Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2014-10-29/From the editors
Ebola, Ultron, and Creepy Articles
Ebola virus disease leads the Report for the fourth straight week. The rest of the list is primarily a mix of pop culture topics, including movie Avengers: Age of Ultron (#4) whose trailer was leaked early, and the death of Oscar de la Renta (#7). A BuzzFeed article on creepy Wikipedia articles, no doubt well-timed with Halloween (#9) around the corner, was responsible for three articles in the Top 25, including June and Jennifer Gibbons (#10), Taman Shud Case (#17), Joyce Vincent (#25). And the internet-run-amok controversy of Gamergate cracked the Top 25 for the first time at #19.
For the full top 25 list, see WP:TOP25. See this section for an explanation of any exclusions.
For the week of 19-25 October, 2014, the ten most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most viewed pages, were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Ebola virus disease 
1,695,567 
Though not as phenomenally popular as last week's 8.2 million views, this article still had more than enough views at almost 1.7 million to be the most viewed article for the fourth straight week. If you want to keep track of recent developments, check out 2014 Ebola virus disease epidemic timeline. Notable recent events included an announcement by the World Health Organization on 20 October that Nigeria has successfully defeated its recent breakout; the first confirmed case in Mali, one of the poorest nations in the world and quite ill-equipped to address health emergencies, occurred on 23 October; and a fourth case in the United States was diagnosed, this time a doctor recently returned to New York City from a trip to Guinea to treat Ebola patients. Through 23 October, WHO has reported 4,922 official Ebola deaths. Note: includes views from the Ebola redirect page.
2 Diwali
1,325,621 
The Hindu festival of light, which draws attention to the inner light beyond the material body, the Atman, occurred this week. 3 Ultron 
1,263,228 
Ultron, a comic book villain in the Marvel Comics family, will be the subject of the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron (#4), and will be played by James Spader (pictured). A week-early leak of the film's trailer propelled both articles into our Top 10. Marvel cheekily blamed Hydra, a fictional terrorist group in the Marvel universe, for the leak. One could question whether the leak was intentional and has already been added to the resume of some marketing guy at Marvel Studios. 4 Avengers: Age of Ultron 
741,451 
See #3. Scarlett Johansson (pictured) is another of the many stars in the film, which will be released in North America on 1 May 2015. 5 Happy New Year (2014 film)
733,860 
This 2014 Bollywood film starring Shahrukh Khan (pictured) stormed the Indian box office on Diwali weekend. The comedic caper movie tells the story of a motley crew entering a world dance competition to get close to a valuable trove of diamonds. 6 American Horror Story: Freak Show
636,016 
The fourth season of the American Horror Story series debuted on 8 October, and is in the Top 10 for the third straight week. 7 Oscar de la Renta
632,772 
The world-renowned fashion designer died on 20 October at his home in Connecticut. In 2007, subsequent to being diagnosed with cancer, De la Renta remarked "The only realities in life are that you are born, and that you die. We always think we are going to live forever. The dying aspect we will never accept." Most recently, de la Renta designed the wedding dress which Amal Clooney wore. 8 Facebook
617,221 
A perennially popular article. On 23 October, Facebook launched a separate new app called "Rooms," which is essentially an anonymous chat room. 9 Halloween
608,007 
Unlike most other holidays, Halloween seems to creep into the Top 25 well in advance of its appointed date. It just barely missed making the Top 25 last week (#27). 10 June and Jennifer Gibbons
605,331 
On 22 October, BuzzFeed published the listicle "21 Wikipedia Pages That Will Make It Impossible For You To Sleep" which proved quite popular. June and Jennifer Gibbons was listed at #9 in the article, but directed the most traffic to Wikipedia among the bunch, probably because the list entry was practically clickbait: "The entire backstory and what happens (to the twins) after they decide to go through with the sacrifice (of one of them) is fascinating." This report won't tell you want happened to June and Jennifer Gibbons either, you'll have to read June and Jennifer Gibbons to find out what happened to June and Jennifer Gibbons, but you will be shocked and amazed when you do click on it. But we will tell you that the BuzzFeed article was also successful enough to put Taman Shud Case at #17 and Joyce Vincent at #25 in the Top 25.
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Notes: From the raw WP:5000, it took 255,150 views to make the Top 100 raw entries this week (John Wick (film)). Stephen Hawking joined Facebook and hit #114, while Monica Lewinsky joined Twitter and made #118. The 2014 World Series (#466) was the last article to break 100,000 views; the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (#1671) last to break 50,000; and Dark matter (26,824 views) closed out the list at #5000.
