A history of newswork on Wikipedia

Abstract

Wikipedia's coverage of current events blurs the boundaries of what it means to be an encyclopedia. Drawing on Gieyrn's concept of "boundary work", this paper explores how Wikipedia's response to the 9/11 attacks expanded the role of the encyclopedia to include newswork, excluded content like the 9/11 Memorial Wiki that became problematic following this expansion, and legitimized these changes through the adoption of news-related policies and routines like promoting "In the News" content on the homepage. However, a second case exploring WikiNews illustrates the pitfalls of misappropriating professional newswork norms as well as the challenges of sustaining online communities. These cases illuminate the social construction of new technologies as they confront the boundaries of traditional professional identities and also reveal how newswork is changing in response to new forms of organizing enabled by these technologies.

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