American Magazine, July 2015

news
Andrew Lih
Lih at the Wikimania conference
in Taipei, Taiwan
Native name (simplified Chinese: 郦 安 治 ;
traditional Chinese: 酈 安 治 ;
pinyin: LìÂnzhì)
Residence Washington, District of
Columbia, United States
Nationality American
Alma mater Columbia University
Occupation Scientist and professor
at American University
Known for studying various open
technology cultures,
such as Wikipedia
and wikimedia
Website
andrewlih.com
Who is Andrew Lih?
Let’s consult the first site people check when they need information
on just about anything.
Andrew Lih (simplified Chinese: 郦 安 治 ; traditional Chinese: 酈 安 治 ;
pinyin: LìÂzhì)[1][2] is a Chinese American new media researcher,
consultant and writer, as well as an authority on both Wikipedia
and Internet censorship in the People’s Republic of China.[3][4]
[5][6][7] He is currently an associate professor of journalism at
American University in Washington, DC.[8]
Creating a Wikipedia center
Lih published one of the first academic papers about the site, and in
2009, he wrote The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies
Created the World’s Greatest Encyclopedia, In 2003, CNN visited
his classroom for the first televised story about Wikipedia to appear
in the English-language press. Now, he’s adding a new page to his
Wiki-career.
Backed in part by a Knight Prototype Fund grant from the James S.
and John L. Knight Foundation, Lih is creating Wikipedia’s first
visitor and discovery center at the National Archives and Records
Administration in Washington.
“As Wikipedia enters its 15th year, its reputation has gone from
nothing to the world’s most respected online resource,” he says.
“The idea of this project is to have a standing facility where museum
curators, cultural professionals, and librarians can actually walk into
a research center, learn about Wikipedia, and then act on it.”
The center, which will be free and open to the public, will have a
small, museum-like exhibit with five or 10 information panels about
Wikipedia. It also will include work stations on which people can
browse, read, or edit the site.
Despite the fact that Wikipedia has more than 31 million articles and
attracts 500 million unique visitors per month, only about 11,000
people edit its content more than 100 times a month. About 1,000
people have administrative privileges over the English pages. Lih is
one of them.
“If you want to learn about Wikipedia, you have to surf through a
dozen pages on the Wikipedia site, which can get really confusing,”
he says. “It’s not user-friendly. You really have to be determined to
find out what’s going on. On the other hand, something designed as
a public exhibit is much more geared toward explaining Wikipedia’s
dynamics—and that’s our goal.”
A policy debate on how best to combat sexual
assault on college campuses is playing out
around the country. The US Department of
Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has
informed more than 100 schools of pending
inquiries into whether civil rights protected
under Title IX may have been violated. AU is
among the schools notified of a complaint
and pending inquiry.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of
1972 protects individuals from discrimination
based on sex in education programs or
activities that receive federal financial
assistance. Once a tool to address gender
equity in athletics, Title IX is now being
used to press for greater accountability for
prevention and response to sexual assault.
In its notification to AU that it had received
a complaint, OCR noted that the inquiry in no
way implies it has made a determination with
regard to its merits.
“We’ve had a longtime commitment
to educating the campus community and
providing resources and training on issues
of interpersonal and sexual violence,” says
Dean of Students Rob Hradsky, AU’s Title IX
coordinator. “Each year we take a critical look
at the work we’re doing to make sure we are
employing best practices in preventing and
responding to interpersonal violence.”
AU has a working group of faculty, staff,
and students dedicated to the issue of sexual
assault. In the last year, AU created the Office
for Advocacy Services for Interpersonal and
Sexual Violence (OASIS) in the Wellness Center
and hired an additional victim advocate.
“I can say confidently that we already were
ahead of the curve in terms of complying with
the law,” Hradsky says. “We’re now taking extra
steps to make sure we’re going above and
beyond to create a safe campus community.”
Hradsky notified the university community
that AU intends to use the inquiry to learn how
it can augment these programs to enhance
safety, responsiveness, and compliance.
For more information, visit american.edu/
ocl/titleix.
A BYTE OUT OF THE RANKINGS
AU is No. 44 on Computerworld’s “Best Places to Work
in IT”—and No. 4 for career development. The magazine
praises OIT for challenging itself with new initiatives
and its focus on training, networking, and mentoring.
AU is one of only two universities to make the list.
MASTERS OF (SOCIAL) SCIENCE
CAS is a top six school nationwide for the study of social
sciences, according to USA Today. Praising the school’s
broad, interdisciplinary curriculum, the newspaper said CAS
grads are “prepared to enter any social science field with
an open mind and knowledge of differing perspectives.”
THE GIVING TREE
AU has earned 2014 Tree Campus USA
recognition. Launched in 2008 by the Arbor
Day Foundation and Toyota, the program honors
colleges and universities that promote healthy trees
and engage students in the spirit of conservation.
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