{"id":118686,"date":"2024-10-26T19:35:45","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T12:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=118686"},"modified":"2024-10-26T19:35:45","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T12:35:45","slug":"going-down-a-wikipedia-rabbit-hole-science-says-youre-one-of-these-three-types","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=118686","title":{"rendered":"Going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole? Science says you\u2019re one of these three types"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>If you\u2019ve ever gone to look up a quick fact and just kept browsing from one article (or page, or video), to another, to another \u2013 then you know the feeling of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wiki_rabbit_hole\">going down a rabbit hole<\/a>\u201d. This experience of curiosity-led online wandering has become synonymous with the free, user-created encyclopedia <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Main_Page\">Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 2001, Wikipedia is today one of the world\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/most-visited-websites-in-the-world\">most popular websites<\/a>. With more users than Amazon, Netflix, TikTok or ChatGPT, the site is a go-to source for people to <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/3038912.3052716\">learn about and discover new interests<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"http:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.adn3268\">new research<\/a> involving more than 480,000 Wikipedia users in 14 languages across 50 countries, US researchers led by Dale Zhou at the University of Pennsylvania studied three distinctly different ways of going down the Wikipedia rabbit hole. These \u201ccuriosity styles\u201d have been studied before, but not in such a large, diverse group of people using Wikipedia \u201cnaturalistically\u201d, in daily life.<\/p>\n<p>The research may help us better understand the nature and importance of curiosity, its connections to wellbeing, and strategies for preventing the spread of false information.<\/p>\n<h2>Wikipedia: first controversial, now mature, always popular<\/h2>\n<p>When Wikipedia was new in the early 2000s, it sparked controversies. People such as <a href=\"https:\/\/wakespace.lib.wfu.edu\/handle\/10339\/31874\">librarians<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2007\/02\/21\/education\/21wikipedia.html\">lecturers<\/a> voiced concerns about Wikipedia\u2019s potential for platforming untrue or incomplete information.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the factuality of Wikipedia\u2019s existing contents is less concerning than questions of bias, such as which topics the site\u2019s volunteer editors <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/14614448211023772\">deem noteworthy enough to include<\/a>. There are global efforts to fill gaps in Wikipedia\u2019s coverage, such as \u201cedit-a-thons\u201d to add  entries on historically overlooked <a href=\"https:\/\/whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au\/events\/superstars-of-stem-wikipedia-edit-a-thon\">scientists<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/nga.gov.au\/events\/know-my-name-wikipedia-editathon-2024\/\">artists<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Part of what made Wikipedia groundbreaking was how it satisfies people\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/wikimediafoundation.org\/news\/2018\/03\/15\/why-the-world-reads-wikipedia\/\">intrinsic learning needs<\/a> by inviting navigation from page to page, luring readers into rabbit holes. This, combined with the site\u2019s participatory approach to creating and verifying pages, sparked its rapid growth. These qualities have also sustained Wikipedia as a predominant everyday information source, globally.<\/p>\n<p>Research <em>about<\/em> Wikipedia has also <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11135-023-01626-7\">evolved<\/a> from early studies comparing it to <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1038\/438900a\">the Encyclopedia Britannica<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>This new study examines data about Wikipedia readers\u2019 activities. It looks at the different \u201carchitectural styles of curiosity\u201d people embody when they navigate.<\/p>\n<h2>Busybodys, hunters and dancers<\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.adn3268\">new study<\/a> explores the \u201cknowledge networks\u201d associated with the three main styles of curiosity: busybody, hunter and dancer. A knowledge network is a visual representation of how readers \u201cweave a thread\u201d across Wikipedia articles.<\/p>\n<p>As the researchers explain:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The busybody scouts for loose threads of novelty, the hunter pursues specific answers in a projectile path, and the dancer leaps in creative breaks with tradition across typically siloed areas of knowledge.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Earlier research had shown evidence of busybodies and hunters, and speculated about the existence of dancers. The new study confirms that busybodies and hunters exist in multiple countries and languages. It also details the dancer style, which has been more elusive to document. <\/p>\n<p>The researchers also identified geographical differences between curiosity styles. <\/p>\n<p>In all 14 languages studied, busybodies tend to read more about culture, media, food, art, philosophy and religion. Hunters in 12 out of 14 languages tend to read more about science, technology, engineering and maths. <\/p>\n<p>In German and English, hunters were more drawn to pages about history and society than busybodies. The opposite was true in Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Dutch and Chinese. <\/p>\n<p>Dancers were identified by their forward leaps between disparate topics, as well as the diversity of their interests.<\/p>\n<p>The research team points out we still have much to learn about how curiosity is shaped by local norms. Relating these results to gender, ethnicity, access to education, and other elements will paint a fuller picture. <\/p>\n<h2>Curiosity is beneficial, generally \u2026 and we have more to learn<\/h2>\n<p>Overall, this study supports the benefits of freer, broader browsing and reading. Following our curiosity can help us become better informed and expand our worldviews, creativity and relationships.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, people sometimes need closure more than they need exploration. This is not a bad thing or a sign of narrow-mindedness. In many situations there are benefits to moving on from information-seeking, and deciding we\u2019ve learned enough for now. <\/p>\n<p>Endless curiosity can have downsides. This is especially true when it\u2019s motivated not by the joy of learning, but by the discomfort of uncertainty and exclusion. As <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jrp.2022.104227\">other research has found<\/a>, for some people, curiosity can lead toward false information and conspiracy theories. When information has a sense of novelty, or a hint of being hidden by powerful elites, this can make it more appealing, even when it\u2019s not true.<\/p>\n<p>The new study emphasises that different curiosity styles do not lead simply or universally to creativity or wellbeing. People\u2019s contexts and circumstances vary. <\/p>\n<p>Each of us, like Goldilocks, can follow our curiosity to find not too much, not too little, but the information that is \u201cjust right\u201d. The researchers also hint at evidence for a spectrum of new curiosity styles beyond the main three, which will surely spark more research in future.<\/p>\n<h2>Stay curious and enjoy the rabbit hole<\/h2>\n<p>This study also suggests ways Wikipedia (and sites like it) could better support curiosity-driven exploration. For example, rather than suggesting pages based on their popularity or similarity to other pages, Wikipedia could try showing readers their own dynamic knowledge network.<\/p>\n<p>As a Wikipedian would say, this new study is noteworthy. It shows how smaller-scale, exploratory research into people\u2019s reading and browsing can be translated to a much larger scale across languages and cultures.<\/p>\n<p>As AI becomes more influential and the problems of misinformation grow, understanding technologies that shape our access to information \u2013 and how we use them \u2013 is more important than ever. We know YouTube recommendations can be a <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/3351095.3372879\">radicalising pipeline to extremist content<\/a>, for example, and ChatGPT is largely <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10676-024-09775-5\">indifferent to the truth<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Studying Wikipedia readers reveals a rich picture of people\u2019s freely expressed, diverse online curiosities. It shows an alternative to technologies built on narrower assumptions about what people value, how we learn, and how we want to explore online.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/going-down-a-wikipedia-rabbit-hole-science-says-youre-one-of-these-three-types-242018\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve ever gone to look up a quick fact and just kept browsing from one article (or page, or video), to another, to another \u2013 then you know the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=118686\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}