Wikipedia, Translation and the Collaborative Production of Spatial Knowledge(s): A socio-narrative analysis

This paper aims to provide insights into the significance and complexity of the role that translation plays in the production of knowledge within the free online encyclopaedia platform Wikipedia. First, it positions this investigation within a growing body of research into the user-generated site as a prominent new arena for the social construction of reality, before critiquing the ways in which translation has so far been conceptualized in this context. Second, it offers a case study focusing on the English-language Wikipedia article about ‘Paris’, using a socio-narrative-based approach to the study of translation. This analysis reveals translation to be inextricably bound up in the processes of knowledge production, dissemination and negotiation through which content is collaboratively created within the world’s most popular reference work.

JSTOR: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26496377