Wikipedia a trusted source on Ebola; Wikipedia study labeled government waste; football biography goes viral
Wikipedia becomes a "trusted source" for Ebola information
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Noam Cohen reports in The New York Times (October 26) that Wikipedia's "Ebola Virus Disease article has had 17 million page views in the last month," an indication of the public's reliance on the online encyclopedia. The day a second nurse was diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas, the article had 2.5 million views, 60% of the 3.5 million views the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported for their portal on the topic. A Google search for Ebola listed the Wikipedia article first until recent tweaks placed it below the CDC. Cohen's article shows a screen shot from Bing that also places the Ebola Virus Disease article prominently.
In noting that Wikipedia has gone from "the butt of jokes for being the site where visitors could find anything, true or not," to a source of trusted information, Cohen quotes one of the 2004 founders of WikiProject Medicine, Dr. Jacob de Wolff (User:Jfdwolff): "It is because Wikipedia is such a recognized brand — obviously the C.D.C. is still much more authoritative than we will ever be — that people will click on that (Wikipedia) link."
Cohen also quotes Dr. James Heilman (User:Doc James), a Canadian emergency physician and president of the Wiki Project Med Foundation: "Wikipedia is a do-ocracy. Those who do the most, do have a greater influence. A key group of us keep an eye on articles that have become more popular to make sure that Wikipedia’s most-read content is of a reasonably high standard."
Cohen notes that early in Wikipedia's existence, many questioned how much trust could be placed in an "encyclopedia that anyone can edit." However, as it improved over time, Wikipedia has instituted more controls as well. For instance, the Ebola virus disease is semiprotected so that only autoconfirmed users can edit it. Those who are unregistered or non-confirmed users can suggest edits at the "separately maintained page," which is the article's talk page, "where (confirmed) editors ... review them and decide whether to incorporate them." He also notes that editors' scrutiny for the article's sources is more thorough than other articles, and that many "newspaper articles, for example, do not cut it."
A dissenting note came earlier this year from a study in the May issue of the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association which found "many errors" in Wikipedia articles about the ten most costly medical conditions in the US. KAIT reported (October 3) on the study and the comments of Dr. Shane Speights of St. Bernards Medical Center. Speights cited unspecified errors in Wikipedia's Ebola article and objected to the article's use of sources other than "journal articles and studies".
Wikipedia study cited as example of government waste
CNN, Bloomberg News, and Buzzfeed are among the media outlets highlighting the appearance of a Wikipedia study on US Senator Tom Coburn's annual "Wastebook". Coburn, a Republican who represents the state of Oklahoma, has been dubbed "Senator No" for his strident opposition to government spending, at times even objecting to otherwise widely popular allocations of government funds, such as relief aid for the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy or funds for the investigation of crimes involving child pornography and civil rights.
Coburn's office annually releases a compilation of government spending on what it dubs "silly, unnecessary, and low priority projects", with attention-grabbing descriptions that often make their way into news headlines. This year's Wastebook, which will be the last due to Coburn's retirement next January, announces on its cover "Monkeys Gambling With Your Money" and "NASA's Out of this World Golf Clubs".
| “ | Opening up the Wastebook always leads to a variety of hilarious-sounding government-funded research projects, the kind of spending that, regardless of the merits, makes good fodder for Senate floor speeches and campaign criticism, and even perhaps of late night comedians. | ” |
Research grants from the National Science Foundation have been a frequent target for Coburn and the Wastebook. The NSF has a $7 billion annual budget, which is about 0.18 percent of US federal government spending. Coburn's Wastebook has described projects and experiments funded by the NSF with colorful phrases like "gambling monkeys" and "mountain lions on a treadmill". Scientists charge that Coburn's descriptions lack "nuance" or are outright misleading, by inadequately describing, omitting, or misrepresenting their scientific value. One scientist targeted by Coburn told Live Science "It is unfortunate and sad that public safety and well-being is being threatened by politicians' hasty efforts to promote their political agendas."
Appearing as number 89 in the 2014 Wastebook are NSF grants totaling $202,000 to sociologists Julia Adams of Yale University and Hannah Brückner of New York University Abu Dhabi for their ongoing study of "systemic gender bias" in Wikipedia (see previous Signpost coverage). Gender bias on Wikipedia has been the subject of much study and conversation on Wikipedia, in the Wikimedia Foundation, and from outside Wikipedia. Of this, the Wastebook cites only Amanda Filipacchi's 2013 New York Times opinion column on Wikipedia's categorization of female novelists (see previous Signpost coverage). The Wastebook counters this with an opinion column from a fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research which declares that "the New York Times and feminists should stop hyperventilating about the web site's gender gap."
