Wikipedia – the missing link in science outreach?
Siv Midtun Hollup
Department of Informatics
University of Bergen
29.10.2009

Googling
Site Hits Percentage
en.wikipedia.org 5266 97%
species.wikimedia.org 2934 54%
animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu 2890 53%
commons.wikimedia.org 1515 28%
www.itis.gov 1418 26%
ctd.mdibl.org 1288 24%
www.bioone.org 1101 20%
www.uniprot.org 1086 20%
encyclopedia.farlex.com 1007 19%
www.thewebsiteofeverything.com 955 17%
iphylo.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-wikipedia-and-eol.html

Page ranking
iphylo.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-wikipedia-and-eol.html

The war of the encyclopedias
Internet encyclopaedias go head to head, J. Giles, Nature 438, 2005

Can the Wikipedia be used as a citation source?

Can the Wikipedia be used as a citation source?
No...

What can Wikipedia do for you?
• Overview of research fields

What can Wikipedia do for you?
• Overview of research fields
• Good introductions to specific subjects

What can Wikipedia do for you?
• Overview of research fields
• Good introductions to specific subjects
• References

What can Wikipedia do for you?
• Overview of research fields
• Good introductions to specific subjects
• References
• Overview of disputed questions

What can Wikipedia do for you?
• Overview of research fields
• Good introductions to specific subjects
• References
• Overview of disputed questions
• Bridge gap between research and books

What can you do for Wikipedia?
• Overview articles

What can you do for Wikipedia?
• Overview articles
• Detailed explanations of
specific concepts

What can you do for Wikipedia?
• Overview articles
• Detailed explanations of
specific concepts
• Updated references to
papers and books

What can Wikipedia do for you?
• Information on your research field for others

What can Wikipedia do for you?
• Information on your research field for others
• Improve outreach and teaching skills

What can Wikipedia do for you?
• Information on your research field for others
• Improve outreach and teaching skills
• Relevant coursework for students

What can Wikipedia do for you?
• Information on your research field for others
• Improve outreach and teaching skills
• Relevant coursework for students
• Add knowledge to public domain

Case study
• Evaluation?

Case study
• Evaluation?
• Which Wikipedia?

Case study
• Evaluation?
• Which Wikipedia?
• Which contributions?

Things to think about
• Audience

Things to think about
• Audience
• Point of view

Things to think about
• Audience
• Point of view
• Language and terms

Things to think about
• Audience
• Point of view
• Language and terms
• Structure of the article

Things to think about
• Audience
• Point of view
• Language and terms
• Structure of the article
• References and sources

Things to think about
• Audience
• Point of view
• Language and terms
• Structure of the article
• References and sources
• Examples

Beware
• No references

Beware
• No references
• Subjective text

Beware
• No references
• Subjective text
• Anonymous contributions

Beware
• No references
• Subjective text
• Anonymous contributions
• Publish results

Beware
• No references
• Subjective text
• Anonymous contributions
• Publish results
• Copyright and licencing

Wikipedia in teaching?
• Outreach for PhD students

Wikipedia in teaching?
• Outreach for PhD students
• Contributing to articles in advanced courses

Wikipedia in teaching?
• Outreach for PhD students
• Contributing to articles in advanced courses
• Verification of references

Wikipedia in teaching?
• Outreach for PhD students
• Contributing to articles in advanced courses
• Verification of references
• Searching for references

Wikimedia Foundation

Acknowledgements
• Edvin Fuglebakk
• Anne-Kristin Stavrum
• Pawel Sztromwasser
• Suse Balzer
• H˚vard Henriksen
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