Wikipedia's Trust: Transparency, Sources, and Battling Misinformation

Resources

Books

• "The Seven Rules of Trust" by Jimmy Wales - This book lays out principles for building trust, based on Wales's experience with Wikipedia, and applies them to a world with increasingly partisan views and trust deficits.

Research & Studies

• "The Wisdom of Polarized Crowds" (Published in Nature in 2019) - This study suggests that politically contentious Wikipedia pages often achieve higher quality and more consensus, despite the contentious nature of the topics.

People Mentioned

• Lulu Garcia-Navarro - The interviewer and host of "The Interview" podcast.
• Jimmy Wales (Co-founder of Wikipedia) - The main interviewee, discussing Wikipedia's response to culture wars, political bias, AI challenges, and his book.
• Larry Sanger (Co-founder of Wikipedia) - Mentioned as a co-founder of Wikipedia and for his recent criticisms of the platform, including an interview with Tucker Carlson.
• Elon Musk - Referenced frequently for his criticisms of Wikipedia (calling it "Wokipedia") and his efforts to launch "Grokipedia" as an alternative.
• James Comer (Republican Representative from the House Oversight Committee) - Mentioned for co-writing a letter to Wikimedia requesting records related to editor bias, particularly concerning the state of Israel.
• Nancy Mace (Republican Representative from the House Oversight Committee) - Mentioned for co-writing a letter to Wikimedia requesting records related to editor bias, particularly concerning the state of Israel.
• Charlie Kirk - Discussed in the context of a Wikipedia controversy where his description as a "far-right conspiracy theorist" on his page led to criticism from Senator Mike Lee.
• Senator Mike Lee - Criticized Wikipedia for its description of Charlie Kirk.
• Tucker Carlson - Mentioned as the interviewer of Larry Sanger, whose interview about Wikipedia gained attention.
• Donald Trump - Referenced for his controversial statements about "the enemy within" and the military.
• Admiral Sir Hugo Pearson - A historical figure who owned Jimmy Wales's house in the countryside, prompting Wales's recent Wikipedia search.

Organizations & Institutions

• Wikimedia Foundation - The charity that owns and operates Wikipedia, which Jimmy Wales set up.
• Heritage Foundation - An organization mentioned for being the "architect of Project 2025" and for advocating to "dox" Wikipedia editors.
• OpenAI - Referenced as an example of an organization that started with an open-source, public-good mission but shifted to a multi-billion dollar for-profit business model.

Websites & Online Resources

• Wikipedia - The central topic of the discussion, its operational model, challenges, and responses to criticism.
• Grokipedia - Elon Musk's version of Wikipedia, intended to strip out ideological bias.
• Usenet - Described as an early, decentralized, and often toxic online message board system, akin to Reddit but without central control.
• X (formerly Twitter) - Mentioned as a platform where Larry Sanger advocates for reforms to Wikipedia.

Other Resources

• Project 2025 - An initiative for which the Heritage Foundation is cited as the architect, and which reportedly aims to "dox" Wikipedia editors.