Science Museum Late/Briefing/Your Voice on Wikipedia

Location: Prototype Room (1st floor)

Breakdown of event: Participants will queue outside and be given a choice of articles, then will be taken into the quiet room to record its lede. They may come alone, or in pairs or trios.

Volunteers need to:

• Explain the task to participants and encourage them to rehearse (outside)
• Help with recording (inside)

Background: This is inspired by WikiProject: Spoken Wikipedia, which has as its aim to produce recordings of Wikipedia articles being read aloud. Why?

• Spoken articles make Wikipedia content available to those who can understand English but cannot read it.
• Users can listen to Wikipedia articles while they perform tasks that preclude reading but not concentration (such as running, or housework).
• Visually impaired users can use screen readers, but they may not be as accurate as a human vocal performance. This is particularly true of articles relating to science, mathematics, linguistics, and other areas commonly requiring unusual or unfamiliar pronunciation, or the use of symbols.
• They are a valuable learning tool for those learning English. If a link is given to the version of the page that was recorded then users may listen to the words while reading them.
• They are a valuable learning tool for auditory learners (people who learn most effectively by listening to information delivered orally).
• Some may find it easier to concentrate on an article while listening to it, especially in an environment with distracting sounds
• In performing the articles aloud, readers can catch inconsistencies, redundancies, and awkward phrases not noticed by other editors, thus improving the written version of Wikipedia.