Wiki Education is thrilled to announce a new partnership with the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) Engagement Team.
The Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) is a global community of more than 1,000 scientists on a ten-year quest to understand the quantities, movements, forms, and origins of carbon inside Earth. They want to encourage their community to participate in Wiki Education’s programs so that they are better able to share their scientific findings with the public.
We will work together to expand the depth and breadth of content on Wikipedia about Earth’s deep carbon cycle and related Earth science topics. We will increase our impact on improving Wikipedia content by bringing more scholars from DCO into Wiki Education’s programs. Wiki Education’s support of scholarly efforts has already positively impacted content on Wikipedia, while giving scholars the tools to easily contribute, ensuring content is accurate and up-to-date.
In the past, we have engaged DCO members in how to incorporate Wikipedia assignments into the classroom and supported a DCO Visiting Scholar. Now, we’re committing to continue that work and help Earth scientists amplify their research by improving public scholarship.
According to DCO, “Wikipedia offers an immense opportunity to present deep carbon science to a broad audience.” After all, Wikipedia is one of the world’s most-visited websites, with 500 million monthly readers. “By identifying and developing new articles and refining and expanding existing ones, researchers can help secure DCO’s legacy by sharing advances in deep carbon science learned over this decadal program.”
Opportunities for DCO scientists
Members of the Deep Carbon Observatory who are interested in improving deep carbon science on Wikipedia have two major options for getting involved:
We invite DCO members to apply to become a Wikipedia Fellow. This interdisciplinary project trains academic scholars to contribute content expertise to Wikipedia. One alumnus of the unique professional development course said, “We are the ‘experts’ and as such, we should use our expertise for the greater good.” We believe scientists who bring their understanding of complex issues to Wikipedia can empower the public to participate fully as citizens. New courses begin 9 October 2018, so interested members should apply now.
University and college faculty who would like to teach students how to engage with Wikipedia and its community can do so with Wiki Education’s support resources and tools. See teach.wikiedu.org or email contact@wikiedu.org for more information about how to get started.
