Wikipedia, WHO joining to debunk covid fictions

As part of efforts to stop the spread of false information about the coronavirus pandemic, Wikipedia and the World Health Organization announced a collaboration Thursday: The health agency will grant the online encyclopedia free use of its published information, graphics and videos.

The collaboration is the first between Wikipedia and a health agency.

“We all consult just a few apps in our daily life, and this puts WHO content right there in your language, in your town, in a way that relates to your geography,” said Andrew Pattison, a digital content manager for the health agency who helped negotiate the contract.

Since its start in 2001, Wikipedia has become one of the world’s 10 most-consulted sites; it is frequently viewed for health information.

The agreement puts much of the WHO’s material into the Wikimedia “commons,” meaning it can be reproduced or retranslated anywhere, without the need to seek permission — as long as the material is identified as coming from the WHO and a link to the original is included.

“Equitable access to trusted health information is critical to keeping people safe and informed,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director general.

His agency translates its work into six official languages, which do not include, for example, Hindi, Bengali, German or Portuguese, so billions of people cannot read its documents.

Wikipedia articles, by contrast, are translated into about 175 languages.

The first WHO items used under the agreement are its “Mythbusters” infographics, which debunk more than two dozen false notions about covid-19. Additions could include, for example, treatment guidelines for doctors, said Ryan Merkley, chief of staff at the Wikimedia

Foundation, which produces Wikipedia.

Eventually, live links will be established that would, for example, update global case and death numbers on Wikipedia as soon as the WHO posts them, Pattison said.

Wikipedia has about 5,200 covid-related articles in 174 languages, Merkley said.

Because some contributors insert errors or “make malicious changes,” he said, there are several levels of safeguards. Some pages can be “locked” and cannot be changed until review by one of more than 200 volunteer editors on WikiProject Covid-19, many of whom are doctors or academics.