Editing Online Communities and Crowds (Spring 2025)/Wikipedia assignment (section)

=== Prompt ===

Members of the Wikipedia community and the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) are reviewing and developing recommendations regarding the [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Neutral_point_of_view Neutral Point of View (NPOV) policies] that guide the encyclopedic projects. Specifically, the Foundation and community have formed a working group to recommend common "global" NPOV policies that can be adopted and applied across all Wikipedia language editions. For this assignment, I want you to imagine that the working group has contacted you seeking recommendations for designing and implementing the new, common NPOV policies.

For context, the [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mission WMF's mission] is:
:''The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally.''
It's important to underscore that the mission contains both an ambition to disseminate high-quality educational material ''and'' a goal to engage people in its production.

'''Your job is to produce a short report (1000 words max) drawing on materials from this class to advise these leaders about how they ought to understand the challenge of designing common NPOV policies and go about it.''' The best insights will draw on intelligent reflections on the themes and materials of this course to make concrete, specific, and sophisticated recommendations that carefully consider potential drawbacks and unintended consequences. 

Please note: You do not need to draw on resources beyond the course materials (readings, lectures, assignments, case discussions, etc.) to produce your report. However, you may feel free to do so. 

Some additional context and resources that may be useful:
* [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2025-2026/Global_Trends/Common_global_standards_for_NPOV_policies This page of the Wikimedia Foundation 2025-2026 Annual Plan] as well as [https://diff.wikimedia.org/2025/03/27/strengthening-wikipedias-neutral-point-of-view/ this blogpost written by WMF staff] provide an overview of the current WMF initiatives on NPOV and might be useful to get a sense of what's involved. For your report you are welcome to evaluate these specific initiatives and/or suggest new approaches.
* NPOV is considered one of the [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Founding_principles founding principles] guiding Wikipedia since its inception. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has long insisted that NPOV is "non-negotiable." 
* Different language editions have developed their own distinct versions of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Policies_and_guidelines Wikipedia policies and guidelines]. For example, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view the English Wikipedia NPOV policy page] is ''extensive'' and links to numerous other policies, guidelines, tutorials, and essays. Other large Wikipedias have comparably detailed policy pages. However, at present, there is no singular NPOV policy that applies across all Wikipedia language editions.
* Article content varies significantly across language editions. For example, coverage of contentious topics and events such as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_war Gaza War] is ''very'' different depending on language edition.
* Wikipedia contributors and the WMF are frequently targeted over NPOV concerns. For example, governments, interest groups, and others regularly seek to undermine the credibility of Wikipedia and/or threaten Wikipedia editors as well as the WMF with legal actions or public campaigns of various kinds. [https://diff.wikimedia.org/2025/05/02/risk-preparedness-in-the-foundations-annual-plan/ Risk preparedness and protection ] of the encyclopedias, the editors, and the communities are important components of the ongoing conversations about NPOV.





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Members of the Wikipedia community and the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) are brainstorming approaches for using generative AI and large language models to create Wikipedia content. There is [[:Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Using neural network language models on Wikipedia|a page on Wikipedia about these ideas]] that might be useful to get a sense of what people are considering.

For this assignment, I want you to imagine that the WMF staff has contacted you seeking recommendations on managing the impact of generative AI tools on the Wikipedia online community. For context, the [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mission WMF's mission] is:

:''The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally.''

For this assignment, it's important to understand that the mission contains both a desire to produce high-quality educational material ''and'' a goal to engage people in its production.

Your job is to produce a short report (1000 words max) drawing on materials from this class to advise these leaders about how they ought to understand this challenge (generative AI) and how they might progress toward addressing its impact in their community. The best insights will draw on intelligent reflections on the themes and materials of this course to make concrete, specific, and sophisticated recommendations that carefully consider potential drawbacks and unintended consequences. You are welcome to evaluate the specific suggestions in [[:Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Using neural network language models on Wikipedia|the brainstorming page]] or suggest new approaches.

Please note: You do ''not'' need to draw on resources beyond the course materials (readings, lectures, assignments, case discussions, etc.) to produce your report. However, you may feel free to do so.
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