Off the bookshelf and into the world

Dr. Anthony Denzer is Department Head and Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering at the University of Wyoming. He taught a Wikipedia writing assignment for the first time last fall in his architectural history course. Here, he shares why he’ll do it again. Maybe you know that Mecca Flats, built in Chicago in 1892, is a significant lost … Continued

Who gets to be an expert on Wikipedia?

Dr. Erin Siodmak is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the City University of New York in Women and Gender Studies and Sociology. Last fall, Dr. Siodmak learned how to help close the gender gap on Wikipedia through our online course. Here, Dr. Siodmak talks about what it means to claim the title of “expert” on … Continued

Student’s perspective “completely altered” after Wikipedia assignment

Emilee Helm is a student at the University of Washington. This term, she learned how to create and expand articles on Wikipedia as an assignment in Nathan TeBlunthuis’ Interpersonal Media – Online Communities course. Here, she reflects on what she got out of the experience. When I began working with Wikipedia, I could not have imagined I … Continued

Why Wikipedia often overlooks stories of women in history

Associate Professor Dr. Tamar Carroll and Librarian Lara Nicosia use our resources to teach students at Rochester Institute of Technology how to edit and create new Wikipedia pages related to women’s and gender history. Here they reflect on why having students improve the living, public archive is so important.  Movements like #MeToo are drawing increased … Continued

Experimenting with Wikipedia as a woman in STEM

Chelsea Sutcliffe is a post-doctoral research fellow in earth sciences at the University of Toronto. She completed our recent professional development course in order to improve Wikipedia’s representation of women in STEM. Here she shares her biggest take-aways. Late last year an email was sent around to the members of an academic organization I am affiliated with, … Continued

A Senior Adventure with Wikipedia

JoAnne Growney recently learned Wikipedia editing in one of our professional development courses, where she created and expanded Wikipedia biographies about women mathematicians. Here she shares why she pushed to overcome the challenges facing new Wikipedia editors. From my beginning, I have been a fan of encyclopedias.  I grew up on a farm and when … Continued

Three Things I Learned as a Wiki Scholar

Dr. Rachel Boyle is a public historian who recently completed our professional development course and contributed to Wikipedia articles relating to women’s suffrage in the United States. This is a republishing of her reflection about the experience.  Over the course of the last eleven weeks, I had the honor of joining a cohort of historians, librarians, and other scholars … Continued

How to counterbalance the inequalities women encounter in STEM

Youngah (Karen) Kwon is a graduate student at Columbia University and a member of the American Chemical Society who recently completed our Wikipedia professional development course. With a background in physical chemistry and material science, Karen expanded Wikipedia articles on women who have made major contributions to the sciences. Read her reflections about the experience below. … Continued

Wikipedia as a tool for public engagement with science

Helen Siaw is a PhD candidate and research assistant at Emory University Department of Chemistry. She is interested in using Wikipedia as a tool for science education and public outreach. She creates and updates Wikipedia articles related to current biophysical chemistry or general chemistry research. Helen recently completed Wiki Education’s professional development course as a member … Continued