Congratulations to everyone, this is exciting. It is also very exciting that we have an almost-unprecedented opportunity to build a new project that is fully informed by both lessons from own past projects, as well as from the rapidly developing field of ethics in computer science and AI. From our own past projects, we have learned (among other things) that pitfalls could include contributor recruitment; continued maintenance; transparency and accessibility of the UI; unclear provenance of data; that many communities want a say in how they are represented online, but often don't have one; and that the biases and systemic biases of the world are reflected in who contributes, what sources they use, and what areas of focus are. We have also learned that our relationship with reusers, particularly around structured data that is highly valued by commercial entities, is poorly defined and tenuous. From the movement to build more ethical AI systems, we've learned (among other things) that flawed model assumptions can result in unpredictable and often deeply harmful downstream outcomes; that most sources of data are not transparent in their limitations or provenance; and that incorporating the concerns of people affected by systems can result in less biased data and outcomes.
These are hard problems, and they are not problems that have obvious, one-size-fits-all solutions. But we do have an obligation I think to consider these issues front and center in this new project that we are building. It concerns me that, at least in the high-level project proposals I've seen (I haven't been tracking this closely, and haven't read the academic papers) I have not yet seen discussions of ethical data, or how we might think about identifying bias, or even how to recruit contributors and the impact on existing contributors. In my day job, I am the librarian for a pretty well-known computer science school.[1] There, the recent movement to consider ethics in the computer science curriculum, and in the systems that our computer scientists build, is being discussed now at all levels of the university -- but is being led primarily by students who recognize that they have an obligation, as the next generation of engineers, to help build better systems for a better world. Meanwhile, as practitioners who build systems at Wikimedia, we consider ourselves part of a small group of influential organizations that is "making the internet not suck" -- we believe in openness, in community, and in making sure that everyone in the world has access to knowledge, in their own language; we believe in an aspirational better world. As a part of this mission, we must take questions of ethics seriously -- and we do. We have collectively spent thousands of hours trying to expand our contributor base; thinking about systemic bias; thinking about sources and provenance; trying to open up copyright to make knowledge accessible; working with communities on indigenous knowledge; building UIs that are easier to contribute to. These are all efforts related to our ethics and values. With our new projects, we can set precedent. We can explore the problems that we face today on Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Commons and consider not just how to avoid them but how to build a better project. We can do this in a multilingual context with perspectives from volunteers and staff around the world, in a way that almost no other projects online -- certainly no single university or research group -- can. We can, without much legacy infrastructure to hamper us, spin out worst-case and best case scenarios, ask questions about our data and who might participate, think about downstream consequences. And *that* is truly exciting. best, -- Phoebe [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Computer_Science_and_Artificial_Intelligence_Laboratory On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 12:04 PM Katherine Maher <[email protected]> wrote: > (A translatable version of this announcement can be found on Meta [1]) > > Hi all, > > It is my honor to introduce Abstract Wikipedia [1], a new project that has > been unanimously approved by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. > Abstract Wikipedia proposes a new way to generate baseline encyclopedic > content in a multilingual fashion, allowing more contributors and more > readers to share more knowledge in more languages. It is an approach that > aims to make cross-lingual cooperation easier on our projects, increase the > sustainability of our movement through expanding access to participation, > improve the user experience for readers of all languages, and innovate in > free knowledge by connecting some of the strengths of our movement to > create something new. > > This is our first new project in over seven years. Abstract Wikipedia was > submitted as a project proposal by Denny Vrandečić in May of 2020 [2] after > years of preparation and research, leading to a detailed plan and lively > discussions in the Wikimedia communities. We know that the energy and the > creativity of the community often runs up against language barriers, and > information that is available in one language may not make it to other > language Wikipedias. Abstract Wikipedia intends to look and feel like a > Wikipedia, but build on the powerful, language-independent conceptual > models of Wikidata, with the goal of letting volunteers create and maintain > Wikipedia articles across our polyglot Wikimedia world. > > The project will allow volunteers to assemble the fundamentals of an > article using words and entities from Wikidata. Because Wikidata uses > conceptual models that are meant to be universal across languages, it > should be possible to use and extend these building blocks of knowledge to > create models for articles that also have universal value. Using code, > volunteers will be able to translate these abstract “articles” into their > own languages. If successful, this could eventually allow everyone to read > about any topic in Wikidata in their own language. > > As you can imagine, this work will require a lot of software development, > and a lot of cooperation among Wikimedians. In order to make this effort > possible, Denny will join the Foundation as a staff member in July and lead > this initiative. You may know Denny as the creator of Wikidata, a long-time > community member, a former staff member at Wikimedia Deutschland, and a > former Trustee at the Wikimedia Foundation[3]. We are very excited that > Denny will bring his skills and expertise to work on this project alongside > the Foundation’s product, technology, and community liaison teams. > > It is important to acknowledge that this is an experimental project and > that every Wikipedia community has different needs. This project may offer > some communities great advantages. Other communities may engage less. Every > language Wikipedia community will be free to choose and moderate whether or > how they would use content from this project. > > We are excited that this new wiki-project has the possibility to advance > knowledge equity through increased access to knowledge. It also invites us > to consider and engage with critical questions about how and by whom > knowledge is constructed. We look forward to working in cooperation with > the communities to think through these important questions. > > There is much to do as we begin designing a plan for Abstract Wikipedia in > close collaboration with our communities. I encourage you to get involved > by going to the project page and joining the new mailing list[4]. We > recognize that Abstract Wikipedia is ambitious, but we also recognize its > potential. We invite you all to join us on a new, unexplored path. > > Yours, > Katherine Maher > > Executive Director, > Wikimedia Foundation > > [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Abstract > Wikipedia/June 2020 announcement > [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Abstract_Wikipedia > [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Denny > [4] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/abstract-wikipedia > -- > > Katherine Maher (she/her) > > Executive Director > > Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> > > _______________________________________________ > Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately > directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia > community. For more information about Wikimedia-l: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > _______________________________________________ > WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l > -- * I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers <at> gmail.com * _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
