Wikimedia Foundation/Communications/Research/Diversity, equity, and inclusion research/South Africa - 2021
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This research is part of an ongoing series from the Wikimedia Foundation, aimed at better understanding Wikimedia audiences to achieve knowledge equity.
Why is this data important?
Before now, we did not have the data needed to properly understand and communicate about awareness gaps in relation gender, ethnicity and race.
How will this data be used?
This data will help us to;
- Establish an understanding of the barriers to engagement and participation among underrepresented people on Wikipedia and other projects, and in relation to Foundation work.
- Address problems that may result in limited engagement and participation from the groups studied.
- Equip the movement with intelligence on the type of messaging and calls to action that resonate with these groups and ensure these are woven through campaigns and public relations efforts.
- Identify content and channels that people from these groups engage with and draw lessons that we can apply to our own work.
- Provide the movement with a view into areas where we might strengthen and improve our work in relation to our common equity goals.
- Understand audiences within these groups and reasons for representation gaps in our movement amongst both editors and readers.
- Make informed decisions about programming and priorities based on the issues identified.
- Develop effective communications to increase engagement with those underrepresented in our movement.
- Better measure progress, hold ourselves accountable, and set benchmarks for improvement.
Methodology
- Online survey
- Two sample frames
- 1,000 South Africans of colour
- 500 nationally representative sample of South Africans for comparison
- Target audience: Online population
- Field work: 14th-21st October 2021
Putting the data into context
- There are cultural and country nuances in the South African market that are reflected in the language and data in this report, which should be taken into account when reading the report:
- The term 'coloured' in South Africa refers to members of multi-ethnic communities, and is officially regarded as one of the four race groups in the country.
- Wikipedia awareness is low in South Africa at a total market level, which should be recognized when using this data - the data only represents the population of South Africans who are online
- In our survey we found that the Black community in South Africa is younger (which reflects country government data) and relatively tech savvy as compared to the White community - this should also be taken into account when using the data in this report
- The Black community who responded to this survey generally come from a higher socio-economic background of online users, and therefore does not reflect the total Black community in South Africa
Key learnings
Black people feel well represented in media, but not as much on Wikipedia The black community feels well represented within media, but moderately within Wikipedia, whereas white and the coloured community feel least represented in the general South African media and moderately represented on Wikipedia.
Opportunity to better engage and represent South Africa's coloured community Coloured women and white women are the least likely to use Wikipedia. The coloured community feel least represented on Wikipedia particularly around their race and culture. Coloured women are less likely to perceive Wikipedia as having integrity, inclusivity and most likely to see it as biased.
Opportunity to better represent South Africa's languages. Black South Africans feel least represented around home languages. Black South Africans are also most likely to believe Wikipedia can improve by having more articles written in their language. High numbers of South Africans feel there are too few articles in South Africa's languages.
There is a better opportunity to engage those with physical & mental health issues Those with physical health conditions are least likely to be aware of Wikipedia. They are also least likely to consider using Wikipedia in the future. A key issue may be the cost of internet access/data which creates a barrier to use.
Demographics
The black population is majority, and is younger compared to the whites.
On average, South Africans speak two languages.
Wikipedia / Wikimedia Foundation brand awareness and usage
Wikipedia vs Wikimedia Foundation awareness
Wikipedia has relatively high awareness vs. other platforms
Coloured men & Asian women are most aware of Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation awareness: Asian women & coloured men more aware of Wikimedia, White & Asian men less aware
| % aware | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Black male | Black female | Coloured male | Coloured female | Asian male | Asian female | White male | White female | LGBT | Physical health condition | Mental health condition | |
| 96% | 94% | 96% | 97% | 97% | 100% | 97% | 93% | 94% | 94% | 92% | 93% | |
| 96% | 93% | 95% | 95% | 97% | 100% | 100% | 98% | 95% | 92% | 92% | 91% | |
| YouTube | 94% | 95% | 95% | 94% | 95% | 100% | 97% | 93% | 92% | 90% | 89% | 86% |
| 90% | 91% | 93% | 90% | 92% | 94% | 97% | 79% | 87% | 90% | 87% | 90% | |
| Wikipedia | 83% | 80% | 83% | 90% | 85% | 76% | 90% | 82% | 81% | 79% | 66% | 73% |
| Yahoo! | 80% | 77% | 81% | 90% | 83% | 79% | 76% | 80% | 78% | 76% | 68% | 72% |
| 49% | 49% | 40% | 71% | 56% | 79%[1] | 66% | 67% | 51% | 53% | 48% | 52% | |
| Quora | 46% | 49% | 47% | 55% | 49% | 67%[2] | 55% | 39% | 30% | 48% | 45% | 55% |
| Encyclopædia Britannica Online | 33% | 28% | 23% | 37% | 39% | 48% | 48% | 41% | 30% | 26% | 29% | 24% |
| Encarta | 16% | 18% | 10% | 27% | 12% | 27% | 14% | 25% | 13% | 9% | 14% | 14% |
Wikipedia usage and drivers
Asian women most likely to use Wikipedia, white & coloured women less likely Wikipedia used primarily for learning & fact checking
Wikipedia usage barriers
Majority of those interviewed cited 'Have not had a reason to' as the key barrier to not using Wikipedia in the last 6 months leading to the survey.
