Justin Knapp

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
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Nationality American
Other names Koavf
Citizenship United States
Education Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis

Justin Anthony Knapp (born November 18, 1982),[1] known online as Koavf, is an American Wikipedia user who was the first person to contribute more than one million edits to Wikipedia.[2] As of December 2017, Knapp had made almost 1.85 million edits to Wikipedia.[3] As of August 2016, he has contributed to and nominated two articles recognized as "featured articles" which he described as "the highest quality of article on Wikipedia".[4][5] He was ranked No. 1 among the most active Wikipedia contributors of all time from April 18, 2012 to November 1, 2015.

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]

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] 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".[12]

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][13] and he has also made many edits involving the categorization of albums through Wikipedia's category structure.[14] In June 2012, the Indianapolis Star reported that Knapp sometimes edited Wikipedia for as many as 16 hours a day.[15]

On July 21, 2014, his editing was the subject of a question on the BBC quiz show University Challenge.[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] He has also done community organizing for a Restore the Fourth rally in 2013.[18]

Other

Knapp has had several jobs including delivering pizzas for the Indianapolis pizzeria Just Pizza,[19] and working at a grocery store and a crisis hotline.[3][12]

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. 1 2 Comisky, Daniel S. (July 26, 2012). "King of Corrections". Indianapolis Monthly.
  2. ↑ "The hardest working man on Wikipedia April 19, 2012". Daily Dot. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Dewey, Caitlin (22 July 2015). "You don't know it, but you're working for Facebook. For free". Washington Post. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  4. ↑ Morris, Kevin (December 11, 2012). "Meet Justin Knapp, the hardest working man on Wikipedia". The Daily Dot. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  5. ↑ Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by featured article nominations
  6. 1 2 3 "First man to make 1 million Wikipedia edits". The Telegraph. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  7. 1 2 Pogue, Paul F.P. (23 May 2012). "Wiki's Million Edit Man is lifelong Hoosier". Nuvo. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  8. 1 2 Hansen, Lauren (30 January 2013). "6 super-dedicated employees". The Week. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  9. ↑ Vinci, Angela (5 July 2012). "In the News - June 2012". Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis News. Archived from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  10. ↑ "Hardest working man on the internet passes one million Wikipedia edits". Engadget.com. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  11. ↑ Alissa Skelton (23 April 2012). "Wikipedia Volunteer Editor Reaches 1 Million Edits". Mashable. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  12. 1 2 Lubin, Gus (19 September 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 21 September 2014.
  13. ↑ Horn, Leslie (20 April 2012). "Seven Years, One Million Edits, Zero Dollars: Wikipedia's Flat Broke Superstar". Gizmodo. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  14. ↑ "Wikipedia: Meet the men and women who write the articles". BBC News. 14 July 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  15. ↑ Guerra, Kristine (2012-06-18). "Week in Wiki out: Hoosier is top contributor to online encyclopedia". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
  16. ↑ "Episode 2". University Challenge. Season 2014/2015. Episode 2. 21 July 2014. BBC.
  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. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
  18. ↑ Ritger, Carla (July 3, 2013). "Protesters to March Against Government Surveillance in Nationwide Rally". Indianapolis Star. Gannett.
  19. ↑ Disis, Jill (20 January 2014). "Co-workers scrambled to find missing pizza delivery man until the worst became clear". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2 February 2017.

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