Now I am a huge supporter of encouraging students to edit Wikipedia.
However last fall I can across a psychology class of 1500 first year
students contributing content to psychology articles. There was
four ambassadors / teaching assistants. Two of these never made a single
edit to Wikipedia and the other two had only made a handful. The prof of
this class never made a main space edit.
Three long standing editors from Wikiproject medicine took it upon
themselves to review every edit made by this class as it was clear that no
one involved with in an official manner was planning on providing any
oversight. I brought my concerns to the profs attention and I guess hurt
his feelings as he as left Wikipedia and stopped responding to my concerns.
He also cancelled his next semesters plan to contribute. Our analysis can
be found here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Colin/Introduction_to_Psychology,_Part_I#…
There appears to be a mis perception from some in academia that anyone can
just show up to Wikipedia and have at it. That we are little more than
anarchy. We need to be very clear that this is far from the case. That
while anyone can contribute, we have policies and procedures that vary from
subject area to area and are supported by small groups of dedicated
volunteers. And that if people / classes do not contribute in a possible
manner than they will have their edits reverted and may lose their editing
privileges.
Unless we go about these collaborations slowly and carefully we are only
going to alienate those we are reaching out to and piss off our current
volunteers. We need to make sure that if students are going to contribute
content that it is of high quality and that mechanisms are in place to
review their work. While Wikipedia can be used as a teaching tool it is
first and foremost an encyclopedia. And we can not just expect the current
community of volunteers to take on the task of providing guidance to large
classes of students who are here as part of their classwork. This
population is different than people who are here as simple volunteers, not
only in the fact that there are more of them but also due to the reason for
them being here.
A few things that IMO would make a difference:
1) The profs themselves must edit Wikipedia (preferably having brought
something to GA or FA within their subject area). And if we are going to go
with large classes than so must their teaching assistants. The only way to
learn how Wikipedia works is by editing content.
2) There must be a number of hours of in class instruction on Wikipedia's
policies and procedures. One does not begin writing for the New England
Journal of Medicine without first learning their manual of style and
referencing requirements.
3) If classes are working on content they should concentrate
on improving the quality of one or a few articles. Assignments such as "go
out and make an edit to the subject area of this class" should not be
repeated.
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
I just uploaded on outreach wiki the Albanian translation [1] of the
book "Прирачник за wiki".[2]
"Прирачник за wiki" is an instruction manual about wiki in Macedonian,
written by Wikipedians Kiril Simeonovski, Zoran Meckarski, Slobodan
Jacoski and Dimce Grozdanoski (me). The aim of this work is to help
Macedonian civic organizations to start their own wiki site, wiki
administration, editing its content, and building the site policy.
We (WMMK in collaboration with Metamorfozis) continue to work on French
translation, I hope at the end of this summer we will finish with
translation.
[1]
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:PRIRACNIK_ALB_preview.…
[2]
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wiki_Instraction_Manua…
Best regards,
--
Dimce Grozdanoski
President of Wikimedia Macedonia
Twitter: @grozdanoski
Just to let you all know, I started a discussion on prerequisites at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Ambassadors#Prerequisites.2C_we…
Basically, I said that pretty much every non-Freshman course has
prerequisites of one sort or another and that by not requiring
prerequisites we're sort of throwing them off into the deep end before
checking to see whether they can swim. If this is meant for non-Freshmen,
then these students should first meet basic prerequisites. If this is
meant to be a Freshman-level course, well, they're sort of editing rather
esoteric and complex concepts in general for Freshman, aren't they?
Bart User:Banaticus
Hi everybody,
*** Apologies for cross-postings ***
CALL FOR PAPERS - Wikipedia Academy 2012: Research and Free Knowledge.
June 29 - July 1, 2012 | Berlin, Germany
*** EXTENDED submission deadline: 15 Apr 2012 ***
Conference Website: http://wikipedia-academy.de/2012/wiki/Main_Page
Submit your papers here: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=wpac2012
The “Wikipedia Academy 2012: Research and Free Knowledge” provides a
platform for the research community and the Wikipedia community to
connect, present, discuss and advance research on Wikipedia in
particular and on free knowledge in general.
The Wikipedia Academy 2012 is organized by Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
in collaboration with the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for
Internet and Society and Freie Universität Berlin. The conference will
take place in Berlin, 29 June to 1 July 2012. The event will be open
to all interested parties and features a variety of session formats
ranging from workshops, panel discussions and tracks with traditional
paper and poster presentations to break-out sessions, lightning talks,
speed geeking and a free culture brunch. We particularly invite young
doctoral and postdoctoral researcher to participate and to submit
extended abstracts.
For research paper and poster sessions, we would like to encourage the
submission of extended abstracts addressing issues in the overall
nexus of Wikipedia and free knowledge.
