Paper presented at Wikisym 2011, 7th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration Read the paper at http://www.gnuband.org/papers/collective_memory_building_in_wikipedia_the_case_of_north_african_uprisings/ Authors: Michela Ferron, Paolo Massa Abstract: Since December 2010, a series of protests and uprisings have shocked North African countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen and more. In this paper, focusing mainly on the Egyptian revolution, we provide evidence of the intense edit activity occurred during these uprisings on the related Wikipedia pages. Thousands of people provided their contribution on the content pages and discussed improvements and disagreements on the associated talk pages as the traumatic events unfolded. We propose to interpret this phenomenon as a process of collective memory building and argue how on Wikipedia this can be studied empirically and quantitatively in real time. We explore and suggest possible directions for future research on collective memory formation of traumatic and controversial events in Wikipedia.

1. Collective Memory building
in Wikipedia: the case of
North African uprisings
Michela Ferron Paolo Massa
Center for Mind/Brain SoNet - Fondazione
Sciences Bruno Kessler (FBK)
University of Trento, Italy Trento, Italy
- phauly @ Wikipedia
- http://www.gnuband.org

2. Time
December 2010
”The 21st century
runs on fast-forward,
and the only way to
keep up is to stop
and figure out what
really happened”

3. Outline
1) Idea: History2.0 and Collective Memory building
2) Evidence: Egyptian Revolution on Wikipedia
3) Research: Ongoing and Directions

4. Case Study:
2011 Egyptian Revolution
Popular uprising (street demonstrations, protests)
Began on Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Inspired by the Tunisian revolution
Part of the Arab Spring (Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Syria, Libya, ...)
Still continuing as of October 2011
Mainly peaceful but at least 846 people killed and 6,000 injured.
Goal achieved: On 11 February 2011, President Mubarak resigned
Source: ”2011 Egyptian revolution” Wikipedia page (Oct 5, 2011)
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2011_Egyptian_revolution&oldid=454052178

5. Need to
communicate
current events!
”The world must
know … in English” Leave before the air finishes
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Under_Water_Protest.jpg
The Revolution Will be Self-Organized, Tahrir, #May27
http://technosociology.org/?p=448

6. Need to communicate!
Sure, using Twitter, Facebook, social media
(personal opinions)
But why not write it as a fact on Wikipedia where
tons of people go the get ”Reality”?
(wikiality, self-fulfilling prophecy, ...)

7. Wikipedia
=
the
democratization
of
”manufacturing
consent”?
[Dror Kamir http://anduraru.wordpress.com]

8. Who controls the past controls the future.
Who controls the present controls the past.
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

9. History is written by the winners
History was written by the winners
Now
It is written in real time, by anyone
Where?

10. ”2011 Egyptian Revolution”
Wikipedia page

11. ”2011 Egyptian Revolution”
Wikipedia talk page

12. Not only English!

13. Not only English!

14. You need ”history” to study history ;)

15. ”This is historiography. This is what
culture actually looks like: a process of
argument, of dissenting and accreting
opinion, of gradual and not always
correct codification”
”Everything should have a history button”
James Bridle
http://booktwo.org/notebook/wikipedia-historiography/

16. Video of ”7 July 2005 London
bombings” Wikipedia page evolution
http://www.gnuband.org/2011/03/08/video_of_evolution_in_time_of_the_wikipedia_page_about_london_bombings/

17. Empirical question
Is it possible to study history in
real time as it gets written by
thousands of contributors?

18. Collective Memory building on
Wikipedia
Collective memory (CM): a set of ideas, images, feelings about the
past (Iwona Irwin-Zarecka, 1994), built through an active process
of sense-making through time.
Studied mainly in Psychology (small groups), Sociology (nations,
movements, ...)
Now possible to study CM quantitatively via Wikipedia.
● Wikipedia is a global memory place where discussion and
article creation can be interpreted as the discursive fabrication
of memory through sense-making and discussion of different
points of view (Pentzold, 2009)
Wikipedia encompasses the major functions of collective memory,
to satisfy the needs of the communities in the present:
construction/support of group identity, cohesion and continuity
(Harris et al., 2008), commemoration to re-elaborate events
(Zerubavel, 1995) and for emotional bonding and therapeutic
practice (Wang, 2008).

