The Living Document: Wikipedia as an Instrument for Historiography in the Digital Age

Abstract

Wikipedia exists as perhaps the most compelling and longstanding example of a “living document,” and as such is a source of historiography that has been overlooked by historians up to now. In order to showcase how Wikipedia is a novel addition to the historiographical landscape, I want to examine the “history” of history and some of the fundamental steps in the development of the historiographical method throughout history. The idea that a “neutral” or “objective” past could be captured in text did not just spring from nothing. Wikipedia is a fundamental landmark in the development of historiographical methodology and I believe that in the future, Wikipedia itself will be studied and used as a primary source document to help illustrate contemporary views around the dawn of the 21st century, perhaps beyond. Due to Wikipedia’s functionality of preserving every version and revision of an article in incredibly granular detail, the functionality of these “edit histories” provides a novel and unexamined ability to modern historians wishing to examine how public perception of people, places, culture, and events changes over time. In concert with the site’s interesting policy surrounding point of view, neutrality, and use of citation, through the examination of trends in articles, along with how certain articles have changed in their perception and description over the period of their creation to the present, I will demonstrate how Wikipedia can be used as an instrument to enrich historiography in the digital era.