WIKIPEDIA: THE ENDLESS PALIMPSESTLiam Wyatt

who?

Dictionary of Sydney

Wikimedia Australia

UNSW History honours

Doctor: “It hurts when I do this...”

Flight Attendant: “I went on holidays last year...”

Wikipedian: “I found a mistake in an article...”

Palimpsest?

The palimpsest is that most unusual of sources as it shows not only what was retained but also what was considered unworthy of retention.

What was once discarded can be reclaimed.

Double palimpsest

Hyper-palimpsest (novgorod)

Infinite palimpsest.

“I read Wikipedia articles...

People always say to me:

...but you don’t actually use them, do you?”

“Using” Wikipedia

Read it

Edit it

Cite it

For Primary Research...

There is an increasing literature about how to use Wikipedia in the classroom and also the specific circumstances when you could legitimately cite its articles.

This presentation talks about Wikipedia as an historical record in its own right and therefore how it might be legitimately used as a primary source.

It is the most controversial of the “four uses”.

Three Pillars

Neutral Point of View (NPOV)

Verifiability (V)

No Original Research (NOR)

Without these three pillars, Wikipedia would not be of any use to historical research.

With them, Wikipedia is a compendium of information - created by the world in real time - of primary history.

Where does the historian start?

“Prolific by unmediated, powerful but untamed, open to all but taken seriously by few.”

- Dan Cohen, History and the Second Decade of the Web, 2004

(Speaking about the internet in generalbut especially applicable to Wikipedia)

4 Primary History Uses of WP

Articles

Discussions

Paratexts

Popularity

Given an sufficient amount of server space and the commitment to maintain it, a resource already exists that may not only sound the death knell of archaeology but also the

opportunity to enable a greater depth and sophistication of anthropology than has ever existed before. So radical an innovation would this new anthropological methodology

represent that it deserves its own name. Call it Wikipediology.

- Andrew Updergrove, The Wikipedia and the death of archaeology 2006

Digital Archaeology

ARTICLES

Arthur Conan Doyle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle[30/06/2009 5:54:18 PM]

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[edit]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Born 22 May 1859

Edinburgh, Scotland

Died 7 July 1930 (aged 71)

Crowborough, East Sussex

Occupation Novelist, short story writer, poet,

doctor of medicine

Nationality British

Genres Detective fiction, historical

novels, non-fiction

Notable

work(s)

stories of Sherlock Holmes

The Lost World

Signature

Arthur Conan DoyleFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 –7 July 1930) was a British author most noted for hisstories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which aregenerally considered a major innovation in the field ofcrime fiction, and for the adventures of ProfessorChallenger. He was a prolific writer whose other worksinclude science fiction stories, historical novels, plays andromances, poetry, and non-fiction.

Contents [hide]

1 Life2 Death3 Bibliography

3.1 Holmes books3.2 Challenger stories3.3 Historical novels3.4 Other works

4 See also5 Notes and references6 External links

LifeArthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 inEdinburgh, Scotland, to an English father of Irish descent,Charles Altamont Doyle, and an Irish mother, née MaryFoley, who had married in 1855.[1] Although he is nowreferred to as "Conan Doyle", the origin of this compoundsurname is uncertain.[2] Conan Doyle's father was achronic alcoholic, and was the only member of his familywho, apart from fathering a brilliant son, neveraccomplished anything of note[citation needed].

Conan Doyle was sent to the Roman Catholic Jesuitpreparatory school Hodder Place, Stonyhurst, at the age ofnine. He then went on to Stonyhurst College, but by thetime he left the school in 1875, he had rejected Christianity to become an agnostic.

From 1876 to 1881, he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, including a period working inthe town of Aston (now a district of Birmingham) and in Sheffield[3]. While studying, he also beganwriting short stories; his first published story appeared in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal before he was20.[4] Following his term at university, he served as a ship's doctor on a voyage to the West Africancoast. He completed his doctorate on the subject of tabes dorsalis in 1885.[5]

Influences [show]

Influenced [show]

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Revision history of Arthur Conan Doyle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arthur_Conan_Doyle&action=history[30/06/2009 5:49:51 PM]

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Revision history of Arthur Conan DoyleFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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(latest | earliest) View (newer 50) (older 50) (20 | 50 | 100 | 250 | 500)For any version listed below, click on its date to view it.For more help, see Help:Page history and Help:Edit summary.External tools: Revision history statistics · Revision history search · Page view statistics

(cur) = difference from current version, (prev) = difference from preceding version, m = minor edit!"#"$"section edit!"%"$"automatic edit summary

(cur) (prev) 13:56, 22 June 2009 83.104.72.243 (talk) (26,528 bytes) (!Life) (undo)

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(cur) (prev) 13:37, 22 June 2009 Alansohn (talk | contribs) m (26,528 bytes) (Revertededits by 83.104.72.243 to last revision by Alansohn (HG)) (undo)

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(cur) (prev) 23:06, 20 June 2009 Deor (talk | contribs) (26,528 bytes) (no—seehttp://www.sfweekly.com/bestof/2008/award/best-mystery-spot-1033088/) (undo)

(cur) (prev) 19:58, 20 June 2009 75.7.12.87 (talk) (26,766 bytes) (!Life: Added postregarding Conan Doyle's stay in San Francisco, CA) (undo)

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You can support Wikipedia by making a tax-deductible donation.

