Lucy Moore’s recent successes come together under the umbrella of “Editing Wikipedia as Academic Activism”.
Wikipedia is the most powerful platform that the open education community can use to influence how people understand the world around them. Wikipedia is the sixth most popular website in the world; it is also a non-profit. There are over 320 language Wikipedias; new translation tools mean movement between languages is ever easier. Wikipedia is inevitably in the top few search engine returns. Its content is also the first stop for large language models used by virtual assistants, such as ChatGPT. The content on Wikipedia shapes the knowledge we consume, whether we visit its websites or not.
However, Wikipedia in turn, requires shaping. The majority of its editorship is white and male, from global minority countries. This has led to imbalances in content about gender, especially the representation of women, global majority experiences, and pretty much every other marginalized group.
Lucy Moore edits Wikipedia to share information on her research on ninth-century coinage, but editing is also a significant way she is a knowledge activist within academia. She has written 50% of the biographies about women in her field – numismatics. This makes women’s achievements in the field easier to access for all. She edits more broadly about women in archaeology and museums, focussing on women from global majority countries if she can. As someone with advanced research skills, and more significantly, access through her academic affiliation to paywalled sources that can be used as references on Wikipedia, she sees editing very much as part of socially responsible academic practice. Lucy is proud to be part of the volunteer team at the Women’s Classical Committee who edit together every month, as feminist knowledge activism.
In 2024, Lucy finished a challenge she had set herself – to write an article about a woman from every country in the world for Wikipedia. This achievement was designed to create media attention, and it did.
The project received international coverage from the Guardian, CNN International, BBC World Service, CBC. Further, it sparked conversations about our knowledge ecosystems and inspired new editors all around the world. This was the goal, to demonstrate that editing Wikipedia can be an essential part of academic activism. That we can all shape the internet, if we choose to use the tools at our disposal, and that the impact of this work resonates around the world.
Award Nominator
I love this project as it promotes inclusivity through an open platform. The author has created open content to combat the lack of content focusing on women. I also enjoy seeing that she has worked to add new authors; the more voices that are represented, the more inclusive the content.
Award Reviewer
Clearly, also, she has been training other women on Wikipedia editing and the videos of support show the impact and inspiration she has had on graduate students and educators, and through them, the impact on more people, like educators’ students.
Award Reviewer
