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Wikipedia:McMaster University/Health and Aging 2017

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McMaster University Edit-a-thon @
McMaster University
When and Where
Date:TBA
TimeTBA
Where:TBA
.

McMaster University will be presenting Health and Aging 2017, a Wikipedia editathon for sharing information from the library into Wikipedia articles. Please come with a fact you want to share, a source you can cite to verify the fact, and with willingness to insert your fact into a relevant Wikipedia article.

Getting started

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  1. Create a Wikipedia account
  2. Please register!
  3. For your topic, read both the Wikipedia article and the academic article on that topic. Deep familiarity is not required, especially of the Wikipedia article.
  4. Expect that during the event, you will take information from the academic article and add it to the Wikipedia article.

Agenda

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"Editing Wikipedia articles on medicine", a classroom handout
0:00-0:05 - Welcome
0:05-0:20 - presentation on Wikipedia
0:20-0:25 - Discussion and demos
0:25-1:30 - Wikipedia editathon!
1:30-2:00 - wrap up, showcase editing

The event will start with a presentation which gives the Wikipedia community perspective on the following:

  1. To what extent does Wikipedia matter in health communication?
  2. How does one edit Wikipedia?
  3. What is Wikipedia's quality control system?

Following the presentation, anyone may ask any question about Wikipedia to get answers or demonstrations. Following this, it will be time for a Wikipedia "editathon", which is an event in which a group of people edit together. Desktop view, not mobile access, is preferred for this exercise, but come regardless. At the editathon, this is the goal:

  1. Come to the event with some published source of good information
  2. Identify a Wikipedia article where you think information from that source should go
  3. In your own words, take information from your source and add it to the Wikipedia article
  4. Cite your source. See referencing for beginners or better, learn at the event

Hopefully everyone at the event will add at least 1-3 sentences in the time we have. After making additions, since Wikipedia is public, participants will review the accuracy and quality of classmate's edits. As we leave, participants will be invited to check back on Wikipedia after some time (3-7 days) to see if there is any online community response to anyone's contributions.

Goals

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  • All participants will gain the ability to describe the nature of health information on Wikipedia, and have more insight into health information on the Internet
  • Participants will get experience translating information from academic journals into layman health information
  • The information submitted to Wikipedia will be read by the public. Wikipedia readers will be better informed based on this event's contributions.

As time goes on Wikipedia's own tracking system notes pageviews to the Wikipedia articles which the class edited. At any time after the event anyone may visit the tracking dashboard where they registered to participate to check readership, a measurement of content added, and other statistics.

Contact

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For support contact TBA.