This presentation is part of the WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 program.

Heather Ford, David R. Musicant, Shilad Sen, Nathaniel Miller

We ask what kinds of sources Wikipedians value most and compare Wikipedia’s stated policy on sources to what we observe in practice. We find that, contrary to Wikipedia policy, primary data sources developed by alternative publishers are both popular and persistent, and that Wikipedians make almost equal use of information produced by associations such as nonprofits and from scholarly publishers. Our findings suggest that Wikipedians must balance Wikipedia’s internal policy on sources against its goal of representing “the sum of human knowledge.”

A PDF file will be made available on August 5, 2013, through the WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 conference proceedings.