An Exploration of Wikipedia Data as a Measure of Regional Knowledge Distribution

Accepted Manuscript reprint of a proceedings article published by Springer. The original source of publication is: Stephany F., Braesemann F. (2017) An Exploration of Wikipedia Data as a Measure of Regional Knowledge Distribution. In: Ciampaglia G., Mashhadi A., Yasseri T. (eds) Social Informatics.

9 Pages Posted: 24 Oct 2019

See all articles by Fabian Stephany

Fabian Stephany

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute; Bruegel; Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society

Fabian Braesemann

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute

Date Written: September 2, 2017

Abstract

In today’s economies, knowledge is the key ingredient for prosperity. However, it is hard to measure this intangible asset appropriately. Standard economic models mostly rely on common measures such as enrollment rates and international test scores. However, these proxies focus rather on the quality of education of pupils than on the distribution of knowledge among the whole population, which is increasingly defined by alternative sources of education such as online learning platforms. As a consequence, the economically relevant stock of knowledge in a region is only roughly approximated. Furthermore, they are abstract in content, and both capital-, and time-consuming in census. This paper proposes to explore Wikipedia data as an alternative source of capturing the knowledge distribution on a narrow geographical scale. Wikipedia is by far the largest digital encyclopedia worldwide and provides data on usage and editing publicly. We com- pare Wikipedia usage worldwide and edits in the U. S. to existing measures of the acquisition and stock of knowledge. The results indicate that there is a significant correlation between Wikipedia interactions and knowledge approximations on different geographical scales. Considering these results, it seems promising to further explore Wikipedia data to develop a reliable, inexpensive, and real-time proxy of knowledge distribution around the world.

Keywords: Knowledge Geographies, Mining of Big Social Data, Wikipedia

JEL Classification: C55, C82, I21

Suggested Citation

Stephany, Fabian and Braesemann, Fabian, An Exploration of Wikipedia Data as a Measure of Regional Knowledge Distribution (September 2, 2017). Accepted Manuscript reprint of a proceedings article published by Springer. The original source of publication is: Stephany F., Braesemann F. (2017) An Exploration of Wikipedia Data as a Measure of Regional Knowledge Distribution. In: Ciampaglia G., Mashhadi A., Yasseri T. (eds) Social Informatics., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3470369

Fabian Stephany (Contact Author)

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute ( email )

1 St. Giles
University of Oxford
Oxford OX1 3PG Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire OX1 3JS
United Kingdom

Bruegel ( email )

Rue de la Charité 33
B-1210 Brussels Belgium, 1210
Belgium

Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society ( email )

Bebelplatz 1 | 10099
Berlin
Germany

Fabian Braesemann

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute ( email )

1 St Giles
University of Oxford
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3JS
United Kingdom

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