Wikipedia Demystified:the G.L.A.M perspective

Sara Snyder

Smithsonian American

Art Museum

@sosarasays #VHC15

We all use Wikipedia, but what do we really know about it?

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia

• Freely licensed without restrictions

• All content created & maintained by

volunteers

• Non-profit educational project, supported

by Wikimedia Foundation

• All edits/versions are recorded indefinitely

• 4,853,274+ articles in English

• 35 million articles in 288 different languages (see size of Wikipedia)

“A Wikipedia

article is a

process, not a

product.”

-Clay Shirky

Biggest. Encyclopedia. Ever.

Who or what merits an article in Wikipedia?

If a person or topic has received

significant coverage in reliable

sources that are independent of

the subject, then it is deemed

“notable.”

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability

Wikipedia Content Standards

• Neutral Point of View

• Verifiability

reliable sources, cited

correctly

• No “original research”

i.e. unpublished data,

opinions, speculation

• Assume good faith towards

other editors

• Avoid conflict of interest

(i.e. editing page about self,

boss)

See Wikipedia: Policies

and guidelines

Can I edit the Wikipedia article about my workplace?

Possibly, but only under the right

conditions.

When advancing outside interests is more

important to an editor than advancing the

aims of Wikipedia, that editor stands in a

conflict of interest (CoI).

Your #1 priority must be: making a

better, more useful encyclopedia article.

How to Avoid Conflict of Interest Editing

• Register a unique user account

• Disclose your affiliations (see sample CoI

Statement)

• Cite authoritative sources

• Don’t remove “controversies”

• Recognize that no one person can

“own” a Wikipedia article or

control its content

The #GLAMWiki Project: A Global Network & Community

Alignment of Mission and Vision

Smithsonian

Institution

The increase and diffusion of

knowledge

Shaping the future by

preserving our heritage,

discovering new knowledge,

and sharing our resources

with the world

Wikimedia

Foundation

Imagine a world in which every

single human being can freely

share in the sum of all

knowledge. That's our

commitment.

The mission of the Wikimedia

Foundation is to empower and

engage people around the

world to collect and develop

educational content under a

free license or in the public

domain, and to disseminate it

effectively and globally.

Wikipedia & GLAMs: a relationship of mutual benefit

Wikipedia benefits from GLAM resources, resulting in better articles and higher quality of sources cited

GLAMs benefit from having information about their collections available to a larger audience, and from the experience of working with volunteers

Researchers & students benefit from consulting better quality, authoritative Wikipedia articles

Volunteer editors benefit from the learning experience of researching, writing and collaborating on articles

Three Easy Ways to Get Involved with Wikipedia

Improve the quality of the

Wikipedia articles around a topic

while increasing the visibility of

your instiution’s resources.

1.) Add citations to articles

2.) Attend or host edit-a-thons

• Spotlight a collection or theme for

improvement on Wikipedia

• Build relationships with local

Wikipedians

• Training opportunity: improve

information literacy

• Gain visibility on the Web & within the

Wikipedia community

Wikimedia DC is awesome!

wikimediadc.org @WikimediaDC

3.) Host a Wikipedian volunteer, intern, or visiting scholar

• Sustain involvement from passionate

Wikipedians beyond one-off events

• Work with Wikipedians online or on-site

• Turn to campus groups, or contacts at

The Wikipedia Library project for ideas!

BE BOLD!Just click

“edit”