== Dates ==
* Submission of extended abstracts: 15 April 2012
* Notification of acceptance: 1 May 2012
* Submission of full papers: 1 June 2012
* Event: 29 June - 1 July 2012
== Topics of interest ==
Submissions are invited for the categories following below.
http://wikipedia-academy.de/2012/wiki/Submission_process
=== Research on Users of and Contributors to Wikipedia ===
* Diversity among users of and contributors to Wikipedia (e.g. gender gap)
* Influencing participation by adapting user interfaces in open
collaborative settings
* Using information visualization as information instrument to users
and contributors
=== Wikipedia Global ===
* Relations and Differences between national Wikipedias
* Differences between and critique of free/open knowledge ideologies
* Regional studies of Wikipedia and free knowledge with global lessons
=== Sharing Cultures and Practices ===
* Sharing culture(s) in Wikipedia and other projects of commons-based
peer production
* Incentives, innovation and community dynamics in open collaborative
peer production
* Wiki theory and wiki practices
=== Economic and Regulatory Aspects of Free Knowledge ===
* Economic, regulatory and societal implications of (increased) access
to free knowledge
* Different Modes of Governance: Emergence of Order and Coordination
in Wikipedia
* The role of licensing decisions for Wikipedia and other
collaborative forms of knowledge production
=== Wikipedia Analytics ===
* Wikis and Wikipedia as a research tool
* Analyzing Wikipedia as a source of "Big Data"
* Assessing and measuring the quality of Wikipedia articles
== Submission Guidelines ==
Extended Abstracts must be submitted by the given deadline for peer
review. Conference language is English, exceptions can be made on a
case-by-case basis. Submission entails a commitment that at least one
author will attend the event in the case of acceptance and deliver a
full paper version prior to the event. Also, authors grant the
organizers the right to publish accepted papers in the form of online
proceedings or a similar format, to be determined at a later stage. In
addition, accepted submissions will be automatically licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license unless the authors
explicitly state in their submission that they wish to opt out of this
licensing agreement. We encourage authors to use said license in order
to promote open access to scholarly work although decisions to opt out
will be respected and will not influence the review process in any
way. In any case, authors of accepted submissions cannot opt out from
the basic condition that they grant the organizers the right to
publish at least the extended abstract online.
Please submit your extended abstract (about 2-3 pages) in PDF, Open
Document Format (ODF) or plain text format at:
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=wpac2012
Note: You will need an easychair account to submit. You can create one
on the spot if you do not have one yet.
In case of further questions, don't hesitate to contact us via
academy-oc(a)wikimedia.de.
Best regards,
Denis Barthel
--
Projektmanager
Fon +49 30 219 158 26 16
Mobil +49 172 23 13 811
E-Mail: denis.barthel(a)wikimedia.de
--
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Eisenacher Straße 2 | 10777 Berlin
Tel. (030) 219 158 260
Helfen Sie mit, dass WIKIPEDIA von der UNESCO als erstes digitales
Weltkulturerbe anerkannt wird.
Unterzeichnen Sie die Online-Petition!
Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.
Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter
der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für
Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/681/51985.
I'd like to propose a panel on Wikimedia Academy in Berlin about regional
characteristics and differences on the Education Program. The coordinator
of the Czech Ambassadors Program, Vojtech Dostal, is also willing to join.
Anyone here who would like to present something along these lines, do
contact me, so we can assemble the panel.
As announced, the deadline is next Saturday.
Juliana.
It sounds like this is something we need to keep in mind for future
Wikimania. The question will be "is there a way Wikimania can partner with
academic institutions?" I know the University of British Columbia would be
willing to partner on an event such as this.
James
On Sun, Mar 25, 2012 at 6:00 AM, <education-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org>wrote:
> Send Education mailing list submissions to
> education(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> education-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> education-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Education digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Education-related ideas for Wikimania (Juliana Bastos)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 11:06:47 -0300
> From: Juliana Bastos <domusaurea(a)gmail.com>
> To: education(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Education] Education-related ideas for
> Wikimania
> Message-ID:
> <CAN3NB809D6mdBWGdYccgr9Xbc7VMv4uXcTO3wWMNHs6bwCMEWg(a)mail.gmail.com
> >
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Unfortunately, I can't get a leave of absence or any funding for events
> that are not promoted by an academic institution. I wonder if anyone here
> has the same problem.
>
> Juliana.
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 1:32 PM, LiAnna Davis <ldavis(a)wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
>
> > Are you going to Wikimania this year? I'm excited to see so many
> > education-related sessions proposed so far! I've started a list of
> > education-related submissions on this page:
> >
> >
> >
> http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program/Wikimania_20…
> >
> > But I'm sure the list is missing some -- please add submissions you
> > see! And please click through and add yourself to the interested
> > attendees list for the sessions you think sound interesting.
> >
> > I'm also trying to coordinate some kind of education meet-up while
> > we're there. There's also a list on that page of people who are hoping
> > to or planning to attend Wikimania; please add yourself and add any
> > ideas you have about the best things we could do as a group there.
> >
> > LiAnna
> >
> >
> > --
> > LiAnna Davis
> > Wikipedia Education Program Communications Manager
> > Wikimedia Foundation
> > http://education.wikimedia.org
> > (415) 839-6885 x6649
> > ldavis(a)wikimedia.org
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Education mailing list
> > Education(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
> >
>
Dear all,
This is a very interesting discussion and I agree, that there is some
need for a dedicated academic event on Wikipedia. Thus Wikimedia
Deutschland has transformed the already existing concept of a
"Wikipedia Academy" to a conference on Wikipedia issues in a broad
sense.
