Research directions towards the Wikimedia 2030 strategy – Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation’s Research team has published a set of white papersthat outline our plans and priorities for the next 5 years. These white papers, which were developed collaboratively by all members of the team, reflect our thinking about the kind of research that will be necessary to further the 2030 Wikimedia strategic direction of knowledge equity and knowledge as a service.

Altogether, these white papers define a set of recommended directions in three key areas—knowledge gapsknowledge integrity, and foundations—where the Wikimedia Foundation, in partnership with affiliates and academic collaborators, can help the Wikimedia movement address and anticipate challenges and take advantage of emerging technological opportunities. Example directions include:

  • Developing a knowledge equity index to track progress towards removing barriers preventing people from accessing and contributing to free knowledge
  • Identifying new methods and tools for characterizing bias, information quality, and trustworthiness in Wikimedia content
  • Designing and testing machine learning technologies to assist contributors in identifying and filling knowledge gaps….”

We’re endorsing a proposed copyright treaty that adds educational and research exceptions. Here’s why. – Wikimedia Foundation

“The Wikimedia Foundation, and 15 other civil society and research organizations, have endorsed the Proposed Treaty On Copyright Exceptions For Educational And Research Activities that introduces exceptions and limitations to copyright, supporting open knowledge and the free culture. The proposed treaty will be presented to the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights at its 37th session from November 26th-30th….”

ARL, Wikimedia, and Linked Open Data: Draft White Paper Open for Comments through November 30 | Association of Research Libraries® | ARL®

“In June 2018, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) charged a task force to look at Wikidata. The task force emerged from several years of discussion between ARL and the Wikimedia Foundation on where the two communities can effectively collaborate. The focus on Wikidata and Wikibase came from two points of alignment in particular: interest in linked open data for both library discovery systems and Wikipedia, and advancing a diversity and inclusion agenda in the cultures of both libraries and Wikimedia….”

The International Society for Computational Biology and WikiProject Computational Biology: Celebrating Ten Years of Collaboration Towards Open Access

“Open access to scientific information is a core principle of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB). This principle is shared by the the Wikimedia Foundation, with its primary goal to collect, develop and disseminate free and open-access educational content. Consequently, ISCB has and continues to foster strong links with several Wikimedia projects, particularly Wikipedia. To this end, ISCB works closely with WikiProject Computational Biology (WCB), a group of around 130 editors overseeing Wikipedia articles relating to computational biology and bioinformatics. In 2017, WCB celebrates its 10th anniversary, having grown to cover more than 1,300 articles in the English Wikipedia. This article serves to acknowledge past ISCB-WCB collaborations, release the results of the 2016-17 ISCB Wikipedia competition, officially announce the 2017-18 competition, and explore exciting future directions, including the potential role of WCB in classroom education for computational biology…”