Abstract

Authority of knowledge: historians on Wikipedia in higher education

This paper will present results from a qualitative research project which explored the relationship between history academics’ conceptions of knowledge and authority in their fields of research and their assessment of Wikipedia’s authority and credibility as a teaching resource. The author, herself a history lecturer, conducted in-depth interviews with eight historians from UK universities to investigate their views on the topic.
As universities move forward from the pandemic and engage more and more in the development of digital learning and teaching (JISC, 2022), Wikipedia appears ever more like an opportunity to enhance students’ digital skills and literacy and some institutions have embedded Wikipedia in their teaching (Ball, 2019; The University of Edinburgh, 2022). These initiative recognise the status of Wikipedia as the largest internet encyclopaedia and a well-established feature of people’s search for knowledge (Cummings, 2020a; Wikipedia, 2022b).As the site’s prominence grew, its relationship with academia remained fraught although it has evolved from suspicion and rejection to tolerance if not full acceptance (Jemielniak, 2019; Cummings, 2020a; Konieczny, 2021b). History seems to be a case in point. This is particularly poignant as historical articles in Wikipedia are amongst the most consulted (Samoilenko et al., 2018). Nevertheless, history lecturer’s attitudes to Wikipedia have not been explored in depth.
Through the interviews, historians reflected and explored their understanding of Wikipedia in relation to notions of authority in their fields of research. From this exploration, they considered whether Wikipedia could be used in teaching to benefit students. These interviews lead to fascinating conclusions on the tensions between a discipline such as history and potential use of Wikipedia as a tool for teaching.
This presentation will outline the results of the research. These can form the basis of further reflection on the ways in which the notion of authority can be discussed and made more explicit to students. This notion is all the more important since understanding authority is at the heart of stemming the rise of misinformation and disinformation in our societies (O’Connor & Weatherall, 2019).

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