When a student editor in our Wikipedia Student Program sets out to improve a biography on Wikipedia, the possibilities of choice might seem endless. With more than 2 million biographies on the English Wikipedia, how do they decide where to focus their efforts?
For many, the choice becomes simple when they discover a figure whose backgrounds, identities, or experiences resonate with their own, and the wide-reaching, public project takes on a personal meaning.
Bay Path University sophomore Zormar Betancourt Medina experienced this during her own Wikipedia assignment when she chose to improve the article about Puerto Rican scientist Nitza Margarita Cintrón.
“As someone who is also from Puerto Rico and passionate about science, I felt a strong personal connection and responsibility to highlight [Cintrón’s] work,” explained Betancourt Medina, a forensic science major. “Contributing to her article allowed me to support and uplift a fellow scientist whose achievements deserve wider recognition.”
Hundreds of miles away at the University of South Carolina, junior Tamaria Dawkins also cited a strong personal connection with the subject of her work. As part of her Wikipedia assignment, Dawkins improved the Wikipedia article about Lucille L. Adams-Campbell, the first African-American woman to receive a PhD in epidemiology in the United States.
“Lucille L. Adams-Campbell’s article should have more information because, for me, a young Black woman, seeing a highly accomplished Black woman in a male-dominated field is very interesting and inspiring,” said Dawkins. “I added information because I believe anyone who looks at her article should know as much as they can.”
Cintrón’s and Adams-Campbell’s Wikipedia articles are just some of the many biographies enhanced by student editors throughout the year as part of a larger Wiki Education initiative sponsored by the Broadcom Foundation to improve coverage of diverse figures in STEM.
While some students created new Wikipedia articles from scratch or completely transformed existing text, others made smaller contributions that still had a significant impact on the accuracy and quality of existing biographies.
And as Betancourt Medina explained, any advancement to Wikipedia’s coverage of diverse figures in STEM, and in the case of her edits, diverse women in STEM, is a step in the right direction.
“Improving Wikipedia’s coverage of diverse women in STEM is important because women are incredibly intelligent and innovative, yet their contributions have historically been overlooked due to long-standing oppression that still exists today,” said Betancourt Medina. “Increasing their visibility helps acknowledge their impact and inspires future generations of women in science.”
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.
