From your Instagram to the encyclopedia: photos for the greater good

I never thought I could use my travel photos for an encyclopedia. Whenever I travel for a conference or vacations, I snap a picture or two from the scenery, architecture, food. To my surprise, this is something that Wikipedians also do, not for the gram, but for Wikimedia Commons, an online repository of copyright free … Continued

How Wikipedia shows disability matters

Kathleen Downes is a licensed social worker and a trained Wiki Scientist from our recent Wikipedia training course sponsored by the WITH Foundation. From the time I first learned how to use the Internet in early elementary school, I have always wanted to find out as much as possible about my disability and in turn, … Continued

“Where are the women in STEM?” We’ve always been here

Dr. Maryam Zaringhalam is a molecular biologist, science writer, and member of the 500 Women Scientists leadership team. Here, she invites women scientists to help achieve our goal of writing 500 biographies of women in STEM into Wikipedia. Inspired by my brilliant friend Jess Wade, I started writing Wikipedia biographies for women scientists to tackle … Continued

Learning about Wikidata changed my approach to teaching information literacy

Our introductory linked data course provides support and resources for professionals to incorporate Wikidata into their different projects and goals. Rivka Genesen participated as Assistant Director of Library Services at The Ursuline School.  My students, consciously or unconsciously, often show me the parallel sets of skills they have developed when we sit down to work … Continued

Everyone can help build one of the wonders of the modern world

Dr. Lydia Le Page is a postdoc at the University of California, San Francisco, where she images brain metabolism with MRI to understand Alzheimer’s disease. In our recent Wiki Scientists course sponsored by the National Science Policy Network, she was excited to improve Wikipedia pages that will help voters and policy-makers make the best use … Continued

Reading Wikipedia’s editorial culture

With three terms of Wikipedia writing assignment experience already under his belt, Dr. Josh DiCaglio reflects on having students understand Wikipedia’s editing culture by participating in it. He is an assistant professor in the department of English at Texas A&M University. Although many instructors have used Wikipedia in class projects, these assignments usually focus on … Continued

Wikipedia’s gender inequality tackled by Rice students writing ‘activist’ articles

Jewish women are underrepresented on the reference site — but not if this class has anything to write about it Wikipedia is the most popular reference site on the internet, with nearly 20,000 articles added every month. Yet an estimated 85% of its editors are male — a problem of gender imbalance the site’s founder, Jimmy Wales, … Continued

Changing Wikipedia for the better

Katherine Lopez is a PhD candidate in neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medicine. After completing our recent Wikipedia training course sponsored by the National Science Policy Network, she’s ready to take her new science communication tools into her career. Wikipedia is my go-to location for quickly finding an answer to those random questions I have throughout … Continued

How “Join the open data movement: a beginner Wikidata course” changed our view and use of collection data

Digital Collections Associate Lisa Barrier and Digital Collections Manager Kathryn Gronsbell from Carnegie Hall explain what to expect when taking Wiki Education’s beginner’s Wikidata course and discuss their linked data plans for the future. Introduction We both started Join the open data movement: a beginner Wikidata course with limited Wikidata knowledge. While we understood the … Continued