When it comes to online reputation management, few things have a greater impact than a well-written, up-to-date and sympathetic Wikipedia article. As a highly visible, paywall-free and reasonably well-trusted source of information, it can create a powerful digital first impression.
Not only do people use Wikipedia to familiarise themselves with a subject for the first time or to check a fact, it is also a prime source of information for widgets like Google’s Knowledge Graph and even large language models.
However, Wikipedia resists efforts to transform its articles into comprehensive and flattering profiles.
Front and centre on the homepage is the slogan “Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia that anyone can edit”. The famous (or perhaps infamous) phrase has been both a central tenet of the site since its inception and for some, a warning that the information might not be reliable; even Wikipedia doesn’t officially recognise itself as a reliable source for citations. Within Wikipedia’s volunteer community, the motto is also very much not considered to mean “anyone should edit”.
Editing policies
Outside of Wikipedia, a great many people are unaware that the site strongly discourages editing an article about yourself, an employer or even a rival. Within the volunteer community, however, this policy is considered so self-evident that attempts to make changes to the site are often assumed to be intentionally subversive, especially if those changes mistakenly contravene a guideline.
There is a learning curve to the practical side of editing Wikipedia even before you consider the ethics of whether the citation you would like to add is a reliable source or not. Even people without an agenda are encouraged to start their editing journey by limiting their actions to simple, uncontroversial changes before attempting deceptively difficult tasks such as creating articles.
Following the rules
Even though Wikipedia tries to discourage people from editing pages without declaring any ulterior motives, the spaces designed to accommodate those looking to respectfully submit changes for community discussion can be intimidating without expert advice.
Once you have grasped the technical basics like Talk pages, formatting markup and using templates, there are further challenges to overcome. Suggestions are expected to be written from a neutral point of view, include appropriate citations to verify the content, and meet other more subjective criteria, such as not resembling a CV or directory website. This assumes that someone making a request already has a solid working knowledge of where Wikipedia draws these lines.
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The focus of Digitalis’s Wikipedia practice is studying and understanding the site’s many official policies and unspoken rules and advise clients on how to ethically engage with the Wikipedia community, avoiding common mistakes and helping to shape an online presence on the site within the limits and spirit of its rules.
We exist to help bridge the gap between those who need to manage their presence on Wikipedia, and the realities of navigating and operating effectively within the site’s parameters.
Pattern analysis
One of the most important tasks the Digitalis Wikipedia practice carries out is analysis of patterns of activity across the site.
Every edit on the site is recorded with a timestamp and the username or IP address of the individual who made the change. The same goes for the 89% of Wikipedia that isn’t an article[1].
Talk pages, policy pages and even deletion debates can offer valuable insights into what can or cannot be done in various circumstances.
Analysing these trends can reveal both obvious and surprising insights. Understanding the different levels of protection available to an article can tell you whether a page will be safe from hostile intervention, and even how long that protection will last. Looking into the time and date of editor activity can reveal if an individual editing an article about you is a seasoned volunteer or a recently created “single purpose account” with an agenda.
In 2017, a debate on the Reliable Sources noticeboard[2] led to the community rejecting the Daily Mail as a citation in most circumstances. In order to advise effectively on what kind of content can be added or changed on Wikipedia, it is important for us to know how Wikipedia regards all types of publications, including those not in English, which often lack an official consensus and require more intuitive interpretation, especially if these change over time following community discussions.
By cultivating relevant insights, Digitalis can advise on whether intended changes are in line with site policy as well as environmental factors which could affect response time and community reception.
Understanding the ecosystem of Wikipedia and its volunteer community can offer unique opportunities to safeguard reputation, especially as people increasingly recognise the need to scrutinise media and check sources. While the site has a wealth of systems designed to identify vandalism, protect against artificial networks and help report abuse, Wikipedia is not infallible to attack and manipulation.
Through our extensive and ongoing research, Digitalis’s Wikipedia practice helps prepare clients to navigate this surprisingly complex website in an ethical manner. Whether wrong information persists in an article, a page has not been updated meaningfully for years, or even if an article shouldn’t exist in the first place, we can provide the information needed to help clients make the necessary steps with peace of mind.
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Digitalis
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email webrequests@digitalis.com
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to webrequests@digitalis.com