Welcome to Source Notes. This Future Tense column is about the internet's information ecosystem.Riddle me this: Michael Phelps was first. Simone Biles came in fourth. Aly Raisman was fifth, and Katie Ledecky sixth. Hint: It doesn't matter if you have a medal count. It is not GOAT athlete status. These were the top-ranked English Wikipedia pages for the week ending August 7, 2016, during Rio de Janeiro's Olympic Games. Phelps' page attracted the most visitors that week with over 5.4 million pageviews, while Raisman, Biles, and Ledecky collectively received more than 4.25 millions pageviews.AdvertisementThe delayed Tokyo Olympic Games officially opened on Friday, despite much controversy. While some aspects of the Games will be different, such as the fact that there are few spectators at the venues, there will still be opportunities to interact with them via the internet. Millions of people will again be able to access the Wikipedia biography for athletes.AdvertisementAdvertisementEven if you don't visit Wikipedia directly the information from the internet Encyclopedia filters out to other internet sites. Google Simone Biles will reveal a Google Knowledge panel, which is directly sourced from Wikipedia. Asking Alexa about Biles will also prompt her to refer to a summary of her Wikipedia page. These Big Tech companies are providing Wikipedia's free information with the same consistency that NBC blasts Theme and Olympic Fanfare before commercials.AdvertisementWhat should the readers know if Wikipedia is used as a second screen for them during the Olympic Games. Paul Tchir, Paul Tchir's email correspondent, said that Wikipedia can quickly become a rabbit hole and that the sheer volume of templates and Olympic links can lead users to many parts of the project. Tchir is a Wikipedia editor at the University of CaliforniaSan Diego and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in history. He is particularly interested in the history of Olympic Games. Tchir said that some brave souls may venture back into Wikipedia's Olympic history vault to find articles such as List of Olympic Medalists In Art Competitions. This article covers the 146 medalists who participated in the various art competitions which were part of the Games between 1912 and 1948. (Disclaimer - Slate is not responsible if you lose productivity due to reading Wikipedia pages about 20th-century Olympic medalists for painting, statues or municipal planning.AdvertisementAdvertisementWikipedia's Olympic Games Portal is a great place to start for more current coverage. It includes pages on all the sports, including the five new ones this year, daily events, daily medal counts and the Paralympic Games. The volunteer editors involved in creating articles about the Tokyo athletes told me that it wasn't always easy. Wikipedia user Nimrodbr wrote that the topic of photos is the most difficult. He is also active in WikiProject Olympics. As of press time, featured images for some of the top athletes from the United States men's and women's gymnastics teams (including stars such as Brody Malone and Jordan Chiles) were not yet available on their Wikipedia pages. Wikipedia editors try to avoid copyright violations because images from sporting competitions are usually owned by the broadcaster or the sporting association. Nimrodbr said that he has met Wikipedia editors who went to Argentina and Israel to photograph athletes. Wikipedia editors can upload photos taken at the competition to Wikipedia under Creative Commons license. This will allow the athlete to have a photo on their Wikipedia page.AdvertisementAdvertisementWikipedia's information about American athletes can vary depending on the language used.Bias is another danger. Wikipedia's bias against women is a common complaint. According to recent research by Francesca Tripodi (assistant professor in the School of Information and Library Science and senior investigator at the Center for Information Technology and Public Life, University of North CarolinaChapel Hill), less than 19% of English-language Wikipedia biographies are about women. Women who meet Wikipedia's inclusion criteria are more likely to be considered non-notable and are therefore nominated for deletion. Tripodi informed me via email that although many of the women in my sample were eligible for deletion, they were still considered non-notable.AdvertisementLaura Zeng, an American rhythmic gymnast who competes in Tokyo, was one example. In June 2010, Zeng's Wikipedia page was removed. Zeng also has an Instagram account where she has been sharing information with American fans about the sport.Wikipedia's general rule