On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 11:17 AM, Stevie Benton < stevie.benton@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
Hello everyone,
I think Wikimedia UK has an example project, related to medical articles, that may be of interest. John Byrne is the Wikimedian in Residence at Cancer Research UK, one of the UK's largest charities. He's put together the below message but isn't subscribed to this list so can't post. I am posting on his behalf. I'm happy to answer any questions about this and those I can't, I shall pass on to John.
Thanks and regards,
Stevie
John's message:
Cancer Research UK (CRUK), the world’s largest cancer research charity, have just taken me on as Wikipedian in Residence until mid-December 2014 (4/5 part time).
Parts of the plan for the role are very relevant to this thread. We are aiming to improve WP articles on cancer to ensure they are accurate, up-to-date and accessible to the full range of WP’s readership, working closely with the existing English WP medical editing community, many of whom have already been supportive of the project. With the medical translation project also underway, this is great timing for us to improve important content across large numbers of language versions.
We will be able to draw upon the expertise of both the medical research staff funded by CRUK (over 4000 in the UK) and the various kinds of staff they have with professional expertise in writing for a range of audiences, from patients to scientists ( their editorial policy< http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/utilities/about-cancerhelp-uk/ca...
).
We are also planning to do research with the public into what they think of specific WP articles, perhaps before and after improvement, and into how they use WP and other sites at the top of search pages when looking for medical information on the internet. There has been little research into this area, and the results should be very useful in focusing the ways medical content generally can be improved.
The CRUK position is funded by the Wellcome Trust and supported by Wikimedia UK, and the budget includes an element for this research. I will be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Wiki_CRUK_John in this role (Usually https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Johnbod. Until early July I will also continue my role (1/5) as Wikimedian in Residence at the Royal Society, the UK’s National Academy for the Sciences)
John Byrne
That's one project I was really glad to see Wikimedia UK supporting. More in that vein, please. :)