From AI leaders, engineers, inventors, environmentalists, and designers (just to name a few!), we’ve explored the stories behind the Wikipedia assignments that bring new biographies of historically excluded figures in STEM to Wikipedia.
And when it comes to improving representation on Wikipedia, there’s no doubt that adding new articles to the encyclopedia makes an impact. But not nearly as visible are the small edits made by student editors to underdeveloped biographies already found on the site – and even a short contribution can influence the accuracy and completeness of an article.
Just ask master’s student Gillian McGinnis, who completed a Wikipedia assignment as part of her Foundations of Information Science course at the University of Arizona this semester. As she first learned to edit Wikipedia, McGinnis made a small addition to the article for American atmospheric chemist Susan Solomon – small, but incredibly important, explained the information science major.
“Looking at Dr. Solomon’s list of awards in the Wikipedia article was impressive,” said McGinnis, who was already familiar with atmospheric chemistry data and research. “After doing some research, I was surprised that there was no mention in her article of her receiving the Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur – especially since this is an incredibly honorable award, and foreign recipients are not common.”
Improving Wikipedia’s coverage of women in STEM helps to showcase their contributions in the field over the centuries, particularly if they were initially overlooked or previously omitted from formal recognition in their subject, emphasized McGinnis.
“Representation matters, and because Wikipedia is free and accessible to a wide audience, improving these articles [about women in STEM] may help to inspire and encourage other women and girls interested in STEM,” said McGinnis.
Like McGinnis, classmate Tushar Vimal kicked off his coursework on Wikipedia by making a small yet significant edit of his own. In appreciation for computer scientist Lixia Zhang’s contributions to internet architecture, Vimal chose to improve the article about Zhang, adding her election to the National Academy of Engineering.
“I don’t think only a specific group of people have advanced STEM,” explained Vimal, reflecting on the importance of small edits like his for historically excluded figures. “People from all kinds of backgrounds have made meaningful contributions. Whether their work solved big problems or smaller ones, they all played a role, and they deserve to have their work represented equally and neutrally on platforms like Wikipedia.”
And McGinnis and Vimal weren’t the only students to improve representation and fill gaps in STEM biographies with small but impactful edits this term.
From Victor Valley Community College and UCSB to Florida State University and Middle Georgia State University, postsecondary students from all corners of the country have been lending their new editing skills to improve articles of underrepresented figures in STEM.
This spring, student editors have made small but meaningful contributions to biography articles like chemical engineer Daniela Blanco, medical technologist Paulette Dillard, computer scientist Augusta H. Teller, and microbiologist Harold Amos, among many others – and often sparked new edits for the articles by other Wikipedians along the way.
The student work outlined in this story is part of a larger Wiki Education initiative sponsored by the Broadcom Foundation, which supports the creation of new biographies of diverse people in STEM on Wikipedia.
Interested in incorporating a Wikipedia assignment into your course? Visit teach.wikiedu.org to learn more about the free resources, digital tools, and staff support that Wiki Education offers to postsecondary instructors in the United States and Canada.
It’s inspiring to see students like Gillian digging deep and catching overlooked details like the Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur. It really highlights how small edits can restore the full picture of someone’s legacy.