Wikipedia turned 10 years old in January 2011 with more than 3.5 million English articles and in more than 250 languages, but only about 15% of the articles have been posted by women. Actually based on a joint study in 2010 of Wikipedia of the contributor base by the United Nations University, Maastricht University, and Wikipedia …“discovered that it was barely 13 percent women; the average age of a contributor was in the mid-20s.” The New York Times reported that Sue Gardner, the executive director of the Wikipedia foundation,:

has set a goal to raise the share of female contributors to 25 percent by 2015, but she is running up against the traditions of the computer world and an obsessive fact-loving realm that is dominated by men and, some say, uncomfortable for women.

At the same time the Pew Institute also issued the results of a study about Wikipedia indicates among other things Wikipedia is relied upon more widely by individuals with higher levels of education.

These reports make for an interesting evolution of Wikipedia and sharing Social Media information, particularly since Wikipedia’s Vision Statement in the Terms of Use is “Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That’s our commitment.”

So what about gender? Do men know more than women? Or are men just willing to express themselves on Wikipedia?

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