Wikipedia Editing @ UoM
Once readily dismissed by scholars, Wikipedia is a widely used information source today. Anyone can be a Wikipedia editor. The site provides:
- Information to assist with creating content, tips & tricks for editing
- Contact information
- Information about projects & events on campus
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Editing and creating articles
Help: Introduction (Wikipedia)
How to Edit a Wikipedia Article video.
Learn to Edit series of Wikipedia editing videos (Art+ Feminism)
Wikipedia Cheat Sheet (University of Melbourne)
Wikipedia: A guide on using Wikipedia for study and research for staff and students (University of Melbourne)
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Wikipedia in teaching (How others have used it)
Teaching examples
Cullen J. Chandler and Alison S. Gregory, ‘Sleeping with the Enemy: Wikipedia in the College Classroom’ The History Teacher 43.2 (February 2010): 247-257.
http://www.societyforhistoryeducation.org/pdfs/THTChandlerAndGregory.pdf [open access]Meghan L. Dowell and Laurie M. Bridges, ‘A Perspective on Wikipedia: Your Students Are Here, Why Aren't You?’ The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 45.2 (2019): 81-83. https://doi-org.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/10.1016/j.acalib.2019.01.003 [not open access]
Alison Hicks and Adrian Howkins, ‘Tipping the Iceberg: A Collaborative Librarian-Historian Approach to Redesigning the Undergraduate Research Assignment’ The History Teacher 48.2 (2015): 339-370
http://www.societyforhistoryeducation.org/pdfs/F15_Hicks_and_Howkins.pdf [open access]Charles Knight & Sam Pryke ‘Wikipedia and the University, a case study’ Teaching in Higher Education 17.6 (2012): 649-659 https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2012.666734 [not open access]
Frances Di Lauro & Rebecca Johinke, ‘Employing Wikipedia for good not evil: innovative approaches to collaborative writing assessment’ Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 42 (2017): 478-491 https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2015.1127322 [not open access]
Robert Nelson and Heidi Jacobs, ‘History, Play, and the Public: Wikipedia in the University Classroom’ The History Teacher 50.4 (2017): 483-500. http://scholar.uwindsor.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1050&context=leddylibrarypub [open access]
Elizabeth M. Nix, ‘Wikipedia: How it works and how it can work for you’ The History Teacher 43.2 (2010): 259-264.
https://mdsoar.org/bitstream/handle/11603/7304/40543291.pdf?sequence=1 [open access]Elizabeth Ann Pollard, ‘Raising the stakes: Writing about witchcraft on Wikipedia’ The History Teacher 42.1 (2008): 9-24.
http://www.societyforhistoryeducation.org/pdfs/THTPollard.pdf [open access]Meredith J. C. Warren, ‘Teaching with Technology: Using Digital Humanities to Engage Student Learning’ Teaching Theology & Religion 19.3 (July 2016): 309-319 https://doi.org/10.1111/teth.12343 [not open access]
Charles West, ‘Wikipedia in the History Classroom’, Lecturer of History and Wikipedia Advocate at the University of Sheffield, 29 May 2018. https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2018/05/wikipedia-in-the-history-classroom/ [open access]
Wikipedia Australian Paralympic history project (HoPAu) ARC Linkage Grant – University of Queensland included teaching component see: https://wikimedia.org.au/w/images/9/92/Wikimedia_Paralympic_history_project.pdf [open access]
University of Michigan, Teaching with Wikipedia Library guide https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=283187&p=1886531 [open access]
Other scholarship on Wikipedia
Danielle Elder, R. Niccole Westbrook & Michele Reilly, ‘Wikipedia Lover, Not a Hater: Harnessing Wikipedia to Increase the Discoverability of Library Resources’ Journal of Web Librarianship 6.1 (2012): 32-44 https://doi.org/10.1080/19322909.2012.641808 [not open access]
Heather Ford and Judy Wajcman (2017) “‘Anyone can edit’, not everyone does: Wikipedia and the gender gap” Social Studies of Science, 47.4 (2017): 511-527. DOI: 10.1177/0306312717692172 [not open access]
Melanie Kill, ‘Wikipedia, Collaboration, and the Politics of Free Knowledge’ in Digital Humanities Pedagogy: Practices, Principles and Politics - Digital Humanities Pedagogy: Practices, Principles and Politics Brett D. Hirsch (ed.)
http://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/161 [open access]Louise Matsakis, ‘The Most-Cited Authors on Wikipedia Had No Idea’ Wired 1 May 2018, https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-most-cited-authors-no-idea/ [open access]
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Wikipedia content policies and guidelines
Notability guidelines (WP:NOTA)
If a topic has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, it is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article.
Conflicts of interest (WP:COI)
A conflict of interest arises if you’re editing Wikipedia content about yourself or your family, friends, clients, employer, etc. Any external relationship can trigger a conflict of interest.Verifiable content (WP:VER)
Any material challenged or likely to be challenged, and all quotations, must be attributed to a reliable published source. In Wikipedia, verifiability means that people reading and editing the encyclopedia can check that information comes from a reliable source.Reliability of sources (WP:RS)
Reliable sources include books published by respected publishing houses, Journals, mainstream newspaper and magazines as well as reputable online or print encylopediae and archives. Unreliable sources that shouldn't be used include the subjects personal website, marketing material, social media posts and press releases.Plagiarism (WP:PLAG)
Material for content mustn't be copied/pasted from other sources directly into wikipedia. Instead, paraphrase your sources and be sure to cite them.
