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

Abstract

This article explores the significance and complexity of the role translation plays in the production of knowledge within the online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia. 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 translation has so far been conceptualized in this context. It focuses on the English-language Wikipedia "Paris" page, using a socio-narrative approach. 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.