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How Can Wikipedia Save Us all?: Assuming Good Faith from all Points of View in the Age of Fake News and Post-truth

Sant, Toni

Authors

Profile image of Toni Sant

Dr Toni Sant A.Sant2@salford.ac.uk
Associate Professor of Digital Curation



Abstract

The world's most popular noncommercial website is built on five pillars, which include an assumption of good faith and ensuring all points of view are included in every encyclopedia article. How does this pan out in the day-to-day reality of fake news and the ever-growing climate of post-truth? How apt are mechanisms established by Wikipedia over a decade ago in the face of unreliable news sources and beliefs based on gut feelings and emotions rather than verifiable evidence? Active editors of Wikipedia firmly believe that this open online encyclopedia and other wikis operating under the same value system are lifeboats for truth seekers in a post-truth society. The mechanisms established over many years for sharing open knowledge through this online platform are even more useful now than they may have been in previous times, even though this too is understandably debatable.

Citation

Sant, T. (2021). How Can Wikipedia Save Us all?: Assuming Good Faith from all Points of View in the Age of Fake News and Post-truth. In Media, Technology and Education in a Post-Truth Society: From Fake News, Datafication and Mass Surveillance to the Death of Trust (133–143). Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-906-120211010

Publication Date Jul 8, 2021
Deposit Date Sep 26, 2023
Publisher Emerald
Pages 133–143
Book Title Media, Technology and Education in a Post-Truth Society: From Fake News, Datafication and Mass Surveillance to the Death of Trust
Chapter Number 10
ISBN 978-1-80043-907-8
DOI https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-906-120211010