Biography of teenage footballer becomes viral sensation
Yahoo! Eurosport UK marveled (October 27) at the lengthy Wikipedia article for nineteen year old footballer Fraser Hobday, goalkeeper for Highland Football League team Huntly F.C.. Media outlets noted that the article, at 3271 words, was longer than Wikipedia articles for notable professional players like Joe Hart. The article contained minute details of his football career dating back to primary school and biographical details such as his current job as a trainee chef. Following the story's publication, Hobday's Wikipedia article was heavily edited, repeatedly vandalized, reduced to two sentences, and proposed for deletion. The article also went viral, making Hobday "something of a folk hero on social media" according to the Daily Mirror (October 28). The Mirror noted the many favorable tweets about Hobday's article, including one from BBC journalist Jeremy Vine: "Far and away the best entry on Wikipedia, ever ever". Hobday spoke to the Daily Mail (October 28), saying that the article was written by his older sister Heather because "We knew Wikipedia doesn't allow you to add your own entries so I can't write it." While many journalists thought that some of the details in Hobday's article were presented humorously, Hobday insisted that the article was a serious one: "it's basically an online CV." Despite this, he said it was the subject of teasing from his teammates: "They'd say 'what's Fraser doing tonight?', 'probably updating his Wikipedia page'." The Daily Telegraph (October 29) noted the irony that while Wikipedia's rules prevent self-promotion such as Hobday's, the article has made him famous, at least temporarily.
- Editor's note, November 1: Hobday's article has been deleted by an English Wikipedia administrator after a short deletion discussion.
In brief
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- "Writing her place": The Pacific Northwest Inlander profiles (October 29) User:Figureskatingfan, her work on articles related to Maya Angelou, and her efforts to address gender bias on Wikipedia.
- "Create, expand, and translate Wikipedia articles related to global affairs": Ann Marie Deer Owens wrote that Vanderbilt Central Library will host their second edit-a-thon in Vanderbilt News (October 29). It will occur on Saturday, November 1, 2014, from 10am-4pm at the Jean and Alexander Heard Library at Vanderbilt University. The edit-a-thon, called “Global Exchanges: Using Wikipedia to Create Worldwide Connections,” is free and the public is invited. The event organizers ask that attendees RSVP here at the event page, where there is additional information about the edit-a-thon.
- Interviews: Re/Code discussed (October 28) its interview with Wikimedia Foundation executive director Lila Tretikov at the Code/Mobile conference. Her predecessor Sue Gardner was interviewed (October 25) by Slush in advance of her appearance at the Slush conference in Helsinki, Finland in November.
- Premature news: Clarín and other Argentinian news outlets are reporting (October 28) on an IP edit on the Spanish Wikipedia predicting a November death for novelist Claudia Piñeiro and her subsequent request for help on Twitter to fix the article and find the identity of the hoaxer.
- Tune in Monday: Jimmy Wales appeared on the October 27 episode of the podcast The James Altucher Show.
- Pakistani Twitter bot: Anum Pasha from The Express Tribune profiles (October 26) Irfan Ahmed, operator of the Twitter bot PakistanEdits. Unlike similar Twitter bots that have been in the news in recent months which retweet edits from particular governmental bodies or organizations (see recent Signpost coverage), PakistanEdits tweets edits from any IP address located within Pakistan. Ahmed hopes to promote the creation of quality Wikipedia content related to Pakistan.
- Another sticky wicket: At Wimbledon this summer, when Maria Sharapova said that she did not know who legendary Indian cricket player Sachin Tendulkar was, she set off a wave of nationalistic internet ire, which has also targeted others who admitted they were unaware of Tendulkar, including actress Hansika Motwani. The Deccan Chronicle reports (October 25) on how Jimmy Wales, unaware of Tendulkar or the controversy, got caught up in it. Wales was posed the question on Quora and replied "I don't think we have ever met. I had to Google his name to find out who he is. I would imagine he'd have to do the same to find out who I am." Wales soon won over outraged commenters by replying to another question by posting the YouTube video of the song "Sachin Anthem" by Dhanush.
- Book grants: The Arabic Literature (in English) blog discusses (October 24) a grant program run by the Wikimedia Foundation and The Wikipedia Library to provide books to editors on the Arabic Wikipedia.
- Editathons: The Sydney Morning Herald reports on the October 24 Art and Feminism Editathon at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia. The Rocky Mountain Collegian reports on the October 21 editathon at the University of Colorado's Morgan Library.
- Photographing the gender gap: Following an outcry regarding a list of 100 contemporary photographers published on the blog of Selektor Magazine that only included eight women, photographer Tammy Mercure produced her own list of 70 women (October 15) and wrote "I've been slowly making Wikipedia pages for notable woman photographers and it has been really eye-opening on what Wikipedia considers credible resources and how few are available online for undeniably notable women."
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