Avni is a senior majoring in biology at the University of Oklahoma. As part of her Wikipedia assignment this spring, Avni improved the Wikipedia article focused on Agnes Yewande Savage, the first West African woman to train and qualify in orthodox medicine. After graduating, Avni plans to pursue a career in healthcare.
Of all of the biographies on Wikipedia, why did you choose to work on the article for Agnes Yewande Savage?
I chose Agnes because when I looked her up on Wikipedia, I realized there was so little information about her, and I kept on finding the same sources that had already been cited in the article. My professor had said that women coming from the Southern and Eastern Hemisphere tend to have the least amount of information about them on Wikipedia, and since Agnes draws her roots from Nigeria, I wanted to narrow that information gap we have in the world.
Was the project meaningful to you? In what way?
This work was meaningful to me because I am also a woman in STEM, and there are so many women that have paved the way for me to get to the place that I am today. Adding on to Agnes’ story, and the stories of others like her, just seems like the right thing to do. These women deserve to be remembered for their contributions, their sacrifices, and their willingness to fight to change the world so that we never underestimate the changes we can make today.
What parts of the Wikipedia assignment did you enjoy the most?
I loved publishing changes to Wikipedia articles and practicing making small edits on other articles, like linking articles, ensuring a neutral tone, and other similar exercises. I think this will help me write better informational essays, because I feel as though I can come off with a bias. Through this project, I learned how even small words can make things seem favored or disfavored, which will help me avoid those phrases in my future professional writing.
Did anything surprise you?
I have always known that anyone could edit Wikipedia articles, but didn’t know how to get into it, and doing this assignment just opened a whole new world of possibilities. I think I was surprised by the sandbox draft space, because I just assumed that everyone found articles and edited them, and didn’t consider that there would be a separate space to create rough copies or outlines, or just practice things.
Last question! Now that your Wikipedia assignment is complete, do you think you’ll keep editing Wikipedia?
I really liked this assignment and would definitely do something like this again. In fact, I already have started a document where I’m adding resources for another Wikipedia article I want to improve.
Avni’s work on Wikipedia are part of a larger Wiki Education initiative sponsored by the Broadcom Foundation, which supports the improvement of existing biographies and the creation of new biographies of unsung figures 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.