19. WikiSweeper:
Ushahidi + Wikimedia
to track breaking news
(Sept 13th, 2011)

20. Is the phenomenon happening on
Wikipedia?

21. Most edited pages of the month
(Wikirage.com - 4 March 2011)
1. 2011 Libyan uprising 11. 2011 Egyptian protests
2. 2011 Libyan protests 12. 2010-2011 pro-democracy protests
3. Deaths in 2011 13. 2010-2011 Pro-democracy protests
4. 2011 Christchurch earthquake 14. 2010-2011 North Africa and Western Asia
protests
5. 2010-2011 Arab world protests 15. 2010-2011 Pro-democracy protests
6. 2010-2011 Middle East and North Africa 16. 2011 Libyan Revolt
protests
7. The Undertaker 17. 2011 Canterbury earthquake
8. Egyptian Revolution of 2011 18. Gary Moore
9. 2011 Egyptian revolution 19. 2011 Wisconsin protests
10. Watson (artificial intelligence software) 20. Libyan Revolution

22. ”2011 Egyptian revolution” page
in different language Wikipedias
English English Arabic Arabic German Germa Egyptia Egyptia
(en) (en) Talk (ar) (ar) (de) n (de) n n Arabic
Talk Talk Arabic (arz)
(arz) Talk
Edits 6059 2741 1269 99 961 315 448 8
Average 134.6 60.9 28.2 2.2 21.4 7.0 10.0 0.2
edits per
day
Editors 1190 282 236 24 264 79 35 5
Egyptian Revolution started in 25 January 2011 - Data up to 10 March 2011 (45 days)

23. Ongoing research and directions
Who edits?
When?
Why?
How?
Where?

24. Research: When
English English Arabic Arabic German German Egyptian Egyptian
(en) (en) Talk (ar) (ar) Talk (de) (de) Talk Arabic Arabic
(arz) (arz) Talk
Creation date 25 January 25 January 25 25 26 January 26 28 05
2011, 2011, January January 2011, January January February
13:26 (by 13:26 (by 2011, 2011, 10:53 (by 2011, 2011, 2011,
The The 16:55 (by 20:35 (by 195.145.91 11:24 (by 01:52 (by 18:01 (by
Egyptian Egyptian ‫)عمرو‬ Jo .170) Generat) Ghaly) Faris
Liberal) Liberal) NaHaL) knight)
77% of articles about recent traumatic events created in two days after the event
[Ferron,Massa 2011]
But 1 policy and 2 essays warn about documenting ”current events” in Wikipedia
Wikipedia:NOT#JOURNALISM, Wikipedia:Recentism, Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not
a newspaper
“recentism” = contributing to an article without a long-term historical view
Harder to reach NPOV on current, non settled-down events

25. Research: When (2)
Article: 2011 Egyptian revolution
High edit activity in the first days
(524 edits/day to the article from 28
January to 2 February; 235 edits/day
to the talk page from 29 January to
23 February)
Increase of edit activity the day
Mubarak resigned (same pattern for
pages about the Tunisian revolution)
Question: which events trigger
participation?
© Wikichanges.com

26. Research: When (3)
Edit activity increases in anniversaries
(88 articles and talk pages about
traumatic events: significant increase)
Some of these edits reveal the emotional
bonding function of collective memory –
commemoration
Talk page of "September 11 attacks":
"Tonight in Australia is the 5 Year
anniversary of the Sep 11 attacks. [...] My
prayers are with those who are
related/friends with the dead of Sept 11.
(13:34, 11 September 2006)"
"[…] my sympathy and prayers to those who
mourn this day." (14:08, 11 September
2006)
"Spare a thought for those whose lives were
torn apart that day." (14:39, 11 September
2006)
[Ferron, M., and Massa, P. 2011. Studying
collective memories in Wikipedia. 3rd
Digital Memories Conference]

27. Research: When (3)
Changes over time – longitudinal analysis
– Who contributes in the first days? Later on
others jump in?
– Why they contribute (pro? Against? Neutral?)
– How they contribute
● Transition from communicative memory (alive) to
cultural memory (settled down)
– Where they contribute from

28. Research: Who
English (en) English (en) Arabic (ar) Arabic (ar) German (de) German Egyptian Egyptian
Talk Talk (de) Talk Arabic (arz) Arabic (arz)
Talk
Editors 1190 282 236 24 264 79 35 5
Edits by the top 4,406 2,193 895 42 572 166 347 2
10% of active (72.80%) (80.01%) (70.53%) (42.42%) (59.52%) (52.70%) (77.46%) (25.00%)
users
Most active The Egyptian Lihaas Ahmed m The In dubio pro In dubio pro Ghaly The Egyptian
editors Liberal (375) rabea Egyptian dubio dubio (168) Liberal
(559) (185) Liberal (149) (57) (2)
(18)
Lihaas The Egyptian ‫خلدون شنتوت‬
Osa osa 5 Goldzahn Generator Samsam22 Samsam22
(486) Liberal (174) (14) (63) (30) (96) (2)
(332)
Ocaasi Ocaasi Moh2010me Mohamed WikitanvirBot Goldzahn WikitanvirBot Faris knight
(275) (314) d Ouda(c) (56) (22) (62) (2)
(143) (10)
94.246.150.68 94.246.150.68 WikitanvirBot 62.220.33.64 Luckas-bot BangertNo Luckas-bot Ghaly
(196) (263) (64) (9) (23) (14) (21) (1)
108.14.100.42 Silver seren Osa osa 5 Moh2010me Wikifreund Tfjt EmausBot Egy Observer
(187) (144) (43) d (23) (13) (20) (1)
(8)
Wipsenade Wipsenade Mohamed ‫خلدون شنتوت‬
A.Abdel-Rahim CopperBot 62.220.33.64
(168) (118) ElGedawy (7) (21) (11) (14)
(29)
Ericoides Knowledgekid8 The ‫أسامة عباس‬
Dinarsad Mr. Mustard Eskandarany
(167) 7 Egyptian (5) (21) (10) (8)
(75) Liberal
(27)
Aude Cs32en Luckas-bot ‫غلم السمر‬
Generator 188.174.2.2 The
(143) (69) (24) (5) (20) 07 Egyptian
(9) Liberal
(5)
Anonymous edits 1,336 426 202 11 148 73 29 0
(22.08%) (15.54%) (15.92%) (11.11%) (15.40%) (23.17%) (6.47%) (0.00%)

30. Research: Who (2)
Social Network Analysis of Talk
page ”2011 Egyptian revolution”
Node=users, edges=direct replies
Size = betweenness centrality
colour = #edits to the article
Athinker just started 9 threads on the
talk page with opinionated
statements but never took part in the
discussions
Silver seren, high centrality but few
edits to the article
[When the Wikipedians Talk: Network and
Tree Structure of Wikipedia Discussion Pages.
Laniado, Tasso, Volkovich, Kaltenbrunner,
ICWSM 2011]

31. Research: How / Why
User “Silver seren”
article page edits = 5
talk page edits = 144
He explains his self-selected role in some Talk page comments:
I don't think i'm up for article writing right now. Especially not on such an
extensive one such as this. But I am definitely up for reference finding.
Just let me know what statements you need to have referenced or the
types of references that you need and i'll find them for you. Silverseren
08:47, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
Cool. Add it to the article -- The Egyptian Liberal (talk) 20:07, 2
February 2011 (UTC)
No editing from me, that's up to you guys. I'm just the reference
guy. :P Silverseren 20:11, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

32. Research: Who (3)
Talk: 2011 Egyptian revolution
Social Network Analysis of User Talk pages
Messages left by “The Egyptian Liberal” on User talk page of “Lihaas”.
Hopefully, Mubarak will leave before the article get bigger (for us)
and more ppl die (for the Egyptians) -- The Egyptian Liberal (talk)
13:48, 3 February 2011 (UTC)
OK. Now I am pissed. I saw Omar and Mubarak's Speech. They want
war, they got one. Tomorrow is going to be the biggest protest the
world have seen in this MILLENNIUM. I got the word right now that
people are coming out with numbers that has not been seen on TV.
They are also moving to the palace. Bloody fucking idiots, if he
stepped down today, noone will be killed tomorrow. -- The
Egyptian Liberal (talk) 21:46, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
Conversations on UTP are more personal than those on ATP

33. Are “The Egyptian Liberal”, “Lihaas” and
”Ocaasi” writing history?

34. Research: who/how
Possible to detect who agrees and disagrees with
whom?
Weighted networks (pos/neg): Edit war? What
gets deleted? 2 sides? Role of users? And of
admins?

35. Research: Analyse text (what/how)
Second day of protests on talk page of “2011 Egyptian revolution” (English
Wikipedia)
This article is not taking a neutral stance. I believe it is forged by anti-
regime contributors who are taking the side of the protesters by any means
available. I'm neither contributing nor will I contribute to the article, but for those
who are doing so, have some Wikipedian ethics. Thank you.
[[User:MagedMahfouz|Maged Mahfouz]] ([[User talk:MagedMahfouz|talk]])
16:33, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
Well like it or not Maged, when a people rise up and overthrow a despotic
regime, the facts of the matter are what they are. One is not anti-fascist by
reporting on the Third Reich or the Italian New Order. Nor is there any
“forgery”. Your input as a defender of the regime will definitely help the
article be a better report of the objective facts, but on the basis of the
evidence and assuming no one is ready to provide such support, I suggest
the NPOV tag be removed. [[Special:Contributions/72.228.177.92|
72.228.177.92]] ([[User talk:72.228.177.92|talk]]) 19:06, 26 January 2011
(UTC)

36. Research: How
Analyze Text from edits, talks, user talks, ...
Automated content analysis
We have created PYWC, open source version of
LIWC, which computes percentage of words of a
text falling in 80 psychological/social categories
such as positive/negative emotions, anxiety,
anger, sadness, family, past/present/future, ...
[Pennebaker, J. W., Francis, M. E., and Booth, R. J. 2001. Linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC)]
PYWC code at https://github.com/volpino/wiki-network/

37. Traumatic events vs other pages

38. Emotional timeline of London
Bombings on Wikipedia
Anxiety
Talk: 7 July 2005 London bombings

39. Emotional timeline of London
Bombings on Wikipedia
Anxiety
Talk: 7 July 2005 London bombings

40. Cross-cultural studies
manypedia.com: compare Linguistic Points Of View (LPOV) of Wikipedia communities
Same patterns in all 280 language editions of Wikipedias?
Same users involved? With different roles?
Automatically detect different representations of same event
(Israeli–Palestinian conflict on Arabic/Hebrew WP)?

41. Research: Where
http://sonetlab.fbk.eu/wikitrip/#|en|2011_Egyptian_revolution

42. Research: Where
Wikitrip of 2011 Egyptian revolution page on Arabic Wikipedia

43. Summary
Collective memory building of current events
does happen in Wikipedia
Possible to study ”history” in real time:
historiography2.0
Ongoing research and directions: jump in!

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45. Thank you!
Questions?

46. Collective Memory building
in Wikipedia: the case of
North African uprisings
Michela Ferron Paolo Massa
Center for Mind/Brain SoNet - Fondazione
Sciences Bruno Kessler (FBK)
University of Trento, Italy Trento, Italy
- phauly @ Wikipedia
- http://www.gnuband.org