This document discusses opportunities for universities to engage with Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects to develop digital skills. It provides examples of how the University of Edinburgh has partnered with Wikimedia, including by hosting a Wikimedian in Residence to deliver training and help integrate Wikipedia assignments and projects into various courses. Specific initiatives highlighted include having students in reproductive biology and other programs contribute to Wikipedia as part of their studies. The document argues that working with Wikimedia can help develop important skills and address issues like gender inequality while also increasing the impact of research.

1. Digital Transformation and Data
Wikipedia:University of Edinburgh
Ewan McAndrew – Wikimedian in Residence
Email: ewan.mcandrew@ed.ac.uk Twitter: @emcandre
Embedding
Wikimedia in
the
Curriculum

2. How is your institution demonstrating its
commitment to….
• Developing digital skills?
• Developing information literacy?
• Developing data literacy?
• Developing open educations resources?
• Addressing gender inequality?
• Open Knowledge?
• Open Science?
• Public Engagement with Research?
• Public Engagement with Collections?
• Improving the impact & dissemination of its research outputs?
Email: info@Wikimedia.org.uk Knowledge knows no bounds!
The future knows no bounds!

3. Tim Berners-Lee on Channel 4 News
(March 2018)
“We need to rethink our attitude to the
internet.
It is not enough just to keep the web open and
free because we must also keep a track of
what people are building on it.
Look at the systems that people are using, like
the social networks and look at whether they
are actually helping humanity.
Are they being constructive or are they being
destructive?”

4. "The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things.
“Facebook defines who we are,
Amazon defines what we want
and
Google defines what we think.”
(Broeder, 2016)
Zuckerberg may downplay Facebook’s role as “arbiters of truth” (Seethaman, 2016)
just as Google downplay their role as controllers of the library “card catalogue”
(Walker inToobin, 2015) but both represent the pre-eminent gatekeepers in the
information age.

6. “Wikipedia is today the gateway through which
millions of people now seek access to knowledge.”
(William Cronon)

7. The latest estimates by Crossref show that
Wikipedia has risen from the 8th most prolific
referrer to DOIs to the 5th (at least)

10. Why you can’t afford not to.
You can’t
afford not to.

11. It is widely recognised that digital capabilities are a
key component of graduate employability

12. Wikimedian in Residence – Information Literacy &
Digital Skills at the University of Edinburgh
PGDE
English
and Media
teacher
Software
Development
MSc
Information
Management
MSc
(CILIP and ARA
registered)

13. • To raise awareness of Wikipedia and its sister projects
• To design and deliver digital skills engagement events
• To work with colleagues all across the institution to find ways
to benefit from and contribute to the development of this
huge open knowledge resource. #OpenKnowledgeFTW
As a truly global university, rooted
in Scotland’s capital city, we make
a significant, sustainable and
socially responsible contribution to the world.

14. Melissa Highton – Director of Learning, Teaching
and Web Services at the University of Edinburgh.
“Hosting a Wikimedian in Residence
(WiR) in a University has real potential
to target empowerment in learning
technology.
If you put your Wikimedian alongside
your digital skill trainers and learning
technologists their impact can be
significant.”

15. “Becoming a Wikipedia editor: Perceived Roles and Responsibilities”
Research by Professor Allison Littlejohn
Tinyurl.com/LittlejohnWiki

16. Factors that helped with establishing the residency.
60
Getting colleagues across the university into the room in the first place.

17. 185 STAFF TRAINED185 STAFF
TRAINED
164 STUDENTS
TRAINED
635
419
+
2 x Digital Sociology MSc
1 x Global Health MSc
2 x Data Science for Design MSC
A 2016 study found at least 87.5% of
students use Wikipedia for pre-research
purposes and find it “academically useful”
4 x
2 x
6 x
1 x
1 x
3 x

18. Wikimedia in the Curriculum – WTF!
1. Reproductive Biology Honours. 5th iteration confirmed for Sept 2019.
2. World Christianity MSc - 2nd iteration was in 2017/2018
3. Translation Studies MSc. Now in its 7th iteration for 2019/2020.
4. Global Health MSc - Second iteration to go ahead in 2019/2020.
5. Digital Sociology MSc - Third iteration to take place this semester in
2019/2020.
6. Data Science for Design MSc - Second iteration completed in semester
one, 2018/2019.
7. Intellectual Humility (MOOC) - Ongoing Wikipedia component since
2016.
8. Korean Studies MSc – first iteration confirmed for session 2019/2020.

19. ALSO
1. Introductory workshop with School of Law - first iteration took
place in semester one in 2018/2019.
2. Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) - one
iteration in 2016/2017.
3. Online History MSc - one iteration in Summer 2016.

20. Further collaborations in discussion
• Wikimedia for Online Language Learning as part of MSc in Language
Teaching / MSc in TESOL.
• Psychology in Action MSc - Citizen Science Wikipedia project.
• Digital Education MSc - Wikipedia workshop mooted for semester
two, 2018/2019 session.
• Open Data project on the Management Science course at the
University of Edinburgh Business School to be discussed this semester
for 2018/2019 session.
• Public Health MSc - Wikipedia project mooted for 2019/2020
session.

