles: mostly written 2006-7
WWII edit history
War of 1812 edit history
1812 article• 14,000 words• 4 maps; 16 illustrations• 169 notes• short bibliography• 619 links to Wiki articles
on people , units & battles & other language Wikis
• 7000 articles linked to it
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Weak on maps N= only 4
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Contents• Contents• [hide] • 1 Reasons for the war
– 1.1 Trade with France– 1.2 Impressment– 1.3 British support for Indian raids– 1.4 American expansionism– 1.5 US political conflict
• 2 Declaration of war• 3 Course of the war• 4 Theatres of war
– 4.1 Atlantic theatre• 4.1.1 Single-ship actions• 4.1.2 Blockade• 4.1.3 Atlantic coast• 4.1.4 Maine• 4.1.5 Chesapeake campaign and "The Star-Spangled Banner"
– 4.2 Great Lakes and Western Territories• 4.2.1 Invasions of Upper and Lower Canada, 1812• 4.2.2 American Northwest, 1813• 4.2.3 Niagara frontier, 1813• 4.2.4 St. Lawrence and Lower Canada, 1813• 4.2.5 Niagara and Plattsburgh Campaigns, 1814• 4.2.6 American West, 1813–14
– 4.3 Southern theatre• 4.3.1 Creek War• 4.3.2 New Orleans• 4.3.3 Alabama• 4.3.4 Postwar fighting
• 5 The Treaty of Ghent– 5.1 Factors leading to the peace negotiations
– 5.2 Negotiations and peace• 6 Losses and compensation• 7 Memory and historiography
– 7.1 Popular views– 7.2 Canadian– 7.3 American– 7.4 Historians' views
• 7.4.1 Indians as losers• 8 Long-term consequences
– 8.1 United States– 8.2 British North America (Canada)– 8.3 Indigenous nations– 8.4 Bermuda– 8.5 Britain
• 9 See also• 10 Notes• 11 References• 12 Further reading• 13 External links
Start: Dec 200--with 2000 words copied from Encyclopedia Britannica 1910
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Recent revisions
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Who edits Wikipedia?40% are students; 37% have MA or PhD
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Who edited “War of 1812”? 2403 different people made 9796 edits since 2001
24% minor; 37% anon1380 people made 2 or more;
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#2 Dabbler10,296 edits in 6.5 years
• Interests: Royal Navy 1775-1816,• 236 - Isle of Man• 178 - War of 1812• 145 - Rudyard Kipling• 142 - Trampoline• 122 - Oscar Wilde• 115 - Battle of Trafalgar• 114 - Mount St. Helens• 112 - Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson• 100 - Trampolining
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#3 Narson = 5282 edits esp 2007-8
• his major edits:• 123 - War of 1812• 70 - USS Liberty incident• 59 - East India Company• 58 - Lewis Hamilton• 48 - Falklands War• 44 - Fernando Alonso• 35 -
2007 Iranian seizure of Royal Navy personnel
• 33 - Kimi Räikkönen• 30 - Max Mosley• 30 - Falkland Islands• 28 - United States Marine Corps
• “I retired from Wikipedia …due to disenchantment with the dispute Resolution process ….It was more and more difficult to deal with the growing antipathy to expert contributors, including outright hostility from administrators to cover up their own errors. “ (7/2012)
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#4 Tirronan 4100 edits in 6 yearsnow retired
• Interests: Napoleonic wars• 169 - Battle of Borodino• 148 - Battle of Waterloo• 131 - War of 1812• 86 - French invasion of Russia• 71 - Battle of Jutland• 62 - Zumwalt class destroyer• 61 - Hundred Days• 55 - Battle of New Orleans• 40 - Battle of Leipzig• 37 - T-34• 31 - Christianity and violence
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Active contributors#5 Driftwoodzebulin 2400 edits in 6 years
•199 - Superpower
• 110 - Space exploration• 106 - War of 1812• 91 - Timeline of space exploration• 68 - Space Race• 31 - North American Free Trade Agreement
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Debating the “War of 1812” article on its Talk Page
• N=627 people made 3363 comments– 15 people made
half of them
• total 208,000 words
• Edits ? User first edit last edit• 347 Deathlibrarian 2006-05-19 2012-01-21 • 308 Tirronan 2007-11-04 2012-03-19 • 190 Rjensen 2006-11-24 2012-04-18 • 133 Driftwoodzebulin 2006-11-13 2009-11-19 • 119 Shakescene 2008-10-02 2012-06-30 • 102 Narson 2007-06-08 2012-04-16
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Who Won the War?
• Canadian historian Desmond Morton:“Who won and who lost are always vague questions. Both sides tell their kiddies that they won it. And both sides are probably telling some of the truth, which is unusual when you have official history.”
