Volunteer contributions to Wikipedia increased during COVID-19 mobility restrictions

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, o...

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Autores principales:	Thorsten Ruprechter, Manoel Horta Ribeiro, Tiago Santos, Florian Lemmerich, Markus Strohmaier, Robert West, Denis Helic
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8a488399803449d9adf9d25b0b0b28e6
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8a488399803449d9adf9d25b0b0b28e62021-11-08T10:51:14ZVolunteer contributions to Wikipedia increased during COVID-19 mobility restrictions10.1038/s41598-021-00789-32045-2322https://doaj.org/article/8a488399803449d9adf9d25b0b0b28e62021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00789-3https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract 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 $$\mathbf {223}$$ 223 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 $$\mathbf {20\%}$$ 20 % 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.Thorsten RuprechterManoel Horta RibeiroTiago SantosFlorian LemmerichMarkus StrohmaierRobert WestDenis HelicNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Thorsten Ruprechter Manoel Horta Ribeiro Tiago Santos Florian Lemmerich Markus Strohmaier Robert West Denis Helic Volunteer contributions to Wikipedia increased during COVID-19 mobility restrictions
description	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 $$\mathbf {223}$$ 223 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 $$\mathbf {20\%}$$ 20 % 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.
format	article
author	Thorsten Ruprechter Manoel Horta Ribeiro Tiago Santos Florian Lemmerich Markus Strohmaier Robert West Denis Helic
author_facet	Thorsten Ruprechter Manoel Horta Ribeiro Tiago Santos Florian Lemmerich Markus Strohmaier Robert West Denis Helic
author_sort	Thorsten Ruprechter
title	Volunteer contributions to Wikipedia increased during COVID-19 mobility restrictions
title_short	Volunteer contributions to Wikipedia increased during COVID-19 mobility restrictions
title_full	Volunteer contributions to Wikipedia increased during COVID-19 mobility restrictions
title_fullStr	Volunteer contributions to Wikipedia increased during COVID-19 mobility restrictions
title_full_unstemmed	Volunteer contributions to Wikipedia increased during COVID-19 mobility restrictions
title_sort	volunteer contributions to wikipedia increased during covid-19 mobility restrictions
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/8a488399803449d9adf9d25b0b0b28e6
work_keys_str_mv	AT thorstenruprechter volunteercontributionstowikipediaincreasedduringcovid19mobilityrestrictions AT manoelhortaribeiro volunteercontributionstowikipediaincreasedduringcovid19mobilityrestrictions AT tiagosantos volunteercontributionstowikipediaincreasedduringcovid19mobilityrestrictions AT florianlemmerich volunteercontributionstowikipediaincreasedduringcovid19mobilityrestrictions AT markusstrohmaier volunteercontributionstowikipediaincreasedduringcovid19mobilityrestrictions AT robertwest volunteercontributionstowikipediaincreasedduringcovid19mobilityrestrictions AT denishelic volunteercontributionstowikipediaincreasedduringcovid19mobilityrestrictions
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Volunteer contributions to Wikipedia increased during COVID-19 mobility restrictions

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