Multilinguals and Wikipedia Editing

Abstract

This article analyzes one month of edits to Wikipedia in order to examine the role of users editing multiple language editions (referred to as multilingual users). Such multilingual users may serve an important function in diffusing information across different language editions of the encyclopedia, and prior work has suggested this could reduce the level of self-focus bias in each edition. This study finds multilingual users are much more active than their single-edition (monolingual) counterparts. They are found in all language editions, but smaller-sized editions with fewer users have a higher percentage of multilingual users than larger-sized editions. About a quarter of multilingual users always edit the same articles in multiple languages, while just over 40% of multilingual users edit different articles in different languages. When non-English users do edit a second language edition, that edition is most frequently English. Nonetheless, several regional and linguistic cross-editing patterns are also present.

References in corpus (2)

• Maps of random walks on complex networks reveal community structure
• The Tower of Babel Meets Web 2.0: User-Generated Content and its Applications in a Multilingual Context

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Understanding Editing Behaviors in Multilingual Wikipedia
• MultiWiki: Interlingual Text Passage Alignment in Wikipedia
• Linguistic neighbourhoods: explaining cultural borders on Wikipedia through multilingual co-editing activity
• User Reviews and Language: How Language Influences Ratings
• Lost in translation: using global fact-checks to measure multilingual misinformation prevalence, spread, and evolution
• Mapping bilateral information interests using the activity of Wikipedia editors
• Cross-language Wikipedia Editing of Okinawa, Japan
• Foreign-language Reviews: Help or Hindrance?
• Comparing Native and Non-native English Speakers' Behaviors in Collaborative Writing through Visual Analytics