This post is part of our Behind the Scenes blog series.
Two years ago, the Project Vox team began holding regular edit-a-thons to improve the Wikipedia entries for our philosophers. One purpose of the edit-a-thons was to remove sexist language that misrepresents the lives and contributions of these historical figures. For example, the lead paragraph of the entry for Emilie du Châtelet used to emphasize that du Châtelet died soon after the birth of her child, but we moved this information to the biography section. This kind of revision is one way to improve the quality of marginalized philosophers’ entries so it matches that of other established philosophers.
Why did we have a Wikipedia edit-a-thon?
Because we wanted to improve the quality, accuracy, and discoverability of Wikipedia entries on marginalized philosophers. Wikipedia is one of the most widely read and cited resources in the world, so our efforts would reach a global audience.
A longer-term goal was to improve AI responses to user queries about our philosophers. Wikipedia is a common source of training text for large language models (LLMs), such as the ones that power ChatGPT. They’re artificial intelligence systems that learn about the relationships among words by examining billions of them. Even though LLMs appear to exhibit reasoning and comprehension, the actual text they generate depends on the material used to train them. That’s why Wikipedia matters for AI. The quality of entries about women philosophers directly affects the quality of the answers students get when they ask ChatGPT, for example, about someone like Emilie du Châtelet.
The most significant change we made was adding info boxes (example shown at left) to all the entries for Project Vox figures. In many cases, we used the philosopher info box template to clarify their professions as philosophers and to include information about their contributions to philosophy. In the cases of Margaret Cavendish and Sor Juana de la Cruz, however, we decided that the writer info box template is a better choice. In addition to creating info boxes, we corrected grammar and typographical errors, improved readability, added citations and links, and, when possible, updated the entry in multiple languages.
Recognizing the Importance of Wikipedia Editing: Reflections from Samuel Zepeda
“Thanks to this project, my relationship with Wikipedia has changed dramatically. I remember that in my undergrad days, Wikipedia was seen as a resource for quick reference but should not be trusted because ‘anyone could edit it,’ and it was not a ‘reliable source.’ Hence, the veracity of its information was doubtful. However, after participating in the edit-a-thons of Project Vox, my perception has changed substantially. Although all information should continue to be treated critically, I am now aware of all the work that is behind the editing processes and the continuous and genuine participation of individuals, groups, and academic institutions that care about the veracity of the information and the sources and that are continuously working to make Wikipedia a space where knowledge is shared and built.
“Similarly, working with Project Vox on Wikipedia entries in multiple languages has allowed me to understand and problematize the differences in access to knowledge. Discovering discrepancies and confluences between languages and reflecting on the barriers and advantages in access to information has been a constant reflection.
“Another interesting point has been to work on looking for, finding, and eradicating those little elements of sexist language that are hidden in the way philosophers are presented, that contrast between the way in which a male and a female philosopher are presented, as well as the information that is prioritized, has helped me to be aware of this subtle machismo that remains.”
You are welcome to refer to materials from our Ten-Year Symposium edit-a-thon. The slides and edit-a-thon guide are publicly available.
Samuel Zepeda is in his 3rd year as a PhD student in the Romance Studies department. He has worked with the team on ways to visualize data from archival sources and took photographs to help document our 10th-Anniversary Symposium.
