User:DGG/talks/Wikipedia Loves Libraries: Leveraging Library Expertise and Collections in the Wikipedia Environment

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This way to Wikipedia Loves METRO...
Wikipedia:The Musical at NYPL Library for the Performing Arts on Sat Oct 22
Wikipedia Editathon at the British Library, January 2011.

Wikipedia Loves Libraries: Leveraging Library Expertise and Collections in the Wikipedia Environment
Tuesday 27-Sep-11 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM EDT
Metropolitan New York Library Council -- 57 East 11th Street, 4th Floor New York, NY 10003-4605

Event page at Metropolitan New York Library Council.

Check out some of the contributions made by workshop participants.


Why is Wikipedia used[edit]

  • Importance--by far the most used online encyclopedia-- and the most reference source in the world -- over 338 million unique visitors a month Comparisons
  • Language reach: over 260 languages Statistics
  • Geographic reach
  • Extensive subject coverage -- 16 million articles, 5 million illustrations and media files

How did it get to this status?[edit]

  • Comprehensive modern encyclopedia Wikipedia:Five pillars
  • Neutral point of view
  • Wikipedia is free content (CC 3.0-BY-SA) that anyone can edit
  • Open community and open community processes
  • Wikipedia does not have firmly fixed rule

Overall organization[edit]

English Wikipedia (enWP)[edit]

Factors affecting the academic use of Wikipedia[edit]

Inhibiting[edit]

  1. Lack of assured reliability
  2. Vandalism of article content
  3. Incomplete coverage
  4. Weak coverage in many academic fields
  5. frequent lack of adequate referencing
  6. Instability of article content
  7. Impermanence of the project as a while
  8. Pressure groups & cabals
  9. Cultural bias
    1. Recentist
    2. Anglocentric
    3. Political inclinations

Fixes[edit]

  1. Lack of assured reliability: analyses of reliability, article talk pages, and projects to improve quality
  2. Vandalism of article content: active removal of vandalism by large editor base, and passive removal by filters
  3. Incomplete coverage: increased diversity of contributors
  4. Weak coverage in many academic fields: increased academic participation and class projects
  5. frequent lack of adequate referencing: growing insistence on sourcing; increasing availability of good sourcing
  6. Instability of article content: ability to link to specific versions
  7. Impermanence of the project as a while: mirrors
  8. Pressure groups & cabals wider knowledgeable participation
  9. Cultural bias
    1. Recentist wider knowledgeable participation
    2. Anglocentric wider knowledgeable participation
    3. Political inclinations wider knowledgeable participation

Additional encouraging factors[edit]

  1. Ability to see edit history
  2. Talk page discussions
  3. International contributor base and links to other language Wikipedias

Participation by academics[edit]

Inhibiting[edit]

  • Anti-elitism
    • Lack of respect for credentials
    • anonymity
    • Demographics (youth) & anti-academic attitude
  • Amateurism
    • Lack of seriousness
    • Pervasive low quality
  • Mismatch with academe
    • Lack of respect in academic world
    • Lack of clear authorship
    • Inability to draw original conclusions
    • Cooperative authorship
    • Distinctive prose style

Encouraging[edit]

How reliable is Wikipedia as a source?[edit]

Standard factors for reliability of sources in general[edit]

  1. recognized (within its limits)
  2. reputation
  3. credentials of authors
  4. Controls for quality
  5. Format and medium: online, print, etc.
  6. Technical quality
  7. Degree of detail
  8. Freedom from bias
  9. Currency of information
  10. Confirmation by other known reliable sources
  11. Sources given for information
    1. Reliability of sources
    2. Appropriateness of sources
    3. Currency of sources

Additional factors applying to Wikipedia[edit]

  1. Multiple ways to judge quality "How to Judge the Quality of a WIkipedia Page" by Tim Farley
  2. Large number of contributors
  3. Varied background of contributors
    1. Education
    2. Interest
    3. Geography
    4. Language knowledge
  4. Specialist contributors
  5. WikiProjects and Workgroups
  6. Screening of contributions
    1. Recent changes
    2. Watchlists
    3. New Page feed
    4. Login to start pages
    5. Edit filters
    6. New Pages
    7. Patrolled pages for Biography of Living people (forthcoming)
    8. Quality ratings: featured articles
    9. Deletion
    10. Blocking
  7. Policy: Reliable Sources
  8. Policy: Not Censored
  9. Edit histories
  10. OTRS

Negative factors affecting reliability[edit]

  1. Concentration of editors on popular topics
  2. Anonymity
  3. Impermanence


Wikipedia Ambassadors Program[edit]

GLAM[edit]

Wikipedia:The Musical

Galleries, Libraries and Museums [[1]]

Getting Started[edit]

Rules[edit]

Organization[edit]

Quality[edit]

Resources[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Key resources[edit]

  • How Wikipedia Works by Phoebe Ayers, Charles Matthews, and Ben Yates (also available in print)
  • the free online version of Wikipedia: The Missing Manual by John Broughton (also available in print)
  • "Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia" by Darren W. Logan, Massimo Sandal, Paul P. Gardner, Magnus Manske1, Alex Bateman in PLOS Computational Biology (2010) 6(9): e1000941. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000941 [2]
  • "Information quality discussions in Wikipedia" by Besiki Stvilia, Michael B Twidale, Les Gassner, & Linda C. Smith (2005) [3]
  • "Who The Hell Writes Wikipedia, Anyway?" by Henry Blodget, Jan. 3, 2009 Business Insider [4]
  • books about Wikipedia

Notes[edit]

  • WP: as a prefix means a page located in the part of Wikipedia devoted to discussing the project, rather than the actual articles
  • WT: as a prefix means the talk pages for WP: pages

Category:Wikipedia meetups in New York City Category:Wikipedia meetups in 2011 Category:Wikimedia New York City in 2011

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