Włodzimierz Lewoniewski (UEP)

Assistant professor at the Department of Information Systems^[1] at the Poznań University of Economics and Business^[2].

Research areas: information quality, Wikipedia, DBpedia, Wikidata, fake news, cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, natural language processing. Author of over 50 publications in English, Polish and Russian.^[3]

In 2023, participation in breaking the Guinness Record for the longest edit-a-thon - editing the Wikipedia continuously for 100 hours.^[4] The event was organized by the Wikimedia Polska and took place at the Warsaw Public Library – Central Library of the Masovian Voivodeship.

The 19th edition of Wikimania was held in Katowice on 7–10 August. Speaker at the following sessions:

• Exploring Americanization in different regions of the world using Wikipedia and Wikidata^[5][6][7]
• Keynote: Opening the Academia^[8][9]

• Citer - shortened footnote/named reference for a given Google Books URL, DOI, ISBN, PMID, PMCID, OCLC number, or the URL of many major news websites.
• Langviews Analysis - pageviews of a page across all languages.
• Massviews Analysis - get the pageviews of pages in a category (+ other options).
• Wikimedia Statistics - the public statistics website of the Wikimedia Foundation.
• WikiNav - provides insights into how readers of Wikipedia explore the content when learning about a given topic (based on the clickstream data).
• Coolest Tool Awards 2024 - winners were announced on August 10, 2024, during the closing ceremony of Wikimania 2024.

One of the recent publication discusses Wikipedia's ongoing challenges in attracting new, younger editors from Generation Z.^[10] It made me think about some issues that reflect systemic challenges within Wikipedia's volunteer culture that can discourage new users from becoming regular contributors.

One key issue is the often harsh and unwelcoming feedback that newcomers receive. When novices make mistakes, particularly on contentious topics, they may face stern, public critiques on their talk pages. This kind of interaction can be discouraging and even embarrassing, pushing many to abandon editing altogether.

Additionally, many routine editing tasks, like fixing typos or minor corrections, are now automated. As a result, newcomers struggle to find easy entry points to begin contributing, leaving them to face more challenging edits that increase their chances of making mistakes. This, combined with the intimidating nature of interacting with senior editors who may prioritize strict policy enforcement over mentorship, creates a hostile environment for new volunteers.

Finally, there is a generational divide in communication styles. While younger contributors might prefer using platforms (like Discord) for collaborative discussions, experienced editors often stick to Wikipedia's formal talk pages, leading to friction and a sense of isolation for new editors. Without stronger community-building efforts or clearer paths for engagement, Wikipedia risks alienating potential long-term contributors.

P.S.: I really like how Reddit encourages users to be more active by unlocking achievements on a user's profile.^[11]