In an era when people are paying such close attention to politics, and with easy access to conflicting points of view and propaganda, it’s more important than ever to surface high quality, verifiable knowledge. Wiki Education is committed to bringing political science expertise and scholarship to Wikipedia, giving the public better access to reliable information. That’s why Wiki Education has a partnership with the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA). MPSA’s members are political scientists with the power to shape information on the internet. The public uses this information to inform opinions, debates, behaviors, and voting.
This week, Wiki Education is attending MPSA’s annual conference in Chicago, IL. We’re excited to use this opportunity to engage members in thinking about Wikipedia’s place in the information landscape, empowering them to help make this public resource even better.
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Education roundtable
On Thursday, April 5th, I served as the chairperson in MPSA’s education roundtable about Wikipedia. I joined the following speakers, who have taught with Wikipedia assignments in their higher education classrooms:
- Dr. Megan Osterbur, New England College
- Dr. Jinu Abraham, Lone Star College
- Dr. Matthew Bergman, University of California, San Diego
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Exhibit hall
Wiki Education will be available in the exhibit hall to speak with attendees who are interested in learning more about Wikipedia, Wiki Education, and how to contribute to the public’s understanding of political science and issues relevant to the discipline. We’re near the poster presentations, so please find Wiki Education to learn how you can join our programs.
- Thursday, April 5th, 9:30am–7:30pm
- Join us for the reception from 6:30–7:30pm!
- Friday, April 6th, 9:30am–6:30pm
- Saturday, April 7th, 9:30am–5:00pm
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Get involved!
Wiki Education is thrilled to join political scientists at this year’s conference and invite them to participate in our newest program, Wikipedia Fellows. In the Wikipedia Fellows program, academic scholars remotely join Wiki Education staff for several months, learning how to add their content expertise to Wikipedia, making high-quality, verifiable contributions to articles along the way. After joining our pilot from January–March 2018, the Midwest Political Science Association will continue participating in the coming year. We’re in full swing to plan upcoming opportunities for faculty to learn how to edit Wikipedia, and we look forward to recruiting participants this week.
As always, we’ll also speak to attendees about how they can bring meaningful, real-world assignments to students by joining the Classroom Program and teaching with Wikipedia in a Political Science classroom. To learn how to join the Classroom Program, see our website or email contact@wikiedu.org.
