wikipedia in outreach

Wikipedia – the missing link in science outreach?

Siv Midtun Hollup

Department of InformaticsUniversity of Bergen

04.10.2010

What we did last summer

Page Visits May 2010 Vists Nov 2009

Protein 3103 6143Gen 1683 1355Hemoglobin 1222 1510Statistisk signifikans 906 308Intron 181 109DNA-sekvensering 170 79DNA mikromatrise 137 106Ekson 120 89Bioinformatikk 107 157Spleising 74 76Genuttrykksprofilering 62 58Sekvenssammenstilling 61 47Morfogen 55 29Blast 51 42Gennettverk 47 18

What we did last summer

Page Visits May 2010 Vists Nov 2009

Protein 3103 6143Gen 1683 1355Hemoglobin 1222 1510Statistisk signifikans 906 308Intron 181 109DNA-sekvensering 170 79DNA mikromatrise 137 106Ekson 120 89Bioinformatikk 107 157Spleising 74 76Genuttrykksprofilering 62 58Sekvenssammenstilling 61 47Morfogen 55 29Blast 51 42Gennettverk 47 18

Just Google It

Site Hits Percentage

en.wikipedia.org 5266 97%species.wikimedia.org 2934 54%animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu 2890 53%commons.wikimedia.org 1515 28%www.itis.gov 1418 26%ctd.mdibl.org 1288 24%www.bioone.org 1101 20%www.uniprot.org 1086 20%encyclopedia.farlex.com 1007 19%www.thewebsiteofeverything.com 955 17%

iphylo.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-wikipedia-and-eol.html

Page ranking

iphylo.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-wikipedia-and-eol.html

Medical terms: MR Laurent et.al, 2009

The war of the encyclopedias

Internet encyclopaedias go head to head, J. Giles, Nature 438, 2005

Can the Wikipedia be used as a citation source?

What can Wikipedia do for you?

• Overview of research fields

• Good introductions to specific subjects

• References

• Overview of disputed questions

• Bridge gap between research and books

• Connect related concepts

• References

What can you do for Wikipedia?

• Overview articles

• Detailed explanations ofspecific concepts

• Updated references topapers and books

• Information on your research field for others

• Improve outreach and teaching skills

• Relevant coursework for students

• Add knowledge to public domain

Things to think about

• Evaluation?

• Which Wikipedia?

• Which contributions?

• Audience

• Point of view

• Language and terms

• Structure of the article

• References and sources

• Examples

• Evaluation?

• Audience

• Point of view

• Examples

• Evaluation?

• Audience

• Point of view

• Examples

• Evaluation?

• Audience

• Point of view

• Examples

• Evaluation?

• Audience

• Point of view

• Examples

• Evaluation?

• Audience

• Point of view

• Examples

• Evaluation?

• Audience

• Point of view

• Examples

• Evaluation?

• Audience

• Point of view

• Examples

• Evaluation?

• Audience

• Point of view

• Examples

Do Not Do

• No references

• Subjective text

• Anonymous contributions

• Publish results

• Copyright and licencing

Do Not Do

• No references

• Subjective text

• Publish results

Do Not Do

• No references

• Subjective text

• Publish results

Do Not Do

• No references

• Subjective text

• Publish results

Do Not Do

• No references

• Subjective text

• Publish results

Wikipedia in teaching

• Outreach for PhD students

• Contributing to articles in advanced courses

• Verification of references

• Searching for references

Wikimedia Foundation

References

• J Giles, Internet encyclopedias go head to head, Nature 438, 2005

• MR Laurent et al., Seeking Health Information Online: DoesWikipedia Matter?, Journal of the American Medical InformaticsAssociation 18, 2009

• KL Callis et al., Improving Wikipedia: educational opportunity andprofessional responsibility, Trend Ecol. Evol. 24, 2009

• I Muhlhauser et al., Does WIKIPEDIA provide evidence-basedhealth care information? A content analysis, Z Evid Fortbild QualGesundhwes 102, 2008

Writing tips: Keep It Simple, Stupid

• One sentence – one point

• Each word counts

• Write as you speak

• Write with no room for misunderstadings

• Edit the text many times in intervals

About words: short and sweet

Bad examples:in order tothe reason why is thatdecreased number ofbased on the fact thatround in shapehas been shown to bea great number of timesdespite the fact thatit is interesting to note that

Good examples:tobecausefewerbecauseroundisoftenalthougheliminate

Context, context context!

• What is the context?

• What does your audience know?

• What is the story?

• Can you summarise in one sentence?

Writing for Wikipedia

• Syntax: naming and formatting of dates, names, species,institutions etc.

• Grammer: Tense, active/passive

• Presenting the whole picture

• Read good and featured articles

References

• http://www.sfedit.net/newsletters.htm Writing tipsfor papers

• ML Buddle and DR Wood, Mathematical Writing in English,2006

• Wikipedia Manual of Style: http:

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style

• How to edit Wikipedia:http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/How_to_edit_a_page

Getting started with Wikipedia

1. Create user account

2. Log in

3. Edit page and view in preview or Sandbox

4. Write commit message describing your changes

5. Save your changes

2. Log in

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