| % stating as reason for not using Wikipedia in past 6 months | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Black male | Black female | Coloured male | Coloured female | White male | White female | LGBT | Physical health condition | Mental health condition | |
| Have not had a reason to | 43% | 40% | 38% | 52% | 47% | 41% | 68%[3] | 46% | 41% | 37% |
| See Wikipedia come up in search results, but ignore it | 22% | 24% | 23% | 23% | 30% | 5% | 18% | 23% | 31%[4] | 26% |
| Prefer sites with more images | 17% | 21% | 15% | 13% | 20% | 9% | 11% | 31% | 10% | 19% |
| Prefer sites with more video | 14% | 18% | 11% | 19% | 20% | 18% | 7% | 8% | 7% | 4% |
| Does not have articles relevant to me | 9% | 12% | 9% | 6% | 10% | 0% | 7% | 8% | 3% | 15% |
| Biased | 8% | 12% | 5% | 10% | 0% | 18% | 4% | 0% | 10% | 15% |
| Find it hard to understand | 7% | 7% | 9% | 6% | 3% | 9% | 4% | 15% | 7% | 7% |
| Find it hard to read | 5% | 6% | 6% | 0% | 3% | 5% | 4% | 0% | 3% | 11% |
| Internet access / data too expensive | 5% | 6% | 4% | 0% | 3% | 5% | 14% | 4% | 14%[4] | 7% |
| Not for people like me | 4% | 6% | 4% | 6% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 7% |
| Does not have articles written in my home language | 2%[5] | 4% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4% | 10% | 7% |
| Does not have articles that represent my religious views | 2%[5] | 2% | 1% | 0% | 3% | 5% | 0% | 4% | 0% | 4% |
| Does not have articles that represent my culture | 1%[5] | 2% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4% |
| Does not have articles that represent my race | 1%[5] | 2% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Does not have articles that represent my disability | 1%[5] | 2% | 1% | 0% | 3% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 7% | 4% |
| Does not have articles that represent my sexual orientation | 1%[5] | 1% | 0% | 0% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 4% | 0% | 0% |
| Does not have articles that represent my gender | 1%[5] | 1% | 0% | 0% | 3% | 0% | 0% | 8% | 7% | 4% |
Topics Wikipedia is mostly used for
Black community most likely to use Wikipedia for business, other communities for history.
| Total | Black male | Black female | Coloured male | Coloured female | Asian male | Asian female | White male | White female | LGBT | Physical health condition | Mental health condition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | History | Business | Business | History | History | Movies | Health & wellbeing | History | History | History | History | History |
| 2 | Health & wellbeing | Technology | Health & wellbeing | Technology | Health & wellbeing | Technology | Beauty | Technology | Health & wellbeing | Music | Movies | Music |
| 3 | Technology | History | History | Sports | Documentaries | History | Movies | Science | Documentaries | Art | Technology | Health & wellbeing |
Wikipedia usage vs other sources for info
Black community use many sources, coloured and white do not. Wikipedia ranked 4th in usage after Google, YouTube and Facebook.
