This spring, students at diverse colleges and universities across the United States tackled a glaring hole on Wikipedia: adding biographies of people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to Wikipedia. This term was the first of a planned three-year project, funded by the Broadcom Foundation, aimed at engaging a diverse group of students in writing … Continued
Knowledge equity has been a cornerstone of our programs since our founding. Thanks to our efforts, content related to equity on Wikipedia has steadily improved over the years. By empowering students and other subject matter experts to add content to Wikipedia, we ensure the public’s most used reference is more equitable, accurate, and complete. Not … Continued
“Most stories about LGBTQ+ pioneers are white, cisgender men with access to certain forms of economic and cultural capital,” Dr. Christina Carney says in this summer’s issue of the Black EOE Journal. “Unfortunately, queer folx such as Marsha P. Johnson and William Dorsey Swann are often elided in the LGBTQ+ archives.” William Dorsey Swann, the first … Continued
Maria Murad decided to take Heather Sharkey’s course at the University of Pennsylvania because it involved learning how to write a Wikipedia article. “I was already working for my school newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian, and I wanted to explore more avenues that allowed me to create short form, accessible content on important topics,” Maria explains. … Continued
Sofía Flores Fuentes is a science communicator. She’s been a university professor, a civil servant, and an independent public engagement person. Currently, she’s working as a communicator at the Physics Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her most recent medium of science communication? Wikipedia. “Wikipedia is a great platform, if not the … Continued
One of the central components of the American Physical Society (APS)’s mission is to share physics knowledge — and, since 2020, one way the association has done this is through partnering with Wiki Education to host a series of Wiki Scientists courses. In these courses, Wiki Education staff teach APS members — physicists — how … Continued
In the middle of a global pandemic, the public turned to Wikipedia for information about vaccines. Pageviews on articles related to vaccines spiked as people sought neutral, fact-based information from a source they trusted — Wikipedia — amidst a sea of disinformation on social media. One such article that saw massive pageviews is the one … Continued
Diego Whittembury Escobar hadn’t ever considered writing for Wikipedia before. He had always assumed that it was too complex, or that he wasn’t qualified. But that all changed for Diego when he signed up for a course on Primate Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation taught by Sarah Turner at Concordia University. “I discovered that I am … Continued
If you read Wikipedia’s article on an alcázar, a type of Islamic castle or palace in the Iberian peninsula, you’ll get a detailed description of the history of alcázars and a description of their common features. That’s all thanks to two University of San Diego students, who recently improved the article as part of a … Continued
