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
When Sara Sierko started working on the Wikipedia article for Margaret Crang, the University of Alberta student thought she was just sharing a story that had been forgotten by her local community. She did do that — but she also gained skills that gave her a place in that community. Crang didn’t have a Wikipedia … Continued
Anne Brown has deep experience in design, writing, and editing across a long career in corporate communications as a graphic designer and then communication director. More recently, she’s been intrigued by graphic design history. So when the opportunity popped up to take a Wikipedia editing course sponsored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), … Continued
Nina Saxon is a film and TV title designer with a prolific career and deep influence on the aesthetic of film branding and title design, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. But until Kristin Callahan created it this year, Wikipedia didn’t have a biography article for her. “Nina Saxon’s biography highlights the achievement of women … Continued
Rick Levy’s job as a scientific data manager at the Denver Botanic Gardens has him immersed in the field of biodiversity informatics. And a topic that keeps coming up in his field? Wikidata. “So many conversations at conferences and webinars mention Wikidata. I needed an introduction on how to use it, as it seemed to … Continued
In Wiki Education’s Wikipedia Student Program, college and university instructors assign their students to edit Wikipedia as part of the coursework. For most courses, this replaces a research paper or the literature review section of a longer analytical paper, related to the course topic. But for some courses, Wikipedia also becomes an object of study for … Continued
Digital Services Librarian Brandon Katzir wanted to learn how to edit Wikidata and build queries using SPARQL — so he signed up for Wiki Education’s Wikidata Institute class. “The class gave me a foundation in things like Wikidata data structures, and it also taught me how to query and use different kinds of tools in … Continued
Wikipedia’s articles about US federal laws tend to have high numbers of pageviews — despite the fact that they’re often incomplete. Like all articles, those about public policy tend to focus in on what was of particular interest to the volunteers who have contributed to it in the past, leaving other sections missing or underdeveloped. … Continued
