Epistemology of Wikipedia

Epistemology is a major branch of philosophy and is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. Wikipedia is a major source of knowledge for many people, and thus the epistemology of Wikipedia is significant.

Wikipedia brings a reader the knowledge of other people, and so the study of Wikipedia is often considered to be part of social epistemology, and in particular the epistemology of testimony, which is the study of how hearers/readers get knowledge by being told.

P.D. Magnus [1] identifies Wikipedia as being similar in reliability and structure to other encyclopedias. However, he also notes that one of the major methods readers use to calibrate their level of trust in a source is based on stylistic concerns, and the multi-editor construction of Wikipedia has a tendency to tidy up the style in a way that eliminates some cues of unreliability. Don Fallis [2] argues that despite this problem for calibrating reliability, the advantages of the power and speed with which Wikipedia is updated with additional knowledge, and the fecundity of its open method, render it an important source for epistemologists and library scientists to consider further.

More recent analysis suggests that the epistemology of Wikipedia derives from the combined epistemic values of wikis and of encyclopedias. Jankowski[3] cites Ruth and Houghton[4] who define the epistemic values of wikis as:

  • self-identification
  • collaboration
  • co-construction
  • cooperation
  • trust in the community
  • constructionism

Jankowski suggests that determination of the epistemic values of encyclopedias is more problematic, requiring genre analysis.[3] This analysis revealed that encyclopedias value:

  • utility
  • systematic organization
  • authority
  • trust in experts
  • consistency

References

  1. ^ https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=cas_philosophy_scholar
  2. ^ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.20870
  3. ^ a b Jankowski, Steve (2013). Wikipedia and Encyclopaedism: A genre analysis of epistemological values (PDF) (M.A. thesis). See also Pierre Lévy blog post and comments, 27 May 2013.
  4. ^ Ruth, Alison L.; Houghton, Luke (2009). "The wiki way of learning". Australasian Journal of Educational Technology. 25 (2): 135–152. doi:10.14742/ajet.1147.
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