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James Tagg, “And we Burned Down the White House, Too’: American History, Canadian Undergraduates, and Nationalism” The History Teacher (May 2004)
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Who won? What Canadians say
• In a 2009 poll of Canadians: – 37% said the war was a Canadian victory, – 9% said the U.S. won– 15% called it a draw
• 39%—mainly younger people , knew too little to comment. – Half the Ontarians said Canada won,– and only 8% in Quebec said the U.S. won.
• Randy Boswell, "Who won War of 1812 baffles poll respondents," Canwest News Service Dec 9, 2009
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War of 1812 Monument, Toronto 2008
by Douglas Coupland of Vancouver
Toy soldiers to suggest governments used men like
disposable toys--war as child’s game without heroism or
patriotism
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Wikipedians debate who won the war
Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/Cases/2009-11-11/War of 1812 reached compromise after 13 drafts in two months; involved very active military historians from US, Canada, Australia
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Talk:War of 1812/Who Won?
• During the 19th century the popular image of the war in the US was of an American victory, and in Canada, of a Canadian victory. Each young country saw her self-perceived victory as an important foundation of her growing nationhood. The British…paid little attention.
• By the 21st century it was a forgotten war in the U.S., Britain and Quebec, although still remembered in the rest of Canada, especially Ontario.
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Wikipedia: All historians agree
• Ending the war with neither side gaining or losing territory allowed for the peaceful settlement of boundary disputes and for the opening of a permanent era of good will and friendly relations between the U.S. and Canada.
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Wikipedia: All historians agree• The native Indians were
the war's clear losers, losing land, power and any hope of keeping their semi-autonomous status. • Versus the popular
Canadian view that totally excludes the First Nations of 1812—and thus rejects multiculturalism
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Wikipedia: Majority of historians
• the war ended in stalemate…militarily inconclusive. Neither side wanted to continue fighting since the main causes had disappeared and since there were no large lost territories for one side or the other to reclaim.
• With two centuries of peaceful and mutually-beneficial intercourse between the U.S., Britain and Canada, these historians often conclude that all three nations were the "real winners"
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Wikipedia: Minority #1
• British victory and an American defeat. … British achieved their military objectives in 1812 (by stopping the repeated American invasions of Canada) and that Canada retained her independence of the United States.
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Wikipedia: Minority #2
• The British won by losing no territories and achieving their great war goal, the total defeat of Napoleon.
• The U.S. won by – (1) securing her honour and successfully resisting a
powerful empire once again, thus winning a "second war of independence"
– (2) ending the threat of Indian raids and the British plan for a semi-independent Indian sanctuary—thereby opening an unimpeded path for the United States' westward expansion
– (3) stopping the Royal Navy from restricting American trade and impressing American sailors.
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Strengths & weaknesses
War of 1812 &Wikipedia military history in general
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Strengths and weaknesses
• Origins• Blockade• Naval action• Battles: contributors
are military historians, including many Brits
• Historiography• Memory
• Little “new” military historyLittle social, economic or
cultural history
• Few women (Laura Secord, Dolly Madison)
• Thin on Indians • British policies• Jumps around
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Problems: illustrations and maps
• Copyright issues: – All Wiki content must be completely free of
restrictions to all users – including commercial– Limits fair use rights– Can use pre 1923 illustrations
• No budget– All work by unpaid volunteers– No $$ to commission artwork
• Totally “free” text = limited info to readers
Soldiers: weak coverage
• Uniforms (because no illustrations)• Food, logistics• Medical care• Recruitment; links to home– Few letters home are used
• Morale• Desertion
Good coverage
• Links to articles on battles, people• Names, short biographies– Weak on using American DAB, ANB; Canadian
Dict. Of Bio; British DNB
• Ranks, promotions• Ships• Weapons– But poor on illustrations
Scholarship
• Historiography: – ok after intense debate on talk page
• Bibliography– Scholarly books – OK coverage; few annotations– Scholarly journals; N =1400 articles ignored;
• No access? Unaware of JSTOR??• Popular journals also missing
– Few first person accounts• Wiki discourages use of Primary Sources
– Too much use of online 2012 newspapers
All military history articles weak on
• Social history– Women, race Indians, demography
• Cultural history– Symbolic meanings and goals
Weakness: Home front
• Ignore society• Economy– Eg rise of factories in response to blockade– National finance
• Politics, elections• Popular mood; demand to annex Canada?• Resistance to war, esp Northeast
credibility
• Anyone can edit– Vandalism, Kilroy– NPOV “neutral point of view”– Errors & correction– 600+ editors on lookout for dubious changes
• No author voice; credibility?– Repetition with puzzling variation – RS rule: “reliable source” only – OR rule: no original research
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Wikiproject: “Military history”
• 700 active editors • Need limited improvement 12,810 articles in
total • Need significant improvement 51,192 articles
in total
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Conclusions
• Wikipedia is VERY popular– 13,000 people a day look at “War of 1812”
• 2,400 people edited since 2001• Now 14,000 words main text– 169 footnotes– Accuracy is good; errors quickly fixed– Checked daily by 651 people
• Old fashioned, amateur, military• Disputes handled well
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