User talk:MarioGom/Class bias

Latest comment: 6 years ago by MarioGom

It's a good start, but I feel it needs more exploration of what bias and systemic bias are.

  • Firstly, the sections on the Wikimedia Foundation are somewhat irrelevant. The Foundation generally does not dictate the content of the Wikimedia projects, the users do.
  • I think you need to clearly define what is bias and what is systemic bias. You start by focusing on editors - that's a reasonable example of bias. Systemic bias is more complex and is usually built into social or societal behavior, making it difficult to recognize and even more difficult to change. I think if you start by focusing on how these two topics are different (rather than focusing on the groups that perpetuate bias or systemic bias), you might have a clearer path to writing.
  • Your section on sources is a good start. (Perhaps you may be aware that some societies depend on oral traditions, and oral traditions are generally not accepted on Wikipedia.) Often people like to portray Wikipedia as elitist against underprivileged or underrepresented, but the reverse is also true. Because of Wikipedia's rules, a single finding may not hold against a different finding that has been well-documented. So the bias is against individuals discoveries and favoring those with higher numbers of documentation. - kosboot (talk) 01:40, 2 April 2018 (UTC)Reply
kosboot: Thank you for your feedback!
On the Wikimedia Foundation front, I think it might be relevant to the topic in a few indirect ways: 1) the WMF is virtually our only source for demographic data on Wikipedia contributors, if WMF questionnaires do not pay attention to this topic, we lack an important tool to analyze the issue, 2) WMF organizes a number of initiatives that impact who contributes to Wikipedia (such as those dedicated to reduce gender gap or to increase participation from the Global South). That being said, it could be considered a secondary point and the essay in its current form gives disproportionate attention to it. But that's just because data is more easily available and the others are still pretty much stubs.
+1 to everything else, I'll try incorporating your feedback.
Best, -MarioGom (talk) 15:57, 4 April 2018 (UTC)Reply
Good luck, MarioGom. But just one emendation: the WMF does not organize any of those initiatives, although they fund some of them. All those initiatives are user-generated. - kosboot (talk) 12:36, 5 April 2018 (UTC)Reply
Thanks for the clarification. I thought they did come from the WMF to some degree. Best, -MarioGom (talk) 19:20, 5 April 2018 (UTC)Reply