Wikipedia as a tool for contemporary history of science: A case study on CRISPR.
Rapid developments and methodological divides hinder the study of how scientific knowledge accumulates, consolidates and transfers to the public sphere. Our work proposes using Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, as a historiographical source for contemporary science. We chose the high-profile field...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0290827&type=printable |
| _version_ | 1797682725039112192 |
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| author | Omer Benjakob Olha Guley Jean-Marc Sevin Leo Blondel Ariane Augustoni Matthieu Collet Louise Jouveshomme Roy Amit Ariel Linder Rona Aviram |
| author_facet | Omer Benjakob Olha Guley Jean-Marc Sevin Leo Blondel Ariane Augustoni Matthieu Collet Louise Jouveshomme Roy Amit Ariel Linder Rona Aviram |
| author_sort | Omer Benjakob |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Rapid developments and methodological divides hinder the study of how scientific knowledge accumulates, consolidates and transfers to the public sphere. Our work proposes using Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, as a historiographical source for contemporary science. We chose the high-profile field of gene editing as our test case, performing a historical analysis of the English-language Wikipedia articles on CRISPR. Using a mixed-method approach, we qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed the CRISPR article's text, sections and references, alongside 50 affiliated articles. These, we found, documented the CRISPR field's maturation from a fundamental scientific discovery to a biotechnological revolution with vast social and cultural implications. We developed automated tools to support such research and demonstrated its applicability to two other scientific fields-coronavirus and circadian clocks. Our method utilizes Wikipedia as a digital and free archive, showing it can document the incremental growth of knowledge and the manner scientific research accumulates and translates into public discourse. Using Wikipedia in this manner compliments and overcomes some issues with contemporary histories and can also augment existing bibliometric research. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T00:04:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3edb42c53c6a4b6db140b742260fe096 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T00:04:58Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-3edb42c53c6a4b6db140b742260fe0962023-09-17T05:31:03ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01189e029082710.1371/journal.pone.0290827Wikipedia as a tool for contemporary history of science: A case study on CRISPR.Omer BenjakobOlha GuleyJean-Marc SevinLeo BlondelAriane AugustoniMatthieu ColletLouise JouveshommeRoy AmitAriel LinderRona AviramRapid developments and methodological divides hinder the study of how scientific knowledge accumulates, consolidates and transfers to the public sphere. Our work proposes using Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, as a historiographical source for contemporary science. We chose the high-profile field of gene editing as our test case, performing a historical analysis of the English-language Wikipedia articles on CRISPR. Using a mixed-method approach, we qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed the CRISPR article's text, sections and references, alongside 50 affiliated articles. These, we found, documented the CRISPR field's maturation from a fundamental scientific discovery to a biotechnological revolution with vast social and cultural implications. We developed automated tools to support such research and demonstrated its applicability to two other scientific fields-coronavirus and circadian clocks. Our method utilizes Wikipedia as a digital and free archive, showing it can document the incremental growth of knowledge and the manner scientific research accumulates and translates into public discourse. Using Wikipedia in this manner compliments and overcomes some issues with contemporary histories and can also augment existing bibliometric research.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0290827&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Omer Benjakob Olha Guley Jean-Marc Sevin Leo Blondel Ariane Augustoni Matthieu Collet Louise Jouveshomme Roy Amit Ariel Linder Rona Aviram Wikipedia as a tool for contemporary history of science: A case study on CRISPR. PLoS ONE |
| title | Wikipedia as a tool for contemporary history of science: A case study on CRISPR. |
| title_full | Wikipedia as a tool for contemporary history of science: A case study on CRISPR. |
| title_fullStr | Wikipedia as a tool for contemporary history of science: A case study on CRISPR. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Wikipedia as a tool for contemporary history of science: A case study on CRISPR. |
| title_short | Wikipedia as a tool for contemporary history of science: A case study on CRISPR. |
| title_sort | wikipedia as a tool for contemporary history of science a case study on crispr |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0290827&type=printable |
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