Inconsistency between Salience and the Dynamics of Changes: The Information War on Wikipedia (Research Proposal)

Abstract

Informational wars are not new phenomena. However, nowadays, with the increasing role of the Internet and the growth of networked sources that rely on collective intelligence, manipulation of the information online, especially in supposedly trustworthy sources, becomes of a special interest. Indeed, biased information that is uncritically believed may shift the individual incentives and let those who are responsible for the manipulation virtually affect the flow of the history. This proposal is for a paper that intends to investigate the conflicts and changes in the Wikipedia articles before their topic became salient as a result of a certain political event. The paper proposes that such changes may be suspected to be a part of the preparation of the public for the event