Justin Knapp

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Justin Knapp
Justin Knapp—a Caucasian male with brown hair and a bushy beard—stands with his arms folded
Knapp in 2012
Born
Justin Anthony Knapp

(1982-11-18) November 18, 1982 (age 38)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Other namesKoavf
EducationPhilosophy and Political Science, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis

Justin Anthony Knapp (born November 18, 1982),[1] also known by his online moniker Koavf, is an American Wikipedia user who was the first person to contribute more than one million edits to Wikipedia.[2] As of August 2021, Knapp has made over 2 million edits on English Wikipedia.[3][4][5] He was ranked No. 1 among the most active Wikipedia contributors of all time from April 18, 2012, to November 1, 2015, when he was surpassed by Steven Pruitt.

Education[]

Knapp attended Covenant Christian High School, where he enrolled in 1997.[1] He holds degrees in philosophy and political science from Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis.[6][7] As of 2013, he was pursuing a nursing degree at Indiana University.[8][needs update]

Career[]

Wikipedia[]

Knapp (third from left) at a Wikipedia training session in 2011

Knapp announced his millionth edit to Wikipedia on April 19, 2012.[6] At the time, he had been submitting on average 385 edits a day since signing up in March 2005; about his performance he said: "Being suddenly and involuntarily unemployed will do that to you."[6] Margaret Ferguson, an associate professor of political science at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis and one of Knapp's professors, said she was not surprised by his dedication to editing Wikipedia.[9] In 2012, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales congratulated Knapp for his work and presented him with the site's highest award for his achievement[10] by declaring that April 20 would be Justin Knapp Day.[11][12] In a 2014 interview with Business Insider, Knapp said that "there is no typical day" with regard to his Wikipedia editing, and that his "go-to edits are small style and typo fixes." He also argued that the declining number of Wikipedia editors is "not necessarily a problem."[13]

His Wikipedia username, Koavf, was chosen as an acronym for "King of all Vext Fans", a reference to a contest Knapp entered for the comic book Vext in the 1990s.[7] Knapp was a significant contributor to Wikipedia's bibliography on George Orwell,[8][14] and he has also made many edits involving the categorization of albums through Wikipedia's category structure.[15] In 2012, the Indianapolis Star reported that Knapp sometimes edited Wikipedia for as many as 16 hours a day.[16]

Activism[]

In 2005, at the United Nations Sixtieth General Assembly, Knapp advocated for the Sahrawi people and spoke about the situation in Western Sahara.[17][18] He has also been involved in community organizing for a Restore the Fourth rally in 2013.[19]

Other[]

Knapp has had several jobs, including delivering pizzas for the Indianapolis pizzeria Just Pizza,[20] working at a grocery store, and a crisis hotline.[21][13]

List of publications[]

  • "The Grant Shapps Affair Is a Testament to Wikipedia's Integrity and Transparency", published by Guardian Media Group for The Guardian online, April 23, 2015
  • "Engaging the Public in Ethical Reasoning About Big Data" in Ethical Reasoning in Big Data: An Exploratory Analysis (ed. Jeff Collman and Sorin Adam Matei), published by Springer Publishing, April 2016, pp. 43–52, ISBN 978-3-319-28422-4 and ISBN 978-3-319-28420-0 doi:10.1007/978-319-28422-4_4

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Comisky, Daniel S. (July 26, 2012). "King of Corrections". Indianapolis Monthly.
  2. ^ "The hardest working man on Wikipedia". Daily Dot. April 19, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  3. ^ "Koavf - Simple Counter". XTools. Archived from the original on August 21, 2021. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  4. ^ Morris, Kevin (April 19, 2012). "The hardest working man on Wikipedia". The Daily Dot. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  5. ^ Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by featured article nominations
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c Titcomb, James (April 20, 2012). "First man to make 1 million Wikipedia edits". The Telegraph. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Pogue, Paul F.P. (May 23, 2012). "Wiki's Million Edit Man is lifelong Hoosier". Nuvo. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Hansen, Lauren (January 30, 2013). "6 super-dedicated employees". The Week. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  9. ^ Vinci, Angela (July 5, 2012). "In the News - June 2012". Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis News. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  10. ^ "Hardest working man on the internet passes one million Wikipedia edits". Engadget.com. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  11. ^ , Wikipedia, August 30, 2016, retrieved October 5, 2020
  12. ^ Alissa Skelton (April 23, 2012). "Wikipedia Volunteer Editor Reaches 1 Million Edits". Mashable. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Lubin, Gus (September 19, 2014). "This Guy Has Edited Wikipedia More Than 1.3 Million Times — And He Doesn't Believe In The Decline Of The Free Encyclopedia". Business Insider. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  14. ^ Horn, Leslie (April 20, 2012). "Seven Years, One Million Edits, Zero Dollars: Wikipedia's Flat Broke Superstar". Gizmodo. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  15. ^ "Wikipedia: Meet the men and women who write the articles". BBC News. July 14, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  16. ^ Guerra, Kristine (June 18, 2012). "Week in Wiki out: Hoosier is top contributor to online encyclopedia". Indianapolis Star. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  17. ^ "Representatives of member states, non-self governing territories, petitioners address Fourth Committee, as it continues general debate on decolonization: Statements Focus on Questions of Gibraltar, Western Sahara, Guam". United Nations. October 6, 2005. Archived from the original on April 7, 2013. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
  18. ^ "Representatives of member states, non-self governing territories, petitioners address Fourth Committee, as it continues general debate on decolonization: Statements Focus on Questions of Gibraltar, Western Sahara, Guam". United Nations. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  19. ^ Ritger, Carla (July 3, 2013). "Protesters to March Against Government Surveillance in Nationwide Rally". Indianapolis Star. Gannett.
  20. ^ Disis, Jill (January 20, 2014). "Co-workers scrambled to find missing pizza delivery man until the worst became clear". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  21. ^ Dewey, Caitlin (July 22, 2015). "You don't know it, but you're working for Facebook. For free". Washington Post. Retrieved August 16, 2015.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""