Draft:Stephen Harrison (author)

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Stephen Harrison
Harrison in 2023
Harrison in 2023
Alma materWashington University in St. Louis

Stephen B. Harrison is an American author, technology journalist, and technology transactions attorney.[1][2] He writes the "Source Notes" column about Wikipedia and other internet issues,[3] and has written extensively about the Wikipedia community in Slate and other publications.[4][5] Harrison's debut novel, The Editors, was released in 2024.[6]

Education

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Harrison grew up in Texas.[7] He was educated at Washington University in St. Louis, where he had a Howard Nemerov writing scholarship.[7] He received his Bachelor of Arts in 2009 and Juris Doctor in 2013.[8][7]

Career

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Harrison was senior counsel for Thomson Reuters through 2021, and went on to work with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.[9][7] As of 2025, he works as a lawyer and journalist.[10][1]

Journalism

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In 2018, Harrison began publishing articles focused on technology and the media, often writing about the Wikipedia community.[2][10][11] Before that, he had contributed articles on politics, culture, and society to Salon.com and HuffPost.[12][13]

His first article on Wikipedia came about after an editor at The Outline suggested writing a literary critique of a Wikipedia article and examining how it developed behind the scenes.[10][14] While riding the New York City Subway on a business trip, he got the idea to interview the two Wikipedia editors who had contributed the most to articles on the topic for The New York Times, who turned out to be teenagers.[10][15] For another article in The Outline, "Grandpa Teaches Bitcoin", he interviewed the Wikipedia editor who had contributed most to the article about Bitcoin, who turned out not to own any Bitcoin.[16] For The Washington Post, he interviewed the most prolific editor on English language Wikipedia.[17]

Starting in 2019, Harrison began writing regularly about "Wikipedia, digital knowledge, and the search for a fact-based world" in a bi-weekly column for Slate magazine called "Source Notes".[18][11][19] He also publishes his own "Source Notes" newsletter.[10] Other topics he covers include AI, information and disinformation, and books.[20]

Harrison describes Wikipedia as: "essential infrastructure, almost like a utility that provides a trustworthy resource to the broader Internet.”[21] He has also written articles on Wikipedia for Wired and The Guardian.[3][22][23]

The Editors

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In 2024, Harrison released a novel inspired by Wikipedia editors titled The Editors.[24][25][26][27][28][29] It's a suspense novel about the company Infopendium, an "ubiquitous, crowd-sourced internet encyclopedia."[3][10][30]

As of 2024, Harrison lives in Turtle Creek, Dallas.[3]

See also

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Selected work

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  • Harrison, Stephen (March 28, 2018). If You See Something, Write Something The New York Times
  • Harrison, Stephen. Benjakob, Omer. (October 15, 2020). From Anarchy to Wikiality, Glaring Bias to Good Cop: Press Coverage of Wikipedia’s First Two Decades, from Wikipedia @ 20 (2020)
  • Harrison, Stephen (August 24, 2023). Wikipedia Will Survive A.I. Slate
  • Harrison, Stephen (2024). The Editors. Inkshares. ISBN 978-1-950301-67-6.

References

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  1. ^ a b Ro, Christine (February 19, 2025). "Why these scientists devote time to editing and updating Wikipedia". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00244-7. ISSN 1476-4687.
  2. ^ a b Chapnick, Jesse (August 13, 2024). "Why all roads of inquiry lead to Wikipedia". 1A. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Mullen, David (October 17, 2024). "Mystery uncovers web of online information". Katy Trail Weekly. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  4. ^ Purdy, Kevin (January 15, 2025). "The Editors weaves Wikipedia's volunteers into a global suspense tale". Ars Technica. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  5. ^ "U.S. attorney for D.C. accuses Wikipedia of 'propaganda,' threatens nonprofit status". The Washington Post. April 25, 2025. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  6. ^ "Stephen Harrison's debut novel says Wikipedia matters (regardless of what your middle-school teachers might say) – Student Life". Student Life. August 13, 2024. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d "Ctrl+Alt+Delete: Q&A with author Stephen Harrison about his upcoming novel "The Editors" and the digital landscape – Student Life". Student Life. July 8, 2024. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  8. ^ "Stephen Harrison, JD '13, Authors Sci-Fi Short Story with Legal Themes – WashULaw". law.washu.edu. November 7, 2023. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  9. ^ "Marquis Who's Who Honors Stephen Harrison for Expertise in Legal Services and Achievements as an Author". 24-7 Press Release. November 7, 2024. Retrieved February 20, 2025.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Carroll, Tobias (February 5, 2025). "How Long Can Wikipedia Hold On?". InsideHook. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  11. ^ a b Dewey, Caitlin (July 16, 2024). ""Wikipedia says no individual has a monopoly on truth": an interview with author Stephen Harrison". Yahoo Life. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  12. ^ "Stephen Harrison's Articles at Salon.com". www.salon.com. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  13. ^ "Stephen Harrison | HuffPost". www.huffpost.com. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  14. ^ Harrison, Stephen (January 10, 2018). "The Wikipedia entry for 'SJW' is a political battleground". The Outline. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
  15. ^ Harrison, Stephen (March 28, 2018). "If You See Something, Write Something". The New York Times. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
  16. ^ Harrison, Stephen (June 19, 2018). "Everything you know about Bitcoin is thanks to this Czech grandpa". The Outline. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
  17. ^ Harrison, Stephen (October 2, 2018). "The Wikipedia contributor behind 2.5 million edits". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
  18. ^ Harrison, Stephen (January 28, 2019). "SOURCE NOTES: A New Column". Source Notes. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
  19. ^ "Stephen Harrison". Slate Magazine. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  20. ^ "About". Source Notes. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
  21. ^ "Stephen Harrison on Wikipedia's role and its lessons for news media". The Fix. August 29, 2024. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  22. ^ Harrison, Stephen (January 15, 2021). "Wikipedia Is Basically a Massive RPG". Wired. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
  23. ^ Harrison, Stephen (September 12, 2024). "Wikipedia is facing an existential crisis. Can gen Z save it?". The Guardian. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
  24. ^ Lawrence, Leah. "3.5-STAR REVIEW: THE EDITORS by Stephen Harrison". Novels Alive.
  25. ^ "The Editors by Stephen Harrison | BookLife". booklife.com. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
  26. ^ "The Editors by Stephen Harrison: Wikipedia, internet communities, and the battle for truth in the digital age". New America. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  27. ^ Stark, Susie. "Numlock Sunday: Stephen Harrison on The Editors". www.numlock.com. Retrieved October 9, 2024.
  28. ^ "New High-Tech Thriller: The Editors". wfaa.com. August 16, 2024. Retrieved October 9, 2024.
  29. ^ Stephen Harrison (August 19, 2024). THE EDITORS on NBC Bay Area Press:Here. Retrieved October 9, 2024 – via YouTube.
  30. ^ "MIK-utsikten: Plattformsdebatten, Wikipedia-kriget och AI-lärande". Digiteket (in Swedish). Retrieved September 6, 2025.
[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to Stephen Harrison (author).
  • Official website
  • THE EDITORS by Stephen Harrison on Good Morning Texas, 2024 video
  • Media related to Stephen Harrison at Wikimedia Commons
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