Wikipedia Science Conference/Submissions/From Wiki Society to Royal Society: experience with biographies of living scientists

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This has been accepted as a lightning talk. MartinPoulter (talk) 17:15, 16 May 2015 (BST)

Abstract of talk

Scientists have a troubled relationship with wikipedia. The encyclopedia has nothing to say about many notable living scientists, and in return many scientists chose to ignore the scientific content of wikipedia. This presentation will illustrate one approach to tackling this this problem, the wikipedian in residence scheme, using examples from the Royal Society and wiki-biographies of living fellows

We will describe some success stories in using the scheme to bootstrap the publication of data at wikimedia and discuss what future barriers remain to improving scientific content of wikipedia by editing biographies of notable scientists and fellows of the Royal Society.


Personal details

Your name

Duncan Hull (User:Duncan.Hull) and John Byrne (User:Johnbod)

Affiliation

University of Manchester /

How can we contact you?

duncan.hullatmanchester.ac.uk

Where will you be travelling from to attend this conference?

Manchester UK

Availability

Both days

Session details

Conference themes
  • Wikipedia and/or Wikimedia as platforms for promoting informed public discussion
  • Wikipedia and/or Wikimedia as platforms for research (including citizen science)
  • Wikipedia and/or Wikimedia as models for scientific publishing
  • Wikipedia and/or Wikimedia as platforms for scientific education
  • Under-represented groups in STEM subjects
Type of session
  • Presentation (20 mins + 10 mins questions)
    • This format is suitable for reporting on substantial work in the area defined by the conference themes, or taking an overview of work done.
  • Lightning talk/demo (10 mins)
    • This format is suitable for, but not limited to; floating ideas, giving personal perspectives, highlighting research that is in progress, demonstrating tools or resources.
Further details

Does Wikipedia Love Scientists? This presentation will use the Fellows of the Royal Society (FRS) to illustrate some issues with improving the scientific content of wikipedia, starting with biographies of living and notable scientists.

Scientists who are Fellows of the Royal Society are often leaders in their respective fields, but many do not have biographies in wikipedia - despite their notability.

We will describe some success stories in using the wikipedian in residence scheme to facilitate publishing of data at wikimedia and describe what future barriers remain to improving scientific content of wikipedia via notable scientists biographies.