Sanctioned by Others: Remediating Knowledge Exclusion on Wikipedia Through Design

Knowledge-based institutions, such as libraries and archives, are ripe venues for knowledge gaps, defined as systemic disparities in content coverage or participation. The core problem is not that knowledge gaps exist, but that they often further disempower already marginalized communities. By reinforcing systemic inequity, knowledge gaps are matters of justice. In this paper, we draw on critical scholarship about knowledge exclusion and take a design lens to a pressing instantiation: knowledge gaps on Wikipedia. We present findings from a two-day Wikipedia expert workshop focused on how knowledge gaps manifest in editors’ interactions with platform policy. Our core contribution is an empirically grounded argument that a more inclusive Wikipedia is one in which editors can acquire the skills to invoke, bend, and even break the platform policies that dictate encyclopedic content. To make this argument, we synthesize author testimony into (1) a problem space articulating contributing factors and (2) a two-dimensional solution space where policy engagement can be at odds with policy adherence. To illustrate this inclusive Wikipedia future, we present speculative prototypes along the engagement-adherence matrix. Finally, we discuss the epistemic implications of our work, returning to formative philosophies on knowledge inclusion and justice.