Depths of Wikipedia

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Depths of Wikipedia
Depths of Wikipedia logo.png
WebsiteOfficial website
Instagram information
Channel
Created byAnnie Rauwerda
Followers1 million
(July 17, 2022)
Signature
Annie Rauwerda's signature.svg

Depths of Wikipedia is a group of social media accounts dedicated to highlighting strange, obscure, and interesting facts from Wikipedia. Created on Instagram in 2020 by Annie Rauwerda (/ˈraʊ.ərdə/[1]), a college student at the University of Michigan, the account shares excerpts from various Wikipedia articles on humorous or absurd topics.

Rauwerda has additionally hosted a Wikipedia editing workshop and live comedy shows in connection with Depths of Wikipedia.

Creation[]

Rauwerda in 2022

Depths of Wikipedia, an Instagram account, was created in April 2020 by Annie Rauwerda,[2] a neuroscience major at the University of Michigan.[3][4] She created the account as a personal project at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic,[5] intending to share strange, surprising, and interesting facts from the English Wikipedia[2] among friends.[5] According to Rauwerda, the project was inspired by a collage of excerpts from Wikipedia that she had made for a friend's zine,[3] and by a photograph from the Wikipedia article on cow tipping.[3] She had been interested in Wikipedia before beginning the project, spending time reading it as a child[2] and Wikiracing with friends in middle and high school.[6]

Instagram influencer Caroline Calloway brought Depths of Wikipedia its first wave of followers, publicizing the account's posts positively after resolving an incident in which Rauwerda had posted about Calloway's Wikipedia page.[5][6]

After her Instagram account gained followers, Rauwerda created TikTok and Twitter accounts of the same name,[5] and launched a newsletter covering unusual Wikipedia pages in greater detail.[6]

Activity[]

An image of a cow on Wikipedia, with the caption "A healthy cow lying on her side is not immobilized; she can rise whenever she chooses."
Rauwerda has cited this image and caption, taken from the article on cow tipping, as an inspiration for Depths of Wikipedia.[3]

Depths of Wikipedia has highlighted articles on topics including exploding trousers, Nuclear Gandhi,[2] chess on a really big board, and sexually active popes.[7]

According to Rauwerda, she often receives submissions of Wikipedia articles to feature, but is selective in choosing which to post.[5] In October 2021, she said she was getting "probably 30 to 50 user submissions per day".[6]

A Wikipedia editor herself,[2] Rauwerda has hosted an edit-a-thon, welcoming new contributions to the encyclopedia,[3] as well as live comedy shows based on trivia from Wikipedia.[6][5][8]

Reception[]

Notable followers of the Depths of Wikipedia account include Neil Gaiman, John Mayer, Troye Sivan, and Olivia Wilde.[7][9]

According to Heather Woods, a professor of rhetoric and technology at Kansas State University, Depths of Wikipedia "makes the internet feel smaller" by "offering attractive—or sometimes hilariously unattractive—entry points to internet culture."[5] Zachary McCune, the brand director of the Wikimedia Foundation, which funds and hosts Wikipedia, called the account "a place where Wikipedia comes to life, like an after-hours tour of the best of Wikipedia".[5]

References[]

  1. ^ Dzotsi, Emmanuel; Goldman, Alex; Nederveen-Pieterse, Kim (June 9, 2022). "#188 Into the Depths". Reply All (Podcast). Gimlet Media. Event occurs at 1:24. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Shamani, Joshi (January 13, 2022). "I Look For the Weirdest and Wildest Things on Wikipedia. Here's What I've Learned". Vice. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Stiernberg, Bonnie (January 15, 2021). "How One Instagram Account Finds the Weirdest Stuff on Wikipedia". InsideHook. Archived from the original on October 31, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  4. ^ Agarwal, Aashna (January 5, 2021). "The Viral Instagram Page Diving Into the Depths of Wikipedia". Lithium Magazine. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Kambhampaty, Anna P. (March 31, 2022). "Want to See the Weirdest of Wikipedia? Look No Further". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Cavender, Elena (October 24, 2021). "Travel down a Wikipedia rabbit hole with the mastermind behind DepthsOfWikipedia Instagram". Mashable. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Dunn, Frankie (March 16, 2021). "This Instagram account dug up the weirdest things on Wikipedia". i-D. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  8. ^ Zhou, Naaman (April 25, 2022) [April 18, 2022]. "Wikipedia, In The Flesh". The New Yorker. Condé Nast. p. 19. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  9. ^ Bryant, Aidan (May 11, 2021). "Journey To the "Depths of Wikipedia"". F Newsmagazine. Archived from the original on October 8, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2021.

Further reading[]

External links[]

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