Research and Privacy on Wikipedia: Wikimania 2025 lightning talk: transcript

Key points

• Wikipedia is visited over 15 billion times a month and is used in a large amount of research, but open edits create a tension between transparency and privacy.
• Some editors use real names while others stay anonymous, sometimes because their edits could put them at risk.
• The white paper was prioritized after a request from the English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee and written with the research team, human rights team and an external research ethicist.
• Researchers are advised to know Wikipedia's norms, create a public project page on Meta-Wiki, and avoid publishing usernames or diffs that could identify contributors.
• Wikipedians are advised to understand the risks, since editing history can reveal identity, and to engage with researchers on their own terms.
• Listeners are asked to read the white paper and give feedback on the meta page through August 31st.

Chapters

1. 0:04Openness, research and editor privacy tension
2. 1:04Why the white paper was commissioned
3. 1:39Recommendations for researchers
4. 2:36Tips for Wikipedians and understanding trade-offs
5. 3:55Engaging with researchers and giving feedback

Full transcript

0:04Openness, research, and privacy. Can we have it all? Every month, Wikipedia is visited over 15 billion times, but it's not just a go-to destination for curious readers. Wikipedia is also a vital resource for researchers around the world. Did you know that on average, every year researchers use or refer to Wikipedia in more than 130,000 articles and publish a minimum of roughly 500 research papers about Wikipedia itself? But there's a side of this research that's less discussed, how it affects the people behind the edits. Wikipedia may be open to all, but its openness introduces a tension between transparency and privacy. Every edit is public. Every talk page is searchable. It's an invaluable resource for researchers who have a commitment to use their skills to transparently communicate to the world the opportunities they see. Meanwhile, editors come from all over the world as well. Some use

1:04their real names. Others work anonymously, sometimes because their edits could put them at risk, especially in places with censorship or political unrest. It can be difficult for researchers to balance the obligation for transparent research communication with privacy and anonymity expectations. In response to a request from the English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee, the Wikimedia Foundation prioritized a white paper. Its goal is to offer guidance to researchers on how to study Wikipedia in ways that respect editor privacy and community values.

1:39In collaboration between the Wikimedia Foundation's research team, human rights team, and an external research ethicist, the Research and Privacy on Wikipedia white paper was recently published as an Open Science Framework preprint. Today I want to give you a preview of what you can find in this white paper. We provide recommendations to researchers for one. For example, we ask researchers to know the norms and guidelines review wikipedia's terms of use and the universal code of conduct before they start collecting or analyzing data create a public project page on meta wiki avoid publishing usernames diffs or generally sharing information if it could be used to identify contributors especially without consent what's low risk in one country might be dangerous in another. Consider editors' geographic, political, and social contexts.

2:36And finally, recognize the significance of trade-offs you may have to make when balancing your obligations as a researcher to navigate the tension between sharing transparently while also maintaining the privacy and anonymity of readers and editors. The paper also contains tips and guidance for Wikipedians. First, learn about trade-offs researchers need to make. One of the challenges researchers face when studying Wikipedia and communicating their findings is balancing their obligation to share the truth with the world in a transparent way while respecting Wikipedia communities' diverse and varying expectations with regards to privacy.

3:21As a result, sometimes the choices researchers may make may be in tension with what, as a how to plan for and take action in such cases. Understand the risks. Even your editing history can reveal clues about your identity. Be especially cautious if you edit on politically, culturally, socially, or religiously sensitive topics. Explore the Wikimedia Foundation's digital security trainings.

3:55And most importantly, engage on your terms. Ask questions, learn about projects, and raise concerns proactively with researchers. Every successful project requires research to evolve and improve over time. Researchers are motivated to contribute their expertise to help Wikipedia evolve. We need to support them in doing successful research on the projects, including balancing the need for transparency with privacy and anonymity expectations of Wikipedia editors.

4:28help us help the researchers and other editors by reading the white paper and providing your feedback at the meta page through August 31st. Thanks for your attention.

Source and licence

Recording: File:Research and Privacy on Wikipedia - Wikimania 2025 Lightning Talk - Eli Asikin-Garmager.webm by Eli Asikin-Garmager (2025-07-31), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC0.

The transcript is machine speech-to-text by the TidyTools Audio & video transcriber; the summary, key points and chapters were written by Claude from that transcript. Both may contain errors: check the recording before quoting it.