### Investigating the Human Aspect of Wikipedia Through Fiction: Stephen Harrison’s *The Editors*
Wikipedia, the all-encompassing online encyclopedia, marked its 24th anniversary on January 15, 2025. For many, Wikipedia appears as a constant resource, a digital wellspring of knowledge that seems to flow effortlessly online. However, behind its seemingly mystical presence is a devoted community of volunteer editors who curate, modify, and uphold its expansive collection of information. These individuals, frequently anonymous and operating under pseudonyms, are the uncelebrated champions of the digital age.
Stephen Harrison, an author and journalist who has significantly reported on Wikipedia for publications such as *Slate*, *WIRED*, *The Guardian*, and *The New York Times*, has adopted a unique approach to investigate this community. His debut fictional work, *The Editors*, explores the lives, motivations, and conflicts of Wikipedia’s real-life counterparts through the perspective of a fictional encyclopedia named “Infopendium.” By intertwining suspense with character-driven narratives and a profound understanding of Wikipedia’s culture, Harrison provides readers with a novel insight into the individuals behind the platform.
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### A Fictional Perspective on a Real-World Reality
*The Editors* follows Morgan Wentworth, a newly unemployed journalist who attends a worldwide conference for Infopendium in pursuit of a freelance story. There, she meets a varied group of editors—representing different ages, personalities, and motivations—who are bound together by their commitment to the encyclopedia. The tension escalates when a hacker breaches Infopendium, leaving an enigmatic message that thrusts Wentworth into a global inquiry regarding truth, information, and the dynamics of knowledge power.
In a conversation with *Ars Technica*, Harrison elaborated on his choice of fiction as the means to delve into Wikipedia’s editorial community. “Fiction enables you to delve into the characters’ minds,” he explained. “I have always viewed the online encyclopedia as inherently thrilling. You never know who is behind the information you encounter. Fiction allows you to reveal these characters, investigate their motives, and play with archetypes in ways that non-fiction cannot.”
Harrison’s novel showcases a cast of characters that mirrors the real-world diversity of Wikipedia’s editors: an ethical journalist, a crooked for-profit editor, a youthful idealist, and a seasoned volunteer disenchanted with the platform’s trajectory. These archetypes permit Harrison to tackle larger themes concerning the essence of truth, the hurdles of collaboration, and the evolving function of Wikipedia in our digital era.
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### Wikipedia Facing AI: An “Existential Threat Phase”
In recent times, Wikipedia has encountered new obstacles, particularly with the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs). These technologies heavily depend on Wikipedia as a training resource, yet their spread raises concerns about the platform’s ongoing relevance. “If we have all this AI technology, do we even need Wikipedia anymore?” Harrison reflected. “I would contend that we do. Wikipedia is not merely a data source for AI; it’s a human-curated, publicly licensed knowledge repository. But it requires maintenance. You need humans to create it.”
Harrison underscored the conflict between Wikipedia’s volunteer-driven spirit and the profit-driven entities that utilize its content. Many editors, he remarked, feel uneasy about the fact that their unpaid contributions enrich companies like Google. “Wikipedia editors aren’t narcissistic; they’re mostly anonymous and altruistic. However, they are concerned about serving readers. The notion that their efforts amount to a significant gift to Google can be disheartening.”
This scenario highlights the necessity for ongoing support for Wikipedia, both from its community and external parties. Harrison proposed that Big Tech firms could enhance their contributions to the Wikimedia Foundation, though he warned against allowing corporate sway to affect the platform’s autonomy.
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### A Small Yet Impactful Community
Despite its extensive reach, Wikipedia is sustained by a surprisingly compact core group of contributors. In the English-language version, only around 1,500 editors are recognized as “core contributors.” This close-knit community often feels more akin to a small town than a vast city. Editors identify one another by usernames, cultivate reputations, and occasionally clash over contentious subjects.
Harrison’s novel encapsulates this sense of community, drawing from his years of reporting on Wikipedia. “People tend to recognize one another by usernames,” he noted. “It’s a bit of art mirroring life. The book embodies that small-community atmosphere, where editors uncover common interests and rivalries.”
One of the hurdles Harrison encountered while writing *The Editors* was transforming the relatively non-physical act of editing Wikipedia into an engaging narrative. “Being a keyboard warrior isn’t innately dramatic,” he confessed. “I had to devise methods to bring the characters together face-to-face and introduce tension that extended beyond merely typing messages to each other.”
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### The Importance of Fiction in Comprehending the Internet
Harrison’s choice to create a novel
