Wiki warriors: Language editors counter knowledge hierarchies during the pandemic

Avieson, Bunty and Mazumdar, Suruchi (2025) Wiki warriors: Language editors counter knowledge hierarchies during the pandemic. Asian Journal of Communication. pp. 1-19. ISSN 0129-2986 (In Press)

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Abstract

The volunteerism of Wikipedia editors has been conceptualised as an altruistic form of social production and a form of social activism. However, notions of linguistic activism and cultural identity as motivators, and the ways in which editors representing the Global South have sought to counter knowledge inequities online, have not been addressed. Drawing on theoretical frameworks of digital colonialism and social justice; a grounded theory approach that included semi-structured interviews with prominent editors; and digital data analysis from Wikipedia, we present a culturally situated case study of Indian language Wikipedia editors during the Covid-19 pandemic. We identify them as ‘Wiki Warriors’ and offer their motivations and work practices as instructive for rethinking assumptions about digital colonialism. We find that during the urgency of the global health crisis, the editors in the Global South developed a range of decolonialist practices as they negotiated the tensions of western medicine and traditional non-Western healing systems, such as Ayurveda and Unnani, ‘universal’ facts, and the spreadability of vernacular, localised health information in the digital space. Such decolonialist strategies were shaped by the responses towards religious disharmony and misinformation.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: Wikipedia | digital decolonisation | Covid 19 | Global South | linguistic activism | social activism
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Social Sciences (General)
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Journalism, News and Media
JGU School/Centre: Jindal School of Journalism & Communication
Depositing User: Dharmveer Modi
Date Deposited: 23 Jan 2025 05:47
Last Modified: 23 Jan 2025 05:47
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2024.2447587
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/9044

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