| % used in past 6 months for information or learning | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Black male | Black female | Coloured male | Coloured female | Asian male | Asian female | White male | White female | LGBT | Physical health condition | Mental health condition | |
| 90% | 86% | 93% | 93% | 88% | 97% | 86% | 91% | 98% | 89% | 89% | 90% | |
| YouTube | 82% | 82% | 85% | 89% | 74% | 79% | 90% | 84% | 73% | 82% | 71% | 78% |
| 61% | 63% | 66% | 59% | 64% | 58% | 59% | 45%[6] | 58% | 63% | 59% | 54% | |
| Wikipedia | 54% | 55% | 53% | 53% | 46% | 52% | 66% | 52% | 40%[6] | 59% | 52% | 54% |
| Online news sites / magazines | 46% | 51% | 50% | 43% | 51% | 52% | 55% | 50% | 40% | 49% | 32% | 41% |
| Book | 41% | 51%[7] | 53%[7] | 30%[6] | 31%[6] | 45% | 45% | 29%[6] | 24%[6] | 48% | 35% | 44% |
| 39% | 44% | 52%[7] | 29%[6] | 43% | 36% | 34% | 14%[6] | 24%[6] | 61% | 41% | 41% | |
| Friends or coworkers | 37% | 38% | 40% | 39% | 42% | 36% | 31% | 17%[6] | 32% | 45% | 25% | 34% |
| Paper newspapers / magazines | 36% | 40% | 39% | 32% | 30% | 45% | 52% | 24%[6] | 32% | 37% | 32% | 33% |
| School / university | 27% | 38%[7] | 38%[7] | 9%[6] | 23% | 18% | 21% | 3%[6] | 8%[6] | 34% | 20% | 37% |
| Library | 26% | 35%[7] | 34%[7] | 18%[6] | 18%[6] | 27% | 38% | 12%[6] | 8%[6] | 33% | 25% | 28% |
| Your parents | 25% | 27% | 36%[7] | 18%[6] | 32% | 24% | 24% | 5%[6] | 10%[6] | 34% | 22% | 24% |
| Podcasts | 25% | 29% | 31%[7] | 17%[6] | 16%[6] | 9% | 10% | 21% | 18%[6] | 26% | 22% | 29% |
| Other family members | 24% | 25% | 29%[7] | 25% | 30% | 27% | 31% | 16% | 31% | 28% | 20% | 27% |
| Quora | 21% | 27%[7] | 27%[7] | 24% | 24% | 36% | 31% | 22% | 10% | 32% | 25% | 32% |
| Teacher / educator | 18% | 27%[7] | 27%[7] | 12% | 14% | 6% | 10% | 0% | 8% | 26% | 15% | 26% |
| Yahoo! | 17% | 25%[7] | 19% | 17% | 20% | 27% | 21% | 7% | 6% | 25% | 19% | 17% |
| 15% | 18%[7] | 13% | 25% | 18% | 27% | 21% | 22% | 8% | 29% | 12% | 21% | |
| Spiritual leader | 13% | 11% | 16% | 18% | 12% | 21% | 17% | 9% | 10% | 16% | 17% | 15% |
| Encyclopædia Britannica Online | 12% | 13% | 11% | 8% | 8% | 18% | 10% | 7% | 8% | 11% | 13% | 9% |
| Encarta | 3% | 5% | 2% | 5% | 0% | 6% | 7% | 5% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 3% |
Consideration to use Wikipedia and format preferred for learning
Wikipedia has high consideration compared to other sources. Asian and white communities most likely to consider using Wikipedia in future.
| % consider using in the future for information or learning | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Black male | Black female | Coloured male | Coloured female | Asian male | Asian female | White male | White female | LGBT | Physical health condition | Mental health condition | |
| 84% | 81% | 85% | 88% | 84% | 94% | 79% | 84% | 87% | 84% | 75% | 71% | |
| YouTube | 71% | 74% | 69% | 79% | 68% | 67% | 72% | 70% | 63% | 70% | 64% | 67% |
| Wikipedia | 53% | 53% | 51% | 56% | 48% | 58% | 69% | 62% | 57% | 55% | 44% | 47% |
| Book | 53% | 55% | 56% | 46% | 51% | 55% | 38% | 31%[8] | 33%[8] | 55% | 44% | 48% |
| Online news sites / magazines | 48% | 48% | 52% | 40% | 39% | 39% | 59% | 39% | 46% | 53% | 32% | 33% |
| Library | 47% | 53% | 51% | 33% | 39% | 39% | 28% | 31%[8] | 25%[8] | 44% | 39% | 37% |
| School / university | 40% | 45% | 46% | 23% | 37% | 30% | 21% | 16%[8] | 11%[8] | 42% | 32% | 36% |
| 37% | 35% | 37% | 41% | 39% | 42% | 52% | 28%[8] | 40% | 41% | 40% | 34% | |
| Paper newspapers / magazines | 33% | 30% | 35% | 28% | 32% | 42% | 41% | 16%[8] | 38% | 38% | 24% | 26% |
| Teacher / educator | 32% | 34% | 37% | 19% | 32% | 24% | 17% | 16%[8] | 8%[8] | 34% | 26% | 33% |
| 30% | 30% | 32% | 26% | 23% | 36% | 38% | 16%[8] | 22%[8] | 39% | 29% | 21% | |
| Podcasts | 30% | 34% | 34% | 15% | 19% | 15% | 24% | 18%[8] | 21%[8] | 32% | 23% | 34% |
| Quora | 26% | 28% | 25% | 26% | 27% | 30% | 31% | 21% | 11%[8] | 30% | 26% | 27% |
| Encyclopædia Britannica Online | 24% | 25% | 20% | 31%[9] | 29% | 27% | 31%[9] | 30%[9] | 32%[9] | 20% | 26% | 25% |
| Friends or coworkers | 24% | 25% | 24% | 27% | 21% | 27% | 24% | 10% | 24% | 24% | 16% | 18% |
| Yahoo! | 23% | 26% | 22% | 18% | 9% | 42% | 28% | 18% | 14% | 22% | 23% | 20% |
| Your parents | 22% | 19% | 25% | 24% | 29% | 24% | 31% | 7% | 13% | 25% | 22% | 24% |
| 18% | 19% | 17% | 23% | 11% | 24% | 24% | 26% | 11% | 24% | 19% | 19% | |
| Other family members | 17% | 14% | 16% | 23% | 23% | 21% | 34% | 16% | 29% | 14% | 19% | 16% |
| Teacher / educator | 16% | 13% | 17% | 22% | 20% | 21% | 21% | 11% | 11% | 13% | 13% | 13% |
| Encarta | 9% | 10% | 7% | 14% | 9% | 9% | 10% | 8% | 13% | 7% | 9% | 6% |
Representation
Media vs Wikipedia
- Media: Black and those with physical or mental health conditions feel well represented in South African media, whereas white community feels least represented in South African media
- Wikipedia: Being represented in Wikipedia is most important to Black and Asian women and the LGBT community. Coloured and black community feel moderately represented on Wikipedia.
