Submissions:2019/Cite Unseen: A Year Hence

This submission has been accepted for WikiConference North America 2019.

Etherpad

Title:

Cite Unseen: A Year Hence

Theme:

Reliability of Information
+ Tech & Tools

Type of session:

Presentation

Abstract:

The Cite Unseen script after running on en:President of the United States:
• The first source has been marked as a book.
• The second source has been marked as exceptionally biased; the Heritage Foundation is an American conservative think tank.
• The third source has been marked as a government-controlled press release.
• The fourth source was not recognized.
• The fifth source has been marked as a news article from the The Washington Post.
• The sixth source has been marked as an opinion piece.

In 2018, we began work on Cite Unseen, a new tool that would help Wikipedia readers and Wikipedians check the potential biases that may be present in the sources we use in writing articles. The tool works by parsing through the citations on an article and adding iconic indicators that depict the nature of the source (government controlled, opinion piece, news article, etc.)

Now, a year since that project began, we look back on that project and chart the future of not just the tool, but also how the Wikimedia movement can better fight disinformation and promote credibility as something we need to factor in the work we do as Wikimedians.

In this presentation, we quickly go back on the history of Cite Unseen and look at the potential credibility tools have in making it easier for Wikimedians to patrol the projects we work on every single day. More specifically, we look forward to:

• Charting the future of credibility and reliability on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. whether tools or otherwise -- something that we haven't really considered
• How we can fight disinformation on the Wikimedia projects, particularly through source analysis and usage
• Soliciting for advice on how to move ahead with Cite Unseen and what we can do to improve the tool to make it more useful for editors and readers
  • How can we crowdsource the analysis of sources for Cite Unseen?

Academic Peer Review option:

No

Author name:

Josh Lim, Kevin Payravi

E-mail address:

jamesjoshualimgmail.com; kevinpayravigmail.com

Wikimedia username:

Sky Harbor, SuperHamster

Affiliated organization(s):

Estimated time:

30 minutes

Preferred room size:

Special requests:

Have you presented on this topic previously? If yes, where/when?:

Yes, at the 2019 Wikimedia Hackathon in Prague.

If your submission is not accepted, would you be open to presenting your topic in another part of the program? (e.g. lightning talk or unconference session)