Comparing Wikipedias in different languages

Wikipedia does not exist only in the English language: there are 331 active language editions as of July 2024. The different editions are not just translations from one language to another; they can also propose different narratives. Historical narratives about the past may therefore involve different representations, structures and discussions. The multilingual nature of Wikipedia gives historians a way of comparing historical narratives across different cultural perspectives. In this part, we will compare two different Wikipedia language editions by focusing on an event in French history with a global dimension, May ‘68, as it is represented in the English and French editions of Wikipedia.

You can adapt the proposed exercise to focus on a case study of your choice based on your research interests and in languages you are more comfortable with. Here are some ideas: compare the English and Arabic versions of the article on the Arab Spring, the English and Chinese versions of the article on the Silk Road or the English and German versions of the article on the Berlin Wall.

5.a Comparing Wikipedian perspectives on a historical event: May 68 in English and French | 60-120 mins

May 68 was a major event in the history of France and also in the broader context of the global social unrest and cultural revolutions of the late 1960s. For this reason, this sub-assignment focuses on the English language Wikipedia, which contains the most active registered users and covers more articles than other editions, and the French Wikipedia. The aim is to investigate the ways in which the Wikipedia interface encourages a specific way of presenting and displaying historical narratives across different language editions.

The time required for the exercise may vary depending on whether you opt to read the entire content of the articles or selected sections of them.

First, please read the historical narratives of the following two articles:

May 68, in English language Wikipedia – reading time: 20 minutes

Mai 68, in French language Wikipedia – reading time: 60 minutes

After reading both articles, you will notice that even though they refer to the same historical event, the representation of May 68 is not the same. The two articles have different structures, content and visual elements, and they use different bibliographical references.

Now please look at the following questions and discuss your answers with your fellow students:

  • What are the main similarities and differences in how the two Wikipedia articles present the historical events of May 68? Explore both the structure and the content (or parts of the content) of the articles and try to explain these similarities and differences.
  • Do you detect any similarities and differences in the bibliography that the two articles cite in the reference section? For example, you can explore whether the articles rely more heavily (or not) on certain references and the language and type of the cited resources in each case. Try to explain these similarities and differences.

Write a short text of 500 words with your findings and reflect on what they tell us about how the event is perceived in each case.

Reading/viewing suggestions

Vrandečić, Denny. “Collaborating on the Sum of All Knowledge Across Languages.” In Wikipedia @20. Stories of an Incomplete Revolution, edited by Joseph Reagle and Jackie Koerner. Massachusetts: MIT Press 2020, https://wikipedia20.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/svu3uy1z/release/2

Fichman, Pnina, and Noriko Hara. Global Wikipedia: International and Cross-Cultural Issues in Online Collaboration. Lanham: Rowman et Littlefield, 2014