Please feel free to submit a paper, we are looking forward to find you
participating in Berlin.
As you probably have a lot of contacts to potentially interested
colleagues too, we would like to ask you to spread the word about the
conference and to forward our Call for Papers below. The call goes out
to everyone who works on topics related to Wikipedia research and free
knowledge (http://wikipedia-academy.de/2012/wiki/Topics_of_Interest).
We understand education clearly as a part of this.
Submission deadline for your extended abstract (approx. 2 pages) is 31
March. If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to contact
us via academy(a)wikimedia.de
Best regards on behalf of the Academy's Organizing Committee,
Denis Barthel
-----
2nd CALL FOR PAPERS - Wikipedia Academy 2012: Research and Free Knowledge.
June 29 - July 1, 2012 | Berlin, Germany
Conference Website: http://wikipedia-academy.de/2012/wiki/Main_Page
Submit your papers here: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=wpac2012
The “Wikipedia Academy 2012: Research and Free Knowledge” provides a
platform for the research community and the Wikipedia community to
connect, present, discuss and advance research on Wikipedia in
particular and on free knowledge in general.
The Wikipedia Academy 2012 is organized by Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
in collaboration with the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for
Internet and Society and Freie Universität Berlin. The conference will
take place in Berlin, 29 June to 1 July 2012. The event will be open
to all interested parties and features a variety of session formats
ranging from workshops, panel discussions and tracks with traditional
paper and poster presentations to break-out sessions, lightning talks,
speed geeking and a free culture brunch. We particularly invite young
doctoral and postdoctoral researcher to participate and to submit
extended abstracts.
For research paper and poster sessions, we would like to encourage the
submission of extended abstracts addressing issues in the overall
nexus of Wikipedia and free knowledge.
== Dates ==
* Submission of extended abstracts: 31 March 2012
* Notification of acceptance: 1 May 2012
* Submission of full papers: 1 June 2012
* Event: 29 June - 1 July 2012
== Topics of interest ==
Submissions are invited for the categories following below.
http://wikipedia-academy.de/2012/wiki/Submission_process
=== Research on Users of and Contributors to Wikipedia ===
* Diversity among users of and contributors to Wikipedia (e.g. gender gap)
* Influencing participation by adapting user interfaces in open
collaborative settings
* Using information visualization as information instrument to users
and contributors
=== Wikipedia Global ===
* Relations and Differences between national Wikipedias
* Differences between and critique of free/open knowledge ideologies
* Regional studies of Wikipedia and free knowledge with global lessons
=== Sharing Cultures and Practices ===
* Sharing culture(s) in Wikipedia and other projects of commons-based
peer production
* Incentives, innovation and community dynamics in open collaborative
peer production
* Wiki theory and wiki practices
=== Economic and Regulatory Aspects of Free Knowledge ===
* Economic, regulatory and societal implications of (increased) access
to free knowledge
* Different Modes of Governance: Emergence of Order and Coordination
in Wikipedia
* The role of licensing decisions for Wikipedia and other
collaborative forms of knowledge production
=== Wikipedia Analytics ===
* Wikis and Wikipedia as a research tool
* Analyzing Wikipedia as a source of "Big Data"
* Assessing and measuring the quality of Wikipedia articles
== Submission Guidelines ==
Extended Abstracts must be submitted by the given deadline for peer
review. Conference language is English, exceptions can be made on a
case-by-case basis. Submission entails a commitment that at least one
author will attend the event in the case of acceptance and deliver a
full paper version prior to the event. Also, authors grant the
organizers the right to publish accepted papers in the form of online
proceedings or a similar format, to be determined at a later stage. In
addition, accepted submissions will be automatically licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license unless the authors
explicitly state in their submission that they wish to opt out of this
licensing agreement. We encourage authors to use said license in order
to promote open access to scholarly work although decisions to opt out
will be respected and will not influence the review process in any
way. In any case, authors of accepted submissions cannot opt out from
the basic condition that they grant the organizers the right to
publish at least the extended abstract online.
Please submit your extended abstract (about 2-3 pages) in PDF, Open
Document Format (ODF) or plain text format at:
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=wpac2012
Note: You will need an easychair account to submit. You can create one
on the spot if you do not have one yet.
--
Projektmanager
Fon +49 30 219 158 26 16
Mobil +49 172 23 13 811
E-Mail: denis.barthel(a)wikimedia.de
--
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Eisenacher Straße 2 | 10777 Berlin
Tel. (030) 219 158 260
Helfen Sie mit, dass WIKIPEDIA von der UNESCO als erstes digitales
Weltkulturerbe anerkannt wird.
Unterzeichnen Sie die Online-Petition!
Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.
Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter
der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für
Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/681/51985.
https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/30073
It would be interesting to see whether there's something we can learn
about Wikiversity and Wikibooks functioning and promotion, and about OER
promotion by Wikimedia chapters in general.
Nemo