Get Started with Wikipedia at the ASCB Edit-a-Thon

Image attribution: Wikimedia Foundation [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Image attribution: Wikimedia Foundation [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Every couple of days ResearchGate sends me an enthusiastic email with a subject line reading something like, “Jessica, a researcher read your publication.” I know this is intended to make me feel good, but let’s be honest here: considering the total amount of traffic on the internet, it’s also a little pathetic. The audience for most of what we academics write is very, very small. Considering that the goal of a scientist is not only to create, but also to share knowledge, we should all probably invest more time in disseminating information, and we should put it where people are already looking: Wikipedia.

 

If you google almost any term relating to cell biology, Wikipedia is the first hit. But that doesn’t mean the articles are perfect: there’s a list of articles needing improvement at Wikiproject Molecular and Cell Biology. While editing can be intimidating, participation from new editors is actively encouraged: earlier this year, participants at the Wikipedia Science Conference called for more involvement from scientists.

 

To help get started or motivate you to continue editing, ASCB is hosting a Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon for the first time this year at the annual meeting in San Diego (thanks to generous support from the Simons Foundation!). It’ll happen on Sunday, December 13 from 8am to noon in room 31A. If you’d like to attend, please preregister and make yourself a Wikipedia account ahead of time to avoid potential problems with multiple people trying to create accounts from the same IP address.

 

So what exactly are we going to do at the Edit-a-Thon? You can drop in anytime during the four-hour window, and facilitators will help you:

  • Learn the basics of editing, using markup or the visual editor
  • Select an article to expand or improve, drawing from this list (you can do this ahead of time or at the event)
  • Upload images to help enrich articles
  • Keep track of our collective progress
  • Drink free coffee and eat free muffins (probably you can do that on your own)

 

Please help us spread the word about this project— the more people who sign up, the more fun it will be. Plus the top contributor will win a Bose Soundlink Color Bluetooth speaker, and others will win Starbucks gift cards. And if you have experience editing Wikipedia and want to help out with the tasks above, we’re looking for more people to act as facilitators (you’ll get complimentary meeting registration!) – email cszalinski@ascb.org for more information.

About the Author:


Jessica Polka is director of ASAPbio, a biologist-driven nonprofit working to improve life sciences communication. She is also a visiting scholar at the Whitehead Institute and a member of ASCB's public policy committee.