From meetups to adminship: The offline path to leadership on the German-language Wikipedia

12th Annual Wiki Workshop
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[virtual conference]
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21/05/2025 - 22/05/2025
,
2025

Schwitter, Nicole

Becoming an administrator on Wikipedia is a sign of trust of the volunteer community. This study explores the relevance of offline interactions in admin election within the German-language Wikipedia. Using large-scale observational data spanning twenty years of offline and online actions, this study finds significant effects of offline meeting participation on users’ success in elections for administrators.