Description:

The Department of Political Science and INPuT (Informal Northwestern Political Science Talks) presents:
Karen Alter, Northwestern University (Professor)
Emily Schraudenbach, Northwestern University (Poli Sci Senior, Farrell Fellow)
Laura Rozier, Northwestern University (Poli Sci Senior, Farrell Fellow)
Vijay Siddappa Murganoor, Northwestern University (Masters, Computer science)
Julia Valdes,Northwestern University (Poli Sci Graduate Student)

Title:  "Wikipedia, Gender and Status in American Political Science: Who determines whether a scholar is noteworthy?

Abstract: Wikipedia has become the new “who’s who” of notability, feeding its information into google search engines to highlight the accomplishments of select individu-als. UnlikeWho’s Who, Wikipedia is created by an anarchic structure of public edi-tors, self-appointed individuals who collectively decide, construct, edit, and police who and what appears on Wikipedia. Yet Wikipedia is known for its gender bias. Ninety-percent of its editors are male, and only 6% of its frequent editors are fe-male. Its gender skewed content and subject matter coverage is also well docu-mented. This study tests whether institutions with leaders-–R1 departments, scholarly journals, academic societies–do a better job representing gender in American Political Science. In doing so, we shine a light on how status is construct-ed within the discipline of Political Science. This paper is a team research project of faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, funded by the Farrell Fund in the Department of Political Science and the Centennial Fund of the American Political Science Association.

Draft paper will be circulated in advance.  Light lunch will be served.