Wikipedia: creating articles on living people
More care is given to biographies of living people, they must be written conservatively, and with regard to the subject's privacy. Any comments must be referenced, and the references must be good quality.Wikipedia does not publish original thought: all material in Wikipedia must be attributable to a reliable, published source. Articles may not contain any new analysis or synthesis of published material that serves to advance a position not clearly advanced by the sources.
Neutral point of view (WP:NPOV)
Content must be written from a neutral perspective, and not be overly biased by pushing one view over another. This includes not giving undue weight (WP:Weight) to any one topic, and making sure all opinions are represented (WP:Bal)Image use policy (WP:IUP)
Wikipedia has strict guidelines on image use and copyright. Images must either be your own images, that you have uploaded to wikimedia, public domain, or in some cases, fair use under US law.
What Wikipedia is not (WP:NOT)When writing content, it must be noted Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, so the normal restrictions on encyclopedia content apply.
Wikipedia is not a repository for links, a dictionary, a newspaper, a blog, a textbook or a publisher of original thought. Any content that resembles any of these things will be deletedArticle titles (WP:TITLE)
Wikipedia has naming conventions for article titles, and incorrectly naming a title will generally result in it being changed. The title will need to distinguish it from other titles, but also indicate what it is about. Sometimes articles will need distinguishing information in parentheses. Generally titles will reflect what the concept is called in reliable sources.Copyright (WP:copy)
Most of Wikipedia’s text and many of its images are co-licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC BY-SA) and the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL)
UoM Wiki Agenda (UMWA) Community of Practice - "UoM Wikipedians addressing the diversity gap"
A regular meetup for University of Melbourne Wikipedians to address the Wikipedia diversity gap. The UMWA Community of Practice (CoP) builds on the successful ResearcHERs Wikipedia Edit-a-thon (2017) and the "I Made the Internet Smarter Today" Wikipedia Edit-a-thon (2018).
The format of each monthly UMWA CoP will vary but may include discussions, how-to workshops, and opportunities for independent Wiki editing in good company.
Who is this group open to?
The group is open to all University of Melbourne staff and students.
UMWA forthcoming meetings
Our May event: Wikipedia in teaching: benefits and stumbling blocks
Friday 10 May 2019, 1:00-2:00pm, Baillieu Library
Wikipedia is the world’s largest and most-used encyclopedia, and often students’ first point of call for research. To increase students’ understanding of how to read and contribute to Wikipedia editing it is used in the classroom as a learning activity, or even an assessment tool. Join us for a panel discussion on how academics from across Melbourne are using Wikipedia, and the issues they have encountered in embedding it into the curriculum. Professor Tina Brock will talk about how pharmacy students at Monash’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences learn how to edit Wikipedia pages as part of their course. La Trobe University’s Dr Thomas Shafee will share his experience of teaching biochemistry postgraduate students to use Wikipedia, and WikiJournals, for literature reviews. Chairing the panel will be Dr Mary Tomsic, a historian and co-organiser of the Melbourne University’s Wikipedia Community of Practice. If you have considered engaging your students with Wikipedia or information literacy but don’t know how and where to start this is an event not to be missed – no matter what discipline you teach in!
Everyone welcome - no booking required.Read more about our panellists here.
Upcoming events
Questions, suggestion, or would like to get in touch, please send an email to wikiedit@lists.unimelb.edu.au
ResearcHERs Wikipedia Edit-a-thon 2017
This event was held on the 25th August 2017 simultaneously at Parkville and Southbank campuses. Opened by the Provost, Professor Margaret Sheil, the day featured a range of sessions on different aspects of Wikipedia, training and informing on content creation, Wikipedia protocols and guidelines, and Wikidata. View the event's Wikipedia page here.
Overall, as part of this event, 38 pages were created, 17 new users made accounts, and 74 revisions were made. A number of articles were created on the day for a variety of notable women working in many fields, including pages for:
- Mildred Barnard
- Kathleen Funder
- Jean Laby
- Diane Lemaire
- Philippa Maddern
- Lorna McConchie
- Dulcie Hollyock
- Constance (Connie) Frazer
- Alice Hoy
- Kiffy Rubbo
- Hilda Bastian
- Jocelyn Hyslop.
As part of the exercise, a new category was created for the University of Melbourne, and 112 pages were added to it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:University_of_Melbourne_women.
3CR Radio interviewed Dr. Hannah McCann, Lecturer in Gender Studies at the University, one of the organisers: http://www.3cr.org.au/tuesday-breakfast
Read Pursuit article Balancing the history books, one Wikipedia entry a time written by Dr. Mary Tomsic (ARC Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne) and Deborah Thomas (Senior Policy & Strategy Advisor, University of Melbourne) published 11 December 2017.
Wikipedia Edit-a-thon "I Made the Internet Smarter Today" 2018
A second Wikipedia Edit-a-thon was held on Friday 31 August 2018. The event saw new and experienced Wikipedians come together for a relaxed day of Wikipedia editing, discussions, and upskilling. At lunchtime, we joined colleagues at La Trobe University for a virtual "#shutupandWiki" session, an hour of intensive editing. A highlight was "I Made the Internet Smarter Today" badge-making.
More Information
For more information about the UOM Wikipedia Community, contact: wikiedit@lists.unimelb.edu.au