Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention 2025/Programme/glam-balkans
GLAM digital collections usage as trustworthy Wiki-sources: Western Balkans case study- BOGDAN TRIFUNOVIC
Time: [online]
Room: [online]
Abstract:
This presentation will showcase the Western Balkans (WB) memory institutions (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums - GLAM) digital collections usage as trustworthy Wikipedia sources. The case study is based on understanding Wikipedia both as a global memory place and depository of collective memory (Kanhabua, Nguyen, Niederée 2014; Ferron, Massa 2013; Luyt 2015) that has global reach on information and narratives construction that are important for the themes such as disinformation or misinterpretation. In the focus of study is digitalization of the 20th-century wars heritage in three WB countries (Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia and Serbia) with recent conflict legacy of the Yugoslavian wars in the 1990s, that strongly influence historical and political narratives. To examine the impact of WB GLAM digital collections on contemporary narratives, a case study involving Wikipedia articles analysis will be conducted, for tracing the indicators of the WB digital collections’ materials in Wikipedia articles in several languages. The qualitative and quantitative analysis will cover the Wikipedia domains for each analyzed country plus in English as a reference point, using the language model study of Wikipedia articles (Rogers, Sendijarevic 2012) and software systems for large data extraction and processing on Wikipedia dumps. On collected data a content analysis will be conducted, as well as analysis of hyperlinks used as external sources for Wikipedia articles, to reveal the level of usage of GLAM collections by external repositories of knowledge and information. My hypothesis is that digital GLAM collections in the analyzed WB countries are poorly represented as the sources for facts or interpretations of trustworthy information, which inhibits both GLAM collections and Wikipedia as the transmitters of reliable information in the digital age. As a solution, a framework of methods, large dataset analysis and open-source resources (tools and data) will be presented.