states that athletes who participate in modern Olympic Games are presumed to be well-known enough to warrant a Wikipedia entry. Tchir explained to me that Wikipedia's notability policy is controversial with both old and new Wikipedia editors. P. Gussman was a gymnast who placed no higher than 43rd in any event at the 1904 St. Louis Games. He is entitled to a Wikipedia article because he participated at the Olympics. However, the Wikipedia entry for Donna Strickland, physicist, was rejected in 2018. This was despite her being a leader in her field, and winning the Nobel Prize that year. A vocal subset among Wikipedia editors feels that Olympic athletes have an easier time getting Wikipedia pages than the rest.AdvertisementAdvertisementWikipedia pages will be created for most American athletes participating in the Tokyo Games because of the notability policy. However, Wikipedia's information about these athletes can vary greatly depending on the language edition. The English Wikipedia article on Liu Tingting (captain of the Chinese women's gymnastics team) is roughly half the length as the Simone Biles page. Due to the above copyright restrictions, Tingtings' page does not contain a photo. Tingtings page in the Mandarin Chinese version of Wikipedia is also only a few lines. This might be due to China's blocking of all Wikipedia language editions in China since 2019. Many of Wikipedia contributors now reside outside China.AdvertisementRebecca Schuman, a journalist who has written about gymnastics and was featured recently on the Peacocks documentary Golden, gave me her overall opinion of Wikipedia articles regarding American gymnastic teams. Schuman observed that Wikipedia articles often ignored more controversial topics, even though she didn't find any obvious errors on the pages she looked at. MyKayla Skinners page highlights her bad conduct on social media in 2016 and Jordan Chiles page doesn't (yet?) include any content about Jordan Chiles mother's wire fraud sentence, which a judge has recently delayed for 30 days. The Wikipedia pages ignore some of the sport's melodrama. Wikipedia could be written mostly by four-year-old fans, who are people who have only followed gymnastics in years that were part of the Olympic Games. Schuman stated that I have not seen gym fans engage in a passionate discussion with Wikipedia on the internet.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWikipedia editors volunteer their time to help less-popular Olympic sports. Axel Downward Wilkes, a 54-year old New Zealand editor, has already created over 1,000 Wikipedia pages on rowers. While he intends to edit primarily in rowing during the Olympics, he has recently written a page about Ella Williams, a New Zealand surfer, who will be competing in the first shortboard surfing competition at Tokyo Games. I am surprised that skateboarding is not represented in New Zealand, given its popularity among our youth, Downward-Wilkes stated.Wikipedia can be a valuable resource for the Tokyo Games. However, it is important that users are aware of its limitations. Tchir, an Olympic historian, suggested that readers try Olympedia, a lesser-known project, as a second screen. Tchir stated that when an announcer declares that something is the greatest result in Egypt's athletics history, Olympedia will provide a page to confirm that claim and show the old record. There are structural differences. Wikipedia is known for being the most accessible encyclopedia, while Olympedia is limited to two dozen academics and researchers with expertise in Olympic history. Olympedia allows only trusted researchers to edit its pages on the Olympics. This makes it less likely that vandalism and attacks will occur. Anonymous editors changed Hubbard's pronouns from she to he in this year's Wikipedia article about Laurel Hubbard. Hubbard is a New Zealand transgender woman who competes at the Tokyo Games. Wikipedia's volunteer editors quickly reversed the changes, sometimes in a matter of minutes. Hubbards page has been made semi-protected. This means that only registered usernames with a history of editing can make changes.Olympedia has a lower edit-warring rate than Wikipedia. However, Wikipedia's expertise requirement illustrates the classic compromise between closed and open platforms. Tchir stated that while we have a great team who will update [Olympedia] rapidly during the games but we can't compete with the hundreds or even thousands of editors who will contribute to the topic on Wikipedia.Future Tense is a collaboration between Slate, New America and Arizona State University. It examines emerging technologies and public policy.
