The National Science Foundation is on a mission to find out why posts at Wikipedia seem so sexist in content and tone — and they’re willing to spend up to $200,000 in tax dollars to uncover the mystery.
The government agency has given two grants to professors at Yale University and at New York University to research the issue, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The recipients have been tasked with rooting out the reasons for, and examples of, “systematic gender bias” at the online encyclopedic site.
“Wikipedia was launched in 2001 and has since become the world’s single most important reference tool and information clearinghouse,” the text of the grant stated, according to the Free Beacon. “Unlike traditional encyclopedias, which are controlled by experts, Wikipedia was supposed to have democratized knowledge. Yet an emerging body of research indicates Wikipedia suffers from systematic gender bias with respect to both contributors and content. How and why is this bias produced?”
Yale sociology professor Julia Adams got a $132,000 grant while Hannah Brueckner, NYU associate dean of social sciences, received $70,000, the Free Beacon reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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