Jennifer: I would be very wary indeed of the model you're proposing, in which either individual researchers or their proxies insert their work into Wikipedia. We see enough of that already, and I would be concerned if there were any official (or even semi-official) encouragement of the practice. The issue is less conflict of interest (though that's true, too) as (self)promotion (which you seem to be actively encouraging) and undue weight. This is not to say that professors (academics, researchers) should not be writing in their areas of expertise. Of course they should! But perhaps a rule of thumb is that they should be writing about *other* people's work in that area, rather than their own. Take care Jon On Jul 10, 2014, at 7:43 AM, Jennifer Gristock <gristock@me.com> wrote: > Greetings everyone. I'm still working on that system to encourage university professors to contribute to Wikipedia, a system that is concerned not through teaching, like the Education Programme, but through research. > > I need some help. Can you tell me, in the Wikipedia API, is there a way to count the contributions that a user has made on behalf of another particular user? For example, a professor might ask a group of PhD students to make contributions involving his/her research on various Wikipedia pages, on his/her behalf. > > I have been frequently told (at the Teahouse and elsewhere) that Professors are not allowed to contribute information about their own published research papers on Wikipedia pages, because this would be biased. (Which is rather a downer for the professor, because this means they are forbidden to write about the things they are most passionate and knowledgeable about.) > > If this is rule is true, then it must certainly be seen as a roadblock to academic engagement with Wikipedia. If it isn't, then it is editors' perception of the rule as true (as I have experienced) that is the roadblock. > > It seems to me that the way to overcome this roadblock is to introduce a way of counting the contributions made by a person (say, a research student, or a colleague) on behalf of a Professor. So at the end of the year, the Professor can say 'my research contributed to X edits on Wikipedia' as easily as each individual student (who might contribute on behalf of many academic researchers) can count their individual edits. > > Can the API accommodate this in some way? Perhaps through some sort of 'project' code or something? > > > Yours hopefully, > > Jenny Gristock (Open_Research) > > Sent from my iPad > > On 9 Jul 2014, at 22:40, LiAnna Davis <lianna@wikiedu.org> wrote: > >> Hi all! >> >> I wanted to draw your attention to the Educator Training we'll be having as part of the Wikimania Pre-conference on August 7: >> >> https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education_Pre-Conference/Educator_training >> >> The Educator Training is designed to give educators of all levels the knowledge they need to use Wikipedia or other Wikimedia projects as a teaching tool in their classrooms. The training is open to educators from any country, and Wikipedia editing experience is not required. >> >> If you're interested in attending or you know someone who is, please see the page for more information. I especially encourage anyone who's thought about getting a Wikipedia Education Program going in your country to attend, as you'll learn a lot about the different kinds of assignments students could do. >> >> LiAnna >> >> >> -- >> LiAnna Davis >> Head of Communications and External Relations >> Wiki Education Foundation >> +1-415-770-1061 >> www.wikiedu.org >> >> Please note my new email address and update your contacts accordingly: lianna@wikiedu.org >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Education mailing list >> Education@lists.wikimedia.org >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education > _______________________________________________ > Education mailing list > Education@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education _______________________________________________ Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education