TED: What Wikipedia teaches us about balancing truth and beliefs | Katherine Maher

Catherine Maher discusses her experience as CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation during a time of global disinformation. She explores how Wikipedia's model of volunteerism, transparency, and collaboration has maintained public trust. Maher introduces the concept of 'minimum viable truth' as a way to navigate disagreements and emphasizes the importance of productive friction, community norms, interdependence, and shared power in decision-making. She concludes with a call to action for setting aside personal truths to foster collaboration and understanding.

What was one of the main challenges faced by Wikipedia during Catherine Maher's tenure as CEO?

• Technical issues with the website

• Global crisis of fake news

• Competition from other encyclopedias

• Lack of funding

What is a key feature of Wikipedia's model that helps it maintain trust?

• Secretive decision-making

• Paid editors

• Limited access to content

• Volunteer editing

How does Wikipedia handle contentious topics like politics and religion?

• By avoiding them

• By focusing on the best of what can be known

• By allowing only experts to edit

• By locking the articles

What does the concept of 'minimum viable truth' emphasize?

• Ignoring biases

• What can be known right now

• Perfection in information

• Absolute truth

Why does Wikipedia assume that all contributors are biased?

• To limit the number of contributors

• To promote self-awareness and engagement

• To prevent any editing

• To encourage neutrality

What did researchers find about Wikipedia's handling of contentious topics?

• It results in less accurate articles

• It creates more balanced and productive contributions

• It leads to more disagreements

• It discourages new contributors

What is a key principle in Wikipedia's model that helps build trust?

• Centralized decision-making

• Clear rules and community norms

• Fast-paced editing

• Exclusive access to information

How does Wikipedia ensure that decisions are inclusive?

• By focusing on Western perspectives

• By limiting the number of contributors

• By being intentional about bringing all voices in

• By allowing only a select group to edit

What does shared power in Wikipedia's model mean?

• Decisions are made by a central authority

• Only experts can edit

• Power is distributed among contributors

• One person controls all edits

What is the relationship between urgency and trust in Wikipedia's model?

• Trust is not a concern

• Urgency is irrelevant

• Urgency builds trust

• Slowing down helps build trust