Submissions:2025/Permission to Publish
This submission has been noted and is pending review for WikiConference North America 2025.
Title:
- Permission to Publish
Type of session:
- Lightning talk
Session theme(s):
- Credibility, Future of Wikipedia
Abstract:
This lightning talk covers the starting point for a larger project I'm undertaking about the relationship between Wikipedia and power.
In short: one of the things that makes Wikipedia unique in the history of encyclopedias is that it does not need the permission of powerful people or institutions in order to publish.
The main substance of the talk is an overview of the ways everyone from Pliny the Elder to the editors of Britannica have needed to consider the interests of someone, whether emperors, churches, publishers, or investors. One of the reasons Diderot's Encyclopedie became so celebrated was his [usually] careful critiques of power, even while occupying a position where he had to juggle multiple stakeholders.
This overview sets up a larger argument: Wikipedia didn't have to go to power for permission, so power has come to Wikipedia.
Author name(s):
Wikimedia username(s):
- User:Rhododendrites
Affiliated organization(s):
- University of Massachusetts Amherst
Estimated length of session
- 5 minutes
Will you be presenting remotely?
- I will present in-person
Okay to livestream?
- Livestreaming is okay
Previously presented?
Special requests: