| The Truth According to Wikipedia | |
|---|---|
 2007 fundraising appeal by Jimmy Wales, excerpted in the documentary | |
| Directed by | IJsbrand van Veelen |
| Produced by | Judith van den Berg |
| Starring | Jimmy Wales Larry Sanger Andrew Keen Tim O'Reilly Robert McHenry |
| Cinematography | Niels van't Hoff Pim Hawinkels Richard Kille |
| Edited by | Stefan Kamp Jos de Putter Doke Romeijn |
| Music by | Chris Everts Frank van der Sterre |
| Distributed by | Backlight andYouTube |
Release date |
|
Running time | 48 minutes |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Language | English |
The Truth According to Wikipedia, also referred to asWiki's Truth (Dutch:Wiki's Waarheid), is aDutch documentary aboutWikipedia directed by IJsbrand van Veelen. It was screened at The Next Web conference inAmsterdam on 4 April 2008 and broadcast by the Dutchdocumentary seriesBacklight (Dutch:Tegenlicht) onNederland 2 on 7 April 2008. It was subsequently made available throughAmerican Public Television.
The documentary examines thereliability of Wikipedia, and thedichotomy between the contributions of experts and amateur editors. The documentary includes commentary from Wikipedia co-foundersJimmy Wales andLarry Sanger,The Cult of the Amateur authorAndrew Keen,O'Reilly Media chief executive officerTim O'Reilly, and former editor-in-chief ofEncyclopædia BritannicaRobert McHenry. Keen says that experts should serve as guardians of information during theWeb 2.0 phenomenon; this point of view is supported by analysis from Sanger.
The Truth According to Wikipedia received a generally positive reception, being described inFilm Quarterly as "a sharp and wide-ranging overview of wikipistemology".[1] TheCenter for Strategic and International Studies gave the documentary a rating of "Good", and called it a useful resource to teach students about appropriate sourcing.[2] Media scholarMirko Tobias Schäfer described it as an apt debate over truth as represented on the website.New media writerStephen Downes said the documentary was captivating for its ability to place Wikipedia within the wider context of the Web 3.0 social phenomenon.
Director IJsbrand van Veelen examines questions about Wikipedia, such as whether it will harm traditional encyclopaedias, includingEncyclopædia Britannica.[5] He presents commentators who discuss thereliability of Wikipedia. Veelen also addresses the idea thatinformation wants to be free.[5][6] The documentary notes that within the period of 2006 to 2008, Wikipedia has increasingly been recognized as one of the top most popular websites, and that it often rivaledGoogle for those searching for information on the Internet.[2]
Individuals who are interviewed and appear as commentators in the film include: Wikipedia co-foundersJimmy Wales andLarry Sanger;The Cult of the Amateur authorAndrew Keen;How Wikipedia Works author and Wikipedia editor Phoebe Ayers;Swahili Wikipedia contributor Ndesanjo Macha;O'Reilly Media chief executive officerTim O'Reilly;We Think authorCharles Leadbeater; and formerEncyclopædia Britannica editor-in-chiefRobert McHenry.[5][6][7]
Discussion topics include how the contributions of both unqualified and expert users affect Wikipedia, and more broadly, theWeb 2.0 phenomenon.[5][6][7] Charles Leadbetter puts forth the notion that the wider online community is an effective method of increasing the ideals of democracy.[1] Leadbetter says the Web is the most effective medium for increasing individual freedoms and rights intotalitarian nations.[1]
Andrew Keen is featured prominently in the documentary, and puts forth a thesis that veracity of information should be determined by experts who should function as guardians for such material.[5][7] Keen says that without expert gatekeepers to discern what actual facts are, the danger exists that the wider community may simply invent its own perceived truths.[3] Keen opines that in this unfortunate situation actual facts would instead be supplanted by "truthiness".[3][a]
Keen's argument is supported in the documentary by commentary from Larry Sanger, who left Wikipedia over a conflict with Jimmy Wales regarding Sanger's desire for experts to be given additional influence on the project.[4] Sanger acknowledges that in the early stages of Wikipedia, factual accuracy of articles was neglected in favor of a drive to increase raw content on the fledgling website.[3]
The Truth According to Wikipedia was directed by IJsbrand van Veelen.[8][9] He had previously directed theBacklight documentaryGoogle: Behind the Screen.[6] Interviews were conducted by Marijntje Denters, Martijn Kieft and IJsbrand van Veelen.[8][9] William de Bruijn, Marijntje Denters, and Martijn Kieft researched and gathered information for the documentary.[8][9] Judith van den Berg was the producer, and editors were Jos de Putter and Doke Romeijn.[8][9] The documentary utilized 60 seconds of footage from a video made byChris Pirillo, who later objected that such usage was done without obtaining his permission or crediting him with the content.[10]
The documentary was released in 2008,[11] during which time the controversy over thecensorship of Wikipedia in China was ongoing.[12] The documentary premiered globally at The Next Web conference inAmsterdam on 4 April 2008.[13][14] It was broadcast byVPRO onNederland 2 on 7 April 2008,[11][15][16] and was made available for viewing on itsYouTube channel the same year.[1] The organizationAmerican Public Television (APT) began to make the documentary available in the summer of 2008, and was contracted to show the documentary as an APT program from February 2009 through January 2011.[17]
The Truth According to Wikipedia received a positive review in the journalFilm Quarterly, where author Ben Walters called the documentary, "a sharp and wide-ranging overview of wikipistemology".[1] In a report entitledTeaching Seven Revolutions: A Tool Kit for Educating Globally Competent Citizens published by theCenter for Strategic and International Studies, the documentary was given a rating of: "Good – especially if students think Wikipedia is the one source foreverything".[2] It was recommended as a resource to learn aboutinformation science.[2]
AuthorThomas Leitch in his bookWikipedia U wrote that Keen's perspective on Wikipedia in particular and Web 2.0 in general as expressed in the documentary was a significant viewpoint.[3] Leitch said the criticism directed at Wikipedia by Keen merited further debate because it reflected assumptions explaining why Wikipedia was met with wariness by educators that discouraged the encyclopedia's use in a classroom setting.[3]Bastard Culture! authorMirko Tobias Schäfer called the documentary a well-received analysis of the discussion over truth on Wikipedia.[18]
The Truth According to Wikipedia was given positive reception by Eric Schonfeld ofTechCrunch, who commented that the film was expertly created. Though he praised the documentary for displaying multiple different viewpoints, he was critical of the documentary's emphasis on Andrew Keen throughout, and said it became a tool for Keen to publicize his polemics against Wikipedia.[5] Schonfeld assessed that Keen came away as the winner of his thesis by the end of the documentary.[5] Of Keen's argument, Schonfeld pointed out that he did not address how researchers on Wikipedia could either be experts themselves, or subsequently become experts by virtue of improving the quality of articles on the website.[5]
Commenting on the documentary himself, Keen called it an enlightening documentary.[19] Mediafuturist, blogger, and writer Gerd Leonhard recommended the documentary and called it most entertaining.[20] Nicholas Carlson ofGawker Media framed the documentary as a conflict of "Experts vs. amateurs", and distilled the essence of the documentary down to a 90-second version.[21]
Designer andcommentator in the fields ofonline learning andnew mediaStephen Downes characterizedThe Truth According to Wikipedia as a fascinating documentary both about its website of focus and the larger phenomenon of Web 2.0.[22] Downes was critical of the film's use of a documentary-style format in order to present its message, and argued that the viewpoints presented were not subsequently backed up by documentation.[22]
Ernst-Jan Pfauth of The Next Web praised the documentary's director for gathering together a varied group of experts to comment upon Wikipedia for the documentary.[6] He posed questions raised by the documentary's analysis, and wondered whether the Web had succeeded in increasing intelligence and accuracy within society.[6] Pfauth asked: "Are equality and truth really reconcilable ideals?"[6]
