Biodiversity Knowledge Gaps on Wikipedia: A Cross-Lingual Analysis of Species Coverage and Contribution Patterns

The grant proposal was submitted to the Wikimedia Research Fund 2025  on 2025-04-16.

It was not funded.


Notes:
1. Data and results are presented at a preliminary stage.
2. Version 1 ended up with some (frankly embarrassing) proofreading errors. I apologize. I blame it on the ADHD and having the flu right on the final sprint. 


Abstract:

The Wikimedia projects function as a key infrastructure in the open knowledge ecosystem and play a crucial role in tackling the current biodiversity crisis. To support this mission, this proposal aims to detect critical biodiversity knowledge gaps by analyzing the coverage and contribution patterns for species across multiple Wikipedia language editions. We will quantify which species are documented (and where), identify patterns of content contribution, and examine how different communities contribute to biodiversity topics. By illuminating underserved areas—such as local species missing from Portuguese Wikipedia or entire taxonomic groups overlooked globally— we will generate actionable strategies to improve and balance content. The project is led by a Brazilian post-doctoral researcher and long-time Wikimedian, ensuring both academic rigor and deep community insight, and will be advised by an experienced group of Wikimedians and biodiversity scholars at the Biodiversity Heritage Library - Wikimedia working group. By using methods from biodiversity informatics and leveraging Wikidata, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, and the Catalogue of Life, the project will generate generalizable insights on the patterns of Wikipedia contributions while supporting individual volunteers and Wikimedia community members. Identification of critical biodiversity knowledge gaps, thus, is a move towards Wikimedia’s 2030 strategic priority to include knowledge and communities that have been left out by structures of power and privilege. With a particular focus on English, Portuguese and Spanish Wikipedias and the  Latin American communities, the end goal is to provide the means scaling up the capacity for informed contributions on biodiversity, particularly for neglected species and underrepresented communities providing the basis for targeted actions for a more equitable “encyclopedia of life”, catering for the diversity of human and non-human life.