21. TWO HOUSES BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY.
IN FAIR EDINBURGH WE LAY OUR SCENE

22. Timelines of engagement
Data Science for Design
MSc
• Wikidata & Histropedia
showcase at Open
Knowledge Network events.
April 2017.
• Wikidata project on the Data
Science for Design MSc in
August 2017.
• Repeated in 2018.
• Witchfinder General hired in
2019
Reproductive Biology
(Hons).
• Sept 2015 – 3 students
• Sept 2016 – all 38
• Sept 2017 – all 51
• Sept 2018 – all 25
• Sept 2019 – will be
repeated for 5th
iteration.
Global Health MSc
• Gender,Global Health &
Justice editathon during
Feb 2017 break.
• Women in Anthropology
editathon for Usher
Institute researchers in
May 2017.
• 200 word assignment in
the Global Health MSc
course in Autumn/Winter
2017.
• Public Health MSc

23. Ruth Jenkins – “We all know our students are using Wikipedia
and we’re all using it ourselves so I think being familiar with it is a
really important part of information literacy.”
Academic Support Librarian at the
Medical School.
• Went from not knowing how to edit.
• To helping others editing for work.
• To editing herself for fun.
• To preparing an editathon.
• To learning how to train others.
• To now taking to conference in July
for health information librarians (EAHIL)

24. If it’s on Wikipedia, it must be true.”
Tinyurl.com/ReproBiomed
60,000 views
since September 2016
And she even created
her own open-licensed
diagrams too!

25. “SEARCH IS THE WAY WE LIVE NOW”
GOOGLE and WIKIPEDIA
• Google depends on Wikipedia. Click through
rate decreases by 80% if links to Wikipedia are
removed.
• Wikipedia depends on Google. 84.5% of visits to
Wikipedia are attributable to Google.
• Google processed 91% of searches
internationally and 97.4% of searches from
mobile devices. (2011 figures).
• Google has a “funnelling effect” – The sources
clicked on are reduced to the 1st page of results
90% of the time.
• With 42% click through on first choice alone.
There is agency to
Wikipedia editing

26. The new WYSIWYG Visual Editor interface makes editing
“super easy”, “fun”, “really intuitive” and “addictive as hell.”
1. Headers
2. Bold / italic
3. Bullet point
lists &
Numbered
lists
4. Internal links
/ External
links
5. Citations &
references
6. Adding
categories
7. Adding
pictures
8. Adding
infoboxes

27. All edits are recorded in the View History tab
in permanent links
Bots patrol for predicable
vandalism and instantly
reverting these.
Only 7% of edits
considered vandalism
study finds.
Pages ‘looked after’ by
editors volunteering on a
variety of WikiProjects.
4 day rule for new
accounts.

28. Changing the way stories are told
(69% of our attendees were women). • The Edinburgh Seven
• The Letter of 19 - women chemists who
petitioned the Chemistry Society in 1904
• The Eagle House suffragettes
• Women’s suffrage in Scotland.
• The accused witches in Scotland
https://tinyurl.com/Scotsuffragettes

29. “You can’t be what you can’t see”
Pale, male and stale – university environments
The Brenda Moon room

30. World Christianity MSc – Wikipedia literature
review assignment (5% of course credit).
Representing a more holistic world view of
Christianity
http://tinyurl.com/WorldChristianity

31. Translation from one language Wikipedia to another.
Independent Study module – Translation Studies MSc assignment
“It is very fun but challenging at the same
time. I feel like I am doing something very
meaningful.
It not only helps me with my translation
skills, but also makes me feel that I am
contributing to Wikipedia, to people, to the
society.“ – Student feedback

34. ”This challenge is not just for
school librarians to prepare the next
generation to be informed
but for all librarians
to assist the whole population.”
Abram, S. (2016). Political literacy can be learned!
universities
universities

35. We can’t go on pretending…

36. Stories of student empowerment:
Wikipedia in the Classroom
Tinyurl.com/StudentVids
Tinyurl.com/WikiHopper

37. Email Wikimedia UK: info@wikimedia.org.uk
Online Tutorials
1) Wikipedia Basics
2) Wikidata Basics
3) Wikisource Basics
4) Wiki Games
5) How to run an editathon
252 videos and video tutorials.
Lesson plan
WIKI RESOURCES –
https://tinyurl.com/timeforopen

38. 10 Reasons to work
with Wikimedia UK
1. The new Visual Editor interface means Wikipedia editing is “super
easy”, “really intuitive”, “fun” and “highly addictive”.
2. Anyone can edit Wikipedia but there are checks and balances to help
revert unhelpful edits in minutes. (Only 7% of edits are considered
vandalism).
3. Wikidata – Teach data literacy. Query, analyse & visualise the largest
reference work on the internet. Surface and link your research data.
4. WikiCite – tidying up the citations on Wikipedia to make a consistent,
queryable bibliographic repository enhancing the impact of research.
5. Wikisource – Quotations and images from long ago can still touch and
inspire. Out of copyright texts such as digitised PhD theses can be
uploaded & linked to from Wikipedia; enhancing discoverability.
6. Content Translation – Students help build understanding between
languages while getting meaningful published translation practice.
7. The gender gap is real and working with Wikipedia helps address this
as part of Athena Swan initiatives in STEM fields.
8. Develop students’ digital skills. The practical application of research &
communication skills aid students’ comprehension and employability.
9. Surface your research & library collections’ material to Wikidata,
Wikipedia, Wiki Commons, Wikisource and open them up to a global
Open Knowledge community of millions.
10. “Search is the way we live now”. Engaging with Wikipedia helps
develop a critical approach to its usage and to other online sources of
information, helping research skills and combating fake news.
Staff and students are already consulting
Wikipedia for pre-research purposes (at least
87.5% of them) so why not ensure gaps in
representation and inaccuracies are addressed?
Because if not you then who?

40. Ewan McAndrew
Wikimedian in Residence
Tel: +44 (0) 7719 330076
Twitter: @emcandre
Email:
ewan.mcandrew@ed.ac.uk
Our Mission
The creation, dissemination and
curation of knowledge
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