Kirsten Thorpe and Nathan ‘Mudyi’ Sentance | Decolonizing Wikipedia: A Call to Action to Increase First Nations Australian Representation & Agency

Watch Nathan and Kirsten’s talk on YouTube.

Read their report: Wikimedia Australia and First Nations Metadata: ATSILIRN Protocols for Description and Access

Currently, the representation of First Nations Australian history on Wikipedia is limited. And much of the history on the platform has the same gaps and biases that negatively affect First Nations representation in other major sources of history communication such as archives and museums. This paper shares information on a targeted research initiative undertaken by the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research with Wikimedia Australia to understand how the Wikimedia movement could be better supporting First Nations content, data and contributors on Wikimedia platforms and beyond. This paper provides calls to action to support the decolonization of Wikipedia including potential priorities for Wikipedia editors to focus on which must be done with emphasis on Indigenous cultural protocols and Indigenous data sovereignty principles that are distinct from the open access principles that drive the Wikimedia movement.

Dr Kirsten Thorpe (Worimi, Port Stephens) is a Senior Researcher at Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research, University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Kirsten leads the Indigenous Archives and Data Stewardship Hub, which advocates for Indigenous rights in archives and data and develops research and engagement in relation to refiguring libraries and archives to support the culturally appropriate ownership, management and ongoing preservation of Indigenous knowledges. Kirsten has broad interests in research and engagement with Indigenous protocols and decolonising practices in the library and archive fields, and the broader GLAM sector. Kirsten advocates for the ‘right of reply’ to records and capacity building and support for the development of Living Indigenous Archives on Country. 

Nathan “Mudyi” Sentance is a Wiradjuri man from the Mowgee clan, who grew up on Darkinjung Country, NSW. Nathan works to ensure that First Nations stories being told cultural and memory institutions, such galleries, libraries, archives, and museums are being told and controlled by First Nations people.