Mapping bilateral information interests using the activity of Wikipedia editors

Fariba Karimi, Ludvig Bohlin, Anna Samoilenko, Martin Rosvall and Andrea Lancichinetti
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Fariba Karimi: GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Cologne, Germany
Ludvig Bohlin: Department of Physics, Umea University, Umea, Sweden
Anna Samoilenko: GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Cologne, Germany
Martin Rosvall: Department of Physics, Umea University, Umea, Sweden
Andrea Lancichinetti: Department of Physics, Umea University, Umea, Sweden

Palgrave Communications, 2015, vol. 1, issue palcomms201541, 15041-

Abstract: We live in a global village where electronic communication has eliminated the geographical barriers of information exchange. The road is now open to worldwide convergence of information interests, shared values and understanding. Nevertheless, interests still vary between countries around the world. This raises important questions about what today’s world map of information interests actually looks like and what factors cause the barriers of information exchange between countries. To quantitatively construct a world map of information interests, we devise a scalable statistical model that identifies countries with similar information interests and measures the countries’ bilateral similarities. From the similarities we connect countries in a global network and find that countries can be mapped into 18 clusters with similar information interests. Through regression we find that language and religion best explain the strength of the bilateral ties and formation of clusters. Our findings provide a quantitative basis for further studies to better understand the complex interplay between shared interests and conflict on a global scale. The methodology can also be extended to track changes over time and capture important trends in global information exchange.

Date: 2015
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