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Changing Implicit Bias on Wikipedia

A guide to getting started on Wikipedia and exploring ways find, observe, bring attention to, and change implicit bias on Wikipedia.
Subjects: Open Access, Open Educational Resources & Open Textbooks Tags: bias, implicit bias, oer, oer-enabled pedagogy, open pedagogy, wikipedia

Changing Implicit Bias on Wikipedia

Implicit bias exists in all of us, and the pervasiveness of that bias affects everything we do.

Wikipedia is the 6th-most-visted site on the internet, and it is rife with stereotypes and unfair judgments that present themselves as facts. These prejudices can be very visual, as is the case with some of the publicly "NPOV" disputed articles, but bias appears in more subtle ways, including the language used to describe the subject of an article, and within the criteria for articles themselves.

This guide includes a bibliography from the lecture I presented, and a collection of links for those looking to make edits on Wikipedia.

Changing implicit bias begins with the willingness to change, the ability to listen, and the courage to take small steps to achieve a far-off goal.

Guide Author: Janaya Kizzie

This guide was created by Janaya Kizzie in support of her lecture and workshop Implicit Bias on Wikipedia, co-sponsored by the Dialogue on Diversity and Inclusion and Adams Library in March 2020.