Submissions:2019/On the Frontlines of Fighting Disinformation: Notes from the Philippines

This submission has been noted and is pending review for WikiConference North America 2019.

Etherpad

Title:

On the Frontlines of Fighting Disinformation: Notes from the Philippines

Theme:

Reliability of Information

Type of session:

Presentation

Abstract:

In this era of disinformation, it is more important than ever for the Wikimedia movement to be prepared against those who have an ulterior agenda in editing our projects to advance their own politics or points of view. From fake news to historical revisionism, this has played out in the Philippines on Wikipedia over the last 2.5 years, generating mentions in local and international press in the process. Out of concern for the integrity of Wikipedia, some Wikipedians and their allies have brought about means to counter this threat, and one of those is the Wikipedian in Residence program at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which commemorates victims of the Ferdinand Marcos regime.

In this presentation, we seek to explain how disinformation has played out on Wikipedia as it relates to Philippine topics, particularly local politics, and how the Wikipedian in Residence program came about alongside other initiatives undertaken by the community at large to counter disinformation. We will be sharing our experiences setting up this program, challenges we faced in getting the Bantayog and its staff onboard with the project, and how the outputs of the Wikipedian in Residence program meaningfully contributes to countering disinformation on Wikipedia and elsewhere.

Moreover, we also seek to share our knowledge and expertise in fighting disinformation so that other Wikimedia communities can also know how to best counter this in their own way, and how a WIR can play a pivotal role in making that happen. We also look into how the battle has fared since the WIR program has ended, how we can continue fighting disinformation even without the resources required to do so, and how we can continue drumming up awareness so that people know this is happening on-wiki and elsewhere.

Academic Peer Review option:

No

Author name:

Josh Lim

E-mail address:

jamesjoshualimgmail.com

Wikimedia username:

Sky Harbor

Affiliated organization(s):

Wiki Society of the Philippines (formerly Wikimedia Philippines)

Estimated time:

30 minutes

Preferred room size:

Special requests:

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

Yes, this topic was presented as a lightning talk at Wikimania 2018 in Cape Town, and as a presentation at GLAM-WIKI 2018 in Tel Aviv

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)