Submissions:2016/Citations needed? Brainstorming how to get academic resources to more Wikipedians through the Visiting Scholars program

Title

Theme

GLAM

Academic Peer Review option

No

Type of submission

Workshop

Author

Jami Mathewson, Ryan McGrady

E-mail address

jamiwikiedu.org, ryanwikiedu.org

Username

User:Jami (Wiki Ed), User:Ryan (Wiki Ed)

Affiliation

Wiki Education Foundation

Abstract

In 2015, the Wiki Education Foundation began coordinating the Wikipedia Visiting Scholars program in the United States and Canada. Piloted by The Wikipedia Library a year earlier, the program aims to match existing Wikipedia editors with the powerful resources available within the libraries at educational institutions.

Wiki Ed was excited to run this program. It gave us a way to leverage our existing connections within higher education to put resources in the hands of the people best able to take advantage of them: experienced Wikipedians. Access to paywalled content, ebooks, and special collections means fewer barriers for editors who want to produce high-quality content.

We're still enthusiastic about the impact Wikipedians can make when they have a good suite of references at their disposal, but we're finding that surprisingly few in the community share our enthusiasm enough to apply for one of our several open positions. We want to see these available resources put in the service of editors who can put them to good use on Wikipedia. That's why educational institutions agree to participate in the program, too -- to see their resources put to good use and to support the improvement of public knowledge. In this open-discussion workshop, we want to hear from the community of experienced Wikipedians: what can we do to better spread the word or make the Wikipedia Visiting Scholars Program more appealing to you?

In this discussion, we're all ears. This is an opportunity for editors to disclose their wildest dreams and let their imaginations run wild: If you had a contact at an American or Canadian university or academic institution eager to make your life as a Wikipedian easier, what would you ask of them?

Length of workshop

30 min

Special schedule requests

None

Preferred room size

10–15

Will you attend WikiConference North America if your submission is not accepted?

Yes

Interested attendees

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