Wikipedia and Ebola - Wikimedia-l

4 Dec 2014

Hey All

I would like to share the following:

“Wikipedia has been the most widely used single source of information about
Ebola in the most affected countries, among people who searched for
information through Bing. The use of Wikipedia was greater than that of
either CNN, the World Health Organization, or the Center for Disease
Control during the time periods examined. The countries in question
include: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea."

I have been collaborating with a researcher from microsoft by the name of
Elad Yom-Tom who has provided this interesting data. We are looking at
submitting something to a peer reviewed journal soon. Journal will of
course need to be Open Access, PLoS Medicine or Open BMJ interested?  :-)

I think this is a real accomplishment for all the amazing individuals and
organizations that have made Wikipedia what it is today including the many
dedicated Wikipedians, the Wikimedia Foundation, our collaborators at
Translators Without Borders, the Cochrane Collaboration, and the University
of California San Francisco College of Medicine among others. I hope this
is also encouragement for organizations such as the World Health
Organisation among others that are not currently engaging with Wikipedia as
a platform for knowledge sharing to do so.

-- 
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian

The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com