Volunteer contributions to Wikipedia increased during COVID-19 mobility restrictions.
Sci Rep
; 11(1): 21505, 2021 11 02.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1500509
ABSTRACT
Wikipedia, the largest encyclopedia ever created, is a global initiative driven by volunteer contributions. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and mobility restrictions ensued across the globe, it was unclear whether contributions to Wikipedia would decrease in the face of the pandemic, or whether volunteers would withstand the added stress and increase their contributions to accommodate the growing readership uncovered in recent studies. We analyze [Formula see text] million edits contributed from 2018 to 2020 across twelve Wikipedia language editions and find that Wikipedia's global volunteer community responded resiliently to the pandemic, substantially increasing both productivity and the number of newcomers who joined the community. For example, contributions to the English Wikipedia increased by over [Formula see text] compared to the expectation derived from pre-pandemic data. Our work sheds light on the response of a global volunteer population to the COVID-19 crisis, providing valuable insights into the behavior of critical online communities under stress.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Volunteers
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Sci Rep
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S41598-021-00789-3
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