- Wikimedia Foundation: Coloured and white community feel less represented by the Foundation
- Underrepresentation: Coloured community most likely to feel that their race is under-represented in Wikipedia.
Factors perceived for under-representation on Wikipedia
Black community see home language(s) less represented, while coloured men feel their race is more misrepresented on Wikipedia
Reasons for feeling underrepresented
- Not enough articles are written in my home language
- Articles written in my language dont seem to be written by people who speak my language
- I dont see images on Wikipedia that represent me or my communities
- Articles dont seem like they're written by someone in my culture
- Topics arent relevant to me or my communities
- The way articles are written mis/underrepresent me or my communities
Perceptions and associations of Wikipedia
Perceptions of Wikipedia
Wikipedia is seen as not valuing South Africa specific issues like the AbM movement, youth unemployment, and black economic empowerment.
- White community least likely to believe that Wikipedia values freedom of speech
- Wikipedia least likely to be seen as having a representative number of female editors
- Wikipedia likely to be seen as not providing enough articles in different home languages
- White women least likely to believe Wikipedia supports racial equality, and that Wikipedia values empowering minorities
- In general, Wikipedia is seen to value gender equality (except among white women)
- There is a strong perception that Wikipedia contain too few articles about coloured South Africans culture, history, and languages
- Articles about women and South African cultures seen as most trusted; Asian and coloured articles seen as the least trusted
Wikipedia associations: Coloured women, LGBT and those with health conditions see Wikipedia as having less integrity or empathy, while coloured women and those with health conditions also see Wikipedia as least inclusive
Editing on Wikipedia
Men and those with health conditions most likely to claim having edited, while the members of the white community least interested in editing.
Editing drivers
Coloured community are more interested in editing Wikipedia in order to increase inclusivity & representation. Below are some of the
Reasons given for editing
- I like to share my knowledge
- To feel as part of something that helps the society
- To gain useful editing experience
- To feel part of a community
Conclusion
- Brand awareness
- Though brand awareness of Wikipedia is generally good, it is considerably low among black and Asian men, as well as the LGBT community and those with health conditions when compared with others.
- There is a low awareness of the Wikimedia Foundation in South Africa, especially among white and Asian men.
- Brand perception
- Although majority of South Africans see Wikipedia as brand that supports freedom of speech, human rights, and equality, there is strong perception that the brand does not identify with issues specific with the country.
- Wikipedia is seldom seen as inclusive and not providing enough articles in different home languages, especially by the coloured women and those with health conditions.
- Representation
- The coloured and black community do not feel well represented on Wikipedia as with their white counterparts, especially for their race and local language.
- Content types and format
- There is a strong desire content o history on Wikipedia by most communities, with the exception of the blacks and Asians who prioritize business and technology/well being content respectively.
- Editing and contributing to Wikipedia
- Interest to edit and contribute to articles on Wikipedia is strongest among Asian and black community, as well as those with health conditions, but least among the white community.
Questions?
Please connect with us on our department talk page.
Notes
- ↑ Reddit high awareness among coloured men and asian men.
- ↑ Quora high awareness among Asian men.
- ↑ Particularly true for white women.
- ↑ a b Internet access can be an issue.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Representation not a key barrier for use.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Both coloured and white communities similar in using less sources.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Black community more likely using range of sources.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o White population less likely considering range of sources (potentially because they are older).
- ↑ a b c d Higher consideration of Encyclopedia Britannica Online.