Terra Incognita
Terra Incognita visualizes how Wikipedia has evolved over the last decade as an intriguing mirror of cultural and sociological difference. To achieve this, Gavin Baily and Tom Corby have taken each language edition of the encyclopedia, and mapped all the articles that refer to geographic locations. These mappings highlight differing geo-linguistic contours: regions that are densely populated with contested edits, and vast deserts with sparse coverage – Wikipedia’s Terra Incognita. The work gives insights into the complex ways in which the encyclopedia’s language communities interrelate: the unexpected areas of focus, overlaps between each language’s geography, and how the focus of linguistic communities has emerged over time. The project was funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Arts Council of England.
Baily Gavin & Corby Tom
