Submissions:2016/Academia and Wikipedia: How to Bridge this Great Divide


 * Title: Academia and Wikipedia: How to Bridge this Great Divide


 * Theme: Education and Community


 * Academic Peer Review option: Yes


 * Type of submission: Workshop


 * Author: Kasey Baker and Frank Jones


 * E-mail address: kayzbaker@gmail.com & fjones18@gmail.com


 * Username: Kayz911 and FrankcJones


 * Affiliation: Asheville Buncombe Community College, North Carolina Triangle Wikipedian User Group NC Triangle Wikipedians, Attendee of meetings of WALRUS


 * Abstract:

This hands on workshop, run by Kasey Baker and Frank Jones, will explore the difficulties and barriers to entry from the educator’s perspective as they begin learning about the Wikipedia community. This hands on workshop will focus on positive ways we have learned to build support from professors, faculty, and staff working in higher education and just starting to use Wikipedia - while still remaining true to what our community expects of new editors.

As both active educators and Wikipedians, Baker and Jones have worked with the Education Outreach Program (now Wiki Education Foundation) as former Regional Coordinators. Today, they continue to work with students and faculty at UNC, Duke, Western Carolina, and AB Tech. In addition, Baker and Jones are two of the founding members of the North Carolina Triangle Wikipedians user group NC Triangle Wikipedians Together, they will share some of the good, bad and ugly of our 5 years of trying to bridge the gap between higher education and the Wikipedia community.

This round table discussion will focus on ways to approach the topic of Wikipedia in the classroom with facility, especially ones who have a negative disposition towards Wikipedia. Coming away from this workshop, you will gain a better understanding of positive ways to spread Wikipedia throughout higher education.

These are some of the questions we will explore:

1. Why do educators use classroom time to contribute to Wikipedia?

2. How can university hosted edit-a-thons be used to broaden and diversify the community?

3. Is citing your professor, a recognized expert in their field, a conflict of interest?

4. How to convince educators to see Wikipedia as a secondary educational resource?

5. How to effectively engage with a professor who is hostile toward using Wikipedia, or has reservations about the quality standards?

You will learn some useful tips and tricks to share the best parts of Wikipedia that we all know and love - while succinctly conveying this information to an outsider. Finally, we will have a chance to share our success stories (maybe a few horror stories) from those of us who have been working to expand Wikipedia into higher education.

Come join us, we promise to give you a good laugh at the very least!


 * Length of presentation: 60 mins


 * Special schedule requests: Cannot present on Friday or Monday (anytime Saturday, early Sunday morning), Saturday is preferred for travel planning. AV and projector needed, we can bring a computer.


 * Preferred room size: 15-25 people


 * Will you attend WikiConference North America if your submission is not accepted?: Yes, but it mostly depends upon funding allocations since we are traveling from North Carolina.

Interested attendees
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 * 1) Frankcjones (talk) 11:14, 21 August 2016 (EDT)
 * 2) Kayz911 (talk) 17:51, 22 August 2016 (EDT)
 * 3) Thewellman (talk) 01:16, 23 August 2016 (EDT) retired professor
 * 4)  Imzadi 1979    →    02:30, 24 August 2016 (EDT)