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Wikimedia’s new code of conduct expands responsible inclusiveness
The Jakarta Post speaks to Wikimedia Foundation's Amanda Keton on its new Universal Code of Conduct, which essentially applies Wikimedia's "free knowledge" concept to build on its existing code to support broader diversity and encourage community ownership of enforcing acceptable behavior across all platforms.
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em>Wikimedia Foundation launched on Feb. 3 a Universal Code of Conduct, which expands on its existing policies to create a global set of community standards for addressing unacceptable behavior on its free knowledge-sharing sites, including Wikipedia. The Jakarta Post’s Dian Septiari recently spoke with Wikimedia general counsel Amanda Keton on the policy’s main points and goals. Here is an excerpt from the virtual discussion.
Question: What is the Universal Code of Conduct, and why is it a necessity?
Answer: So we are a collection of free knowledge projects. And this is the first time that we have introduced a code of conduct that applies across all of the projects. That's why we're calling it a Universal Code of Conduct, and it is a clear, consistent framework that is meant to address abuses of power and misinformation and – as shared responsibility between the Wikimedia Foundation and then our communities, who actually enforce many of the policies – make a lot of the decisions about what content ultimately lives on the various project websites.
How will the code of conduct be enforced?
The code of conduct is actually rooted in Wikipedia's values of respect, civility and the assumption of good faith. So [it] elevates the expectations for contributor behavior and outlines the kind of supportive, collaborative participation that characterizes our communities really, at their best and most productive.
In the next phase, [we] will actually be creating enforcement mechanisms to address negative behavior and that will be done in partnership with our users [and] our community of contributors, which is really different from how most other tech companies build their codes of conduct. And certainly, you know their enforcement mechanisms to make those decisions.
Obviously, the Universal Code of Conduct is not a new concept in that a lot of social media platforms also have terms of use and codes of conduct. I think the approach that Wikimedia is taking in the communities is quite different.
Read also: You can trust Wikipedia, but always check sources and citations
This was a truly collaborative effort. More than 1,500 Wikipedia volunteers from 19 different Wikipedia user groups representing five continents and 30 languages participated in the creation of the universal code. [...] And that will actually yield some policies and really be the tipping point that we need, so that just the kind of enforcement [...] actually happens, and so that it helps real people.
It's not something that a tech company just did in their offices in Silicon Valley. It was actually built with the world, and so that is something that's really unique and just so about the Wikimedia movement of volunteers across the world, who sort of give and share their time. We do think it's something really special and a really different approach. [...] It's sort of born from the community and ultimately [...] we're working in partnership with the community this year to build out the enforcement mechanisms and then it will really, it will be monitored and policed, if you will, by the community itself.
The code of conduct mentions harassment, abuse of power and vandalism. Can you tell me a little bit about whether this has been a behavioral trend in the last few years?
It is not necessarily that it's a trend, but what we notice is that we have a really big mission. We want to literally reflect all of the knowledge on the planet and create an environment through our work and our websites, where every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.
One thing that we've noticed is that [...] Wikipedia and the other three knowledge projects reflect the world and the environment in which they're situated. For example, only about 18 percent of the biographies on the English Wikipedia are about women and we've also noticed that our contributors are disproportionately men or non-female identifying people.
So one of our hypotheses about one way that we can solve this problem is to make it a more welcoming environment, so that when women or underrepresented groups actually start contributing, they don't get too turned off because they are harassed or ridiculed or subjected to other forms of harsh treatment.
That's what the Universal Code of Conduct is meant to help, actually creating a warm, supportive, affirming and respectful environment. So it's kind of building on one of the strengths Wikipedia is known for, because the purpose is really trying to build the world's greatest encyclopedia. And so people come together around that exciting mission and so we want to really build on those strengths and make sure that we continue to build that kind of supportive and affirming environment so that when we can, we can better reflect [the world].
On the internet in general, women are facing bigger pressures in digital space, like in terms of hate speech, harassment, doxxing. What can we do about it, and what kind of example does Wikipedia set?
We have actually had a study done and conducted with some of the editors of Wikipedia, and we noticed that women were experiencing harassment, doxxing and the like at higher rates. So we really think that, you know, it's going to take a few different interventions, working hopefully in coordination and alignment [with stakeholders] to solve that problem.
Read also: Passion for information: Wikipedia contributors share what goes on behind the scenes
One of them would be making a consistent Universal Code of Conduct that can be enforced, so that when our users experience that harassment, they can very clearly point out that it's not supposed to be happening and can gain the support and the affirmation of fellow editors and contributors.
Secondly, we also think that we need to work in many different ways to actually think about how we can improve diversity on the projects, and sometimes that means working through initiatives like the [Art+Feminism] campaign, which aims to improve coverage of women.
Can we talk about Wikipedia Indonesia? How has its growth been in the last few years?
I think one really interesting thing about Wikimedia Indonesia is that it formed partnerships with various institutions that bring about just this growth of content. So currently, they're working with the Ministry of Education [and Culture] to add more information about Indonesia's history to Wikipedia. They've also worked with the European Union in Indonesia on climate change topics, and it's looking like next year they're planning to focus on articles about women.
There are also several community grant programs that enable and encourage more diverse cultural contexts to be added into Wikipedia, from traditional Indonesian cuisine to Javanese dance, and then they're also really focused on linguistic diversity and one notable project from now would be Javanese OCR [Optical Character Recognition], which aims to empower both students and teachers teaching Javanese language in high school.
