Global Gender Differences in Wikipedia Readership

Authors

  • Isaac Johnson Wikimedia Foundation
  • Florian Lemmerich University of Passau
  • Diego Sáez-Trumper Wikimedia Foundation
  • Robert West EPFL
  • Markus Strohmaier RWTH Aachen University GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
  • Leila Zia Wikimedia Foundation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v15i1.18058

Keywords:

Qualitative and quantitative studies of social media, Engagement, motivations, incentives, and gamification., Ranking/relevance of social media content and users

Abstract

Wikipedia represents the largest and most popular source of encyclopedic knowledge in the world, aiming to provide equal access to information worldwide. From a global online survey of 65,031 readers of Wikipedia and their corresponding reading logs, we present first evidence of gender differences in Wikipedia readership and how they manifest in records of user behavior. More specifically we report that (1) women are underrepresented among readers of Wikipedia, (2) women view fewer pages per reading session than men do, (3) men and women visit Wikipedia for similar reasons, and (4) men and women exhibit specific topical preferences. Our findings lay the foundation for identifying pathways toward knowledge equity in the usage of online encyclopedic knowledge.
ICWSM-2021 Proceedings Cover

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Published

2021-05-22

How to Cite

Johnson, I., Lemmerich, F., Sáez-Trumper, D., West, R., Strohmaier, M., & Zia, L. (2021). Global Gender Differences in Wikipedia Readership. Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 15(1), 254-265. https://doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v15i1.18058

Issue

Vol. 15 (2021): Fifteenth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media

Section

Full Papers