The sum of human knowledge? Not in one Wikipedia language edition
- Marc Miquel, Ph.D. is a user researcher and lecturer who focuses on diversity in Wikipedia, engagement in games and user experience in general. The article was originally published by Wikipedia@20 and is licensed CC BY 4.0 -S
- No matter whether a language is a real entire worldview or not, a collaborative encyclopaedia like Wikipedia provides the best chance to allow any language speakers to immortalize it.-Editors of Wikipedia@20
The sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all forms and degrees of human comprehension.
— Ezra Pound[1]
Though I had used Wikipedia for years, it was only ten years ago when I discovered how each language edition community can freely organize its content—as there is no central editorial board. The Catalan version of the encyclopedia, in my native tongue, can have pages dedicated to its culture without impediment. Some might take this for granted, but I cherished this principle because of my memories of my grandfather, who was forbidden to speak his language in public during the forty years of Franco's dictatorship, and of my mother, who did not have the chance to be educated in her mother tongue. I did not immediately become a contributor, but I wanted to learn more and, hopefully, one day give back. Today, I am doing so as a researcher with the Wikipedia Cultural Diversity Observatory (WCDO). Though the English Wikipedia has brought much attention to the larger Wikimedia project, that project's future and potential growth lie in many smaller languages and cultures, which are often overlooked—and under threat, as many human languages are likely to disappear by the end of the century.
The poet Ezra Pound said that "the sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all forms and degrees of human comprehension."[1] Obviously, the same is true of Wikipedia. At the observatory, we work to discover the knowledge that is local to each language, the cultural pearls from every place in the world, and we promote its exchange. I believe this can be advanced using a model assessing project cultural diversity. Such a model will then allow us to better encourage Wikipedia language communities to raise awareness, organize events, adopt tools, and incorporate cultural diversity as part of our strategic plans.
- ^ a b Pound, Ezra (1934). ABC of Reading (1960 ed.). New Directions Publishing. p. 34.