For Jessica Allison of the Detroit Institute of Arts, participating in Wiki Education’s recent Art History Wiki Scholars course presented the opportunity to improve Wikipedia articles using sources at her fingertips – the works housed in her museum’s own collection. To find her starting point, Allison assembled a comprehensive list of works in the museum’s … Continued
In the 1950’s, the Canadian government set forth a campaign that resulted in the mass expulsion of federal workers, military members, and police force members that identified as or were suspected of being part of the LGBTQ+ community. The institutional persecution of LGBTQ+ people in Canada is known as the Gay Purges and spanned almost … Continued
The Samuel H. Kress Foundation has awarded Wiki Education a $25,000 grant to lead a 10-week Wiki Scholars course in the upcoming year that will train scholars in pre-modern European art and architecture how to add their knowledge to a topic deeply underdeveloped on Wikipedia. The Foundation agrees it’s critical that Wikipedia provides accurate, expert, … Continued
“Wikipedia is my go-to first source for information presented logically and accessibly,” said Liz Shesko, an Associate Professor of history at Oakland University. But before last term, she didn’t think of it as a teaching tool. Using Wiki Education’s assignment templates and Dashboard, Liz had students write Wikipedia content that related to the history of … Continued
In the aftermath of the 2020 George Floyd protests and the 2017 Unite the Right rally, the question of monuments and their meaning has come to the forefront. Students in Oliver Wunsch’s Contested Monuments class worked on improving a number of Wikipedia articles about monuments, ranging from the Statue of Jefferson Davis at the U.S. Capitol, to the Gay Liberation … Continued
The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington, is a Smithsonian Affiliate — which made their staff eligible to participate in one of Wiki Education’s recent Wiki Scholars courses, themed around the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Initiative. Northwest Museum Curator of History Freya Liggett signed right up. “I’d never considered becoming a Wikipedia … Continued
Jan Davidson, a museum historian for the Cape Fear Museum in New Hanover County, North Carolina, had thought about editing Wikipedia articles, but she’d never actually clicked the edit button. The Cape Fear Museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate. As part of the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Initiative, these Affiliates were invited to participate in a … Continued
Sarah Emma Edmonds was a veteran of the 2nd Michigan Infantry during the American Civil War — in which she served as a man named Frank Thompson. Or did she? Until earlier this year, Wikipedia’s article on her had a warning banner indicating the article contained disputed information. That made the article on Edmonds ripe … Continued
As an exhibits content specialist for the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jessica O’Connor’s job is to help center diverse voices in the stories they tell. So when she heard about the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative (AWHI) Wiki Scholars course for Smithsonian Affiliates, focused on improving Wikipedia biographies of notable American women in … Continued
