Our Research on Wikipedia Content Contribution in Zambia Featured at the Wikimedia Research Showcase!

We are thrilled to announce that our research group was recently invited to present our work at the prestigious Wikimedia Research Showcase! On April 16, 2025, Lighton Phiri presented a talk titled "Quantitative Analysis of Zambian Wikipedia Contributions: Assessing Awareness, Willingness, Motivation, and the Impact of Gamified Leaderboards and Badges".

The Wikimedia Research Showcase is a public platform that highlights recent research by the Wikimedia Foundation's Research Team and guest presenters from the academic community. It is a fantastic opportunity to share our findings with a global audience interested in the dynamics of Wikipedia and online knowledge production. The showcase is live-streamed on YouTube, and we are pleased to share that the recording of our presentation is available at: https://www.youtube.com/live/vl0DpsfnPXY?si=ESK7zLBANTf_MX9J.

Our research, which is part of our broader "Wikipedia Content Contribution in the Global South" project, addressed the persistent challenge of low content contribution from the Global South on Wikipedia, with a specific focus on Zambia. As we highlighted, despite a considerable number of internet users in Zambia who consume content from Wikipedia, the number of active Zambian editors who contribute content remains remarkably low. For instance, in May 2023, only 10 people from Zambia contributed and created content on Wikipedia. Furthermore, in June 2024, there were 2 million Wikipedia page views from Zambia, but only 20 Wikipedia editors from the Republic of Zambia contributed content.

Motivated by this disparity and the increasing importance of diverse datasets for training Large Language Models (LLMs), our study aimed to:

• Quantify Wikipedia content creation and contribution about Zambia by Zambians. Our analysis of the edit histories of several Wikipedia pages related to Zambia revealed that a significant proportion of the content is authored by Wikipedians from outside Zambia, with only 11% of contributors to the "Zambia" page originating from Zambia. Out of 224 contributors across four analyzed Zambia-related pages, only 18 (8%) were from Zambia.
• Determine the levels of awareness and willingness to create and contribute content on Wikipedia. Surveys conducted with students and employees in Zambia indicated relatively low awareness of Wikipedia editing practices but a strong willingness to contribute if provided with training. Awareness levels were generally higher for employees than students.
• Identify the perceived motivation factors that affect content contribution on Wikipedia. We found that "Information Seeking and Educational Fulfillment" was the key motivating factor for potential Zambian contributors. "Social Interaction" was the least likely motivation factor. The "Achievement and Recognition" factor also suggested the potential for gamification.
• Design and implement a software (WikiMotivate) that will use gamification to motivate and increase content creation and contribution on Wikipedia. WikiMotivate, a Facebook plugin, utilised leaderboards and badges to encourage and incentivise active Wikipedia content contribution. Our evaluation suggested that incorporating these gamification features has the potential to positively influence motivation to contribute.

Our research, now published by Springer Nature in South African Computer Science and Information Systems Research Trends, provides valuable insights into the landscape of Wikipedia content contribution in the Global South and suggests potential avenues for increasing local participation. You can access the full publication at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64881-6_2.

Associated Publications

Recorded Event