  Wikipedia, the largest encyclopedia ever created, is a global initiative
driven by volunteer contributions. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and
mobility restrictions ensued across the globe, it was unclear whether Wikipedia
volunteers would become less active in the face of the pandemic, or whether
they would rise to meet the increased demand for high-quality information
despite the added stress inflicted by this crisis. Analyzing 223 million edits
contributed from 2018 to 2020 across twelve Wikipedia language editions, we
find that Wikipedia's global volunteer community responded remarkably to the
pandemic, substantially increasing both productivity and the number of
newcomers who joined the community. For example, contributions to the English
Wikipedia increased by over 20% compared to the expectation derived from
pre-pandemic data. Our work sheds light on the response of a global volunteer
population to the COVID-19 crisis, providing valuable insights into the
behavior of critical online communities under stress.
