Submissions:2025/WikiSignals

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This submission has been noted and is pending review for WikiConference North America 2025.



Title:

WikiSignals

Type of session:

Lecture (15-30 min)

Session theme(s):

Credibility

Abstract:

WikiSignals steps 1–2: Analyze URL

WikiSignals is a proposed credibility-related Wikipedia Editing Tool.

Determining the reliability of a source isn't easy. But data to make that determination is easily available. WikiSignals compiles that data so Wikipedians can better evaluate source credibility.

WikiSignals steps 3–4: Create Citation

Overview

Wikipedia's core mission is to be a source of credible information. This requires maintaining the credibility of not only internal articles but also external references. Wikipedia has a Perennial Sources list that ranks sources by their reliability. However, this list is only available for a handful of languages. The Wikipedia English is the the most developed and even that ranks only a few hundred websites (out of countless millions).

WikiSignals aims to close this gap. Participants in the WikiCred initiative are developing a Wikipedia editing tool that provides reliability-related signals for sources being considered for citations, references, and external-link lists. It also returns domain-level website data, including global traffic rank, registration date, and social media usage statistics — information useful for judging the quality of the reference.

Project

The WikiSignals tool can expand to assist with other editing tasks. We plan to interview Wikipedia editors to find pain points that WikiSignals might address, particularly with respect to the editing workflow. Our broader goal is to become part of an effort to build a comprehensive reference dataset of credibility indicators for news outlets, science journals, and other source types. Our WikiSignals project page has more info.

This project is a collaboration between Veri.FYI, Factiverse, SimPPL, AfroCrowd, Iffy.news, and the Internet Archive Reference Explorer: organizations pioneering efforts to improve access to source-credibility information.

Author name(s):

Swapneel Mehta, Gaute Kokkvoll, Barrett Golding

Wikimedia username(s):

Localmotion127, SwapneelM, Gautek, Hearvox

Affiliated organization(s):

Estimated length of session

30–50 minutes

Will you be presenting remotely?

I will present in-person

Okay to livestream?

Livestreaming is okay

Previously presented?

No

Special requests: