Week11 -- the edits I have made -- GUAN YUE
1. Summary
This week, I created a new article on Chinese Wikipedia: Judy Wajcman. She’s a sociology professor at the London School of Economics, known for her work on technology, gender, labor, and time. I translated the page from English Wikipedia and organized her academic background, honors, major publications, and career path. What motivated me to work on this article actually came from last week’s blog, when I looked into “Gender Gap Edit-a-thons.” That’s when I started thinking about how many notable female scholars don’t even have Chinese Wikipedia pages—and Judy Wajcman was one of them. She’s a leading figure in her field, but had no page in Chinese. That felt like a gap I could help fill.
2. New Things I Learned
Even though it was a translation, I realized it’s not just about switching languages. I had to find the right way to convert links using templates, and make sure things like academic titles had accurate equivalents in Chinese Wikipedia. For example, “Fellow of the British Academy” needed to be matched with the official Chinese name. The process made me realize that Wikipedia editors don’t just pass on knowledge—they also shape how that knowledge is expressed.
One thing I noticed was that Wajcman’s research areas—like sociology of time or technology and gender—are not widely known in Chinese-language discussions. That made me feel it was even more meaningful to bring her work into the Chinese context. People often say “knowledge has bias,” and this kind of imbalance—who gets written about, and who doesn’t—is part of that.
3. Question for Discussion
Now I’m wondering: if I hadn’t read about gender-focused edit-a-thons last week, would I have ever thought of translating this article? Probably not. So here’s my question: Should Wikipedia offer new editors more socially meaningful starting points? For example, a beginner guide that includes “10 notable women missing in your language” or “biggest content gaps across languages” might help people feel more purpose when making their first edits.
I think your opinion is excellent. Although Wikipedia’s main page features a variety of recommended articles each day, they often do not align with the interests of individual users. If your suggestion were to be implemented as a new feature allowing users to indicate their interests in the settings, I believe it could lead to increased contributions from users directly to Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that when writing Judy Wajcman's entry, she found no pages on the Chinese Wikipedia, which made me realize that many scholars with international influence in technology and gender studies are still "absent" in the Chinese context. I think you've not just filled in a blank entry, but more importantly, you've guided us to counter-think about the knowledge construction bias in Wikipedia's Chinese entries. You mentioned in the second paragraph that the accuracy of using templates and categories is also practical, particularly suitable for those of us who are new to wiki writing.
ReplyDeleteI would like to ask further: Have you encountered any difficulties in finding Chinese sources in the entries? If anything, how do you handle such information? I frequently encounter issues with language/source breaks during the editing process, and I wonder if there is a better way to bridge this knowledge gap.