Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia is a 2010 American documentary film that explores the history and cultural implications of the online, editable encyclopedia Wikipedia. The film considers the question of whether all individuals or just experts should be tasked with editing an encyclopedia.
The site's history and background is given, along with commentary from Wikipedia founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. Commentators that appear in the film include author Howard Zinn, Len Downie of The Washington Post, Bob Schieffer of CBS News, former Encyclopædia Britannica chief Robert McHenry and former Central Intelligence Agency director James Woolsey. The documentary discusses incidents that shed a negative light on Wikipedia, including the Essjay controversy and the Wikipedia biography controversy.
The long-delayed film premiered at Wikimania 2010 in Gdańsk in July 2010, and was screened at the Paley Center for Media in New York City on October 20, 2010. It was shown as part of the Savannah Film Festival on November 3, 2010, at Savannah College of Art and Design's Trustees Theater. Truth in Numbers? received a mixed reception, with favorable commentary from author Ted Leonsis, in the AOL publication Urlesque, and coverage at the Savannah Film Festival by Carlos Serrano of District.
Contents
Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia, an American documentary film, explores the history and cultural implications of Wikipedia. The film presents Wikipedia as a new form of communication and cultural dialog. The directors attempt to answer the question of whether ordinary individuals should be tasked with collecting knowledge for presentation online, or this should be relegated solely to academic scholars in specific fields. The film gives an overview of the history of the enterprise, as well as biographical information on founder Jimmy Wales. Wales is shown discussing Wikipedia with an Indian reader, who points out an inaccuracy in an article. Wales proceeds to show the reader how to click the "edit" tab on the website. Wikipedia founder Larry Sanger is featured in the documentary and speaks critically about the website's embracing of editors from the general public as opposed to soliciting expert contributors.
Journalism and media commentators who appear and are interviewed in the film include author Howard Zinn; Len Downie, (executive editor of The Washington Post); Bob Schieffer (CBS News); Robert McHenry (former chief of Encyclopædia Britannica); R. James Woolsey Jr. (former director of the Central Intelligence Agency); Chris Wilson (reporter for Slate Magazine); Cade Metz (reporter for The Register who has written critically about Wikipedia); Richard Branson and Noam Chomsky. The film documents an initiative in India and Africa called "Wikipedia Academies". Controversies discussed in the film include the Essjay controversy, where a member of Wikipedia made false assertions about his academic background; and the Wikipedia biography controversy, where false statements were inserted into the Wikipedia entry for journalist John Seigenthaler. Musician KRS-One comments about the site after reading his biography on Wikipedia: "I can say to you, these are the facts but they are not true."
Production
Conception
The idea for the film originated from a suggestion by Michael Ferris Gibson, who had made the 2005 documentary 24 Hours on Craigslist. Gibson, a producer on the film, met with co-director Nic Hill. Gibson financed Hill's travels while making the film. The working title for the film was Truth in Numbers: The Wikipedia Story. Gibson chose to finance the film through a request for funding from Internet visitors; the initial request drew in US$20,000 in initial investment. The production team made their initial work on the project known to Internet viewers via the website www.wikidocumentary.org. Another collaborative website focused on the documentary was formed at Wikia, located at wikidocumentary.wikia.com. Regarding his financing strategy, Gibson commented to the San Francisco Chronicle, that smaller incremental donations from multiple individuals showed genuine interest in his initiative.