Everything is kept.

Everything is available for analysis.

And I mean everything.

Long History

“Australasia - natives” - Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1842

“Indigenous Australians” - Encyclopaedia Britannica, present.

It is not the information in these EB articles which is interesting to historians. It is that they demonstrate the spirit of the age. As it is with EB, so too with WP.

Short History

A minute by minute account of the public record of “interesting” events.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8O-hv3w-MU

Timelapse video of first 24 hours of WP article development: “July 2005 London Bombings”

DISCUSSIONS

hyperlink

Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy[1/07/2009 3:03:40 PM]

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Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy

began after twelve editorial cartoons, most of which depicted theIslamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danishnewspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005. Thenewspaper announced that this publication was an attempt tocontribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship.

Danish Muslim organizations, who objected to the depictions,responded by holding public protests attempting to raiseawareness of Jyllands-Posten's publication. Further examples ofthe cartoons were soon reprinted in newspapers in more thanfifty other countries, further deepening the controversy.

This led to protests across the Muslim world, some of whichescalated into violence with police firing on the crowds (resultingin more than 100 deaths, altogether),[1] including setting fire tothe Danish Embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, stormingEuropean buildings, and desecrating the Danish, Dutch,Norwegian and German flags in Gaza City. While a number ofMuslim leaders called for protesters to remain peaceful, otherMuslim leaders across the globe, including Mahmoud al-Zahar ofHamas, issued death threats.[2][3] Various groups, primarily inthe Western world, responded by endorsing the Danish policies,including "Buy Danish" campaigns and other displays of support.Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen described thecontroversy as Denmark's worst international crisis since WorldWar II.[4]

Some critics of the cartoons described them as Islamophobic or racist,[5] and argued that they are blasphemousto people of the Muslim faith, are intended to humiliate a Danish minority, or are a manifestation of ignoranceabout the history of Western imperialism.

Supporters have said that the cartoons illustrated an important issue in a period of Islamic terrorism and thattheir publication is a legitimate exercise of the right of free speech, explicitly tied to the issue of self-censorship.They claim that Muslims were not targeted in a discriminatory way since unflattering cartoons about otherreligions (or their leaders) are frequently printed.[6] They question whether some of the riots were spontaneousoutpourings as they took place where no spontaneous demonstrations are allowed, and whether the images ofMuhammad per se are offensive to Muslims, as thousands of illustrations of Muhammad have appeared inbooks by and for Muslims.[7]

Contents [hide]

1 Descriptions of the drawings2 Timeline

2.1 Debate about self-censorship2.2 Publication of the cartoons2.3 Danish Prime Minister's meeting refusal2.4 Judicial investigation of Jyllands-Posten2.5 Danish Imams tour the Middle East2.6 Jyllands-Posten response

The controversial cartoons of Muhammad, asthey were first published in Jyllands-Posten inSeptember 2005 (English version ). Theheadline, "Muhammeds ansigt", means "The faceof Muhammad".

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Article

I submit that this transcript is valuable in revealing exactly how a war of ideas is waged... As the primary article about the Muhammad cartoons evolved, there also arose behind the scenes a fierce debate over whether or not the cartoons themselves should be included and how they should be displayed.

The transcript of the debate captures not only the ideas expressed by the many contributors and readers, but also the tenor of the debates, the pleas, the acts of vandalism, the argumentative styles, strategies, tactic and gambits. In other words, the transcript reveals how some contributors won the debate, how the others lost, and how each side treated the other.

This transcript reveals the mechanics of the clash of civilizations.

John Simmons, Iraq Museum Internationalwww.baghdadmuseum.org/wikipedia

Of the associated discussion pages:

“Ordinary writings”This is unmediated debate* in the frame of describing topics for posterity.

Wikipedia discussion pages are not for conversation but for planning and debating the best way to convey a topic.

There is scarcity of analysis but an abundance of data.Historians, with new tools and methodologies, are needed to analyse this data.

*digital divide notwithstanding

PARATEXTS

Vandalism...

“...from the philosophical and the poetic to the lewd and the obscene.”

Rex Wallace, An Introduction to Wall Inscriptions from Pompeii and Herculaneum, 2005

Their banality becomes their usefulness.

What was once discarded becomes important,precisely because it was never meant to be kept.

Spelling/grammar mistakes, marginalia, erasures...

POPULARITY

How does the historian footnote the following statement:

“In the lead-up to the 2008 US presidential elections, the choice of Joe Biden took no one by surprise but the choice of Sarah Palin took her from relative obscurity to

become political phenomenon, instantly.”

Quantitative, not just Qualitative

Absolute popularity

Wikipedia article traffic statistics

http://stats.grok.se/en/200906/Michael_Jackson[30/06/2009 4:43:48 PM]

Wikipedia article traffic statistics

Michael_Jackson has been viewed 12507214 times in 200906. This article ranked142 in traffic on en.wikipedia.org.

Enter another wikipedia article title:English 200906

This is very much a beta service and may disappear or change at any time. Questions or comments should go toUser:Henrik

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How does the historian footnote the following statement:

“In the 2008 US Democratic party primaries, Barack Obama consistentlydominated the popular interest of the population, at least those online.”

Relative Popularity

PARTICIPATION?

Thank you

lwyatt@wikimedia.org.au

www.wikimedia.org.au