Term papers? These science students write Wikipedia pages instead.
When scholars talk about Wikipedia, it鈥檚 often to debate its accuracy.
But what if Wikipedia could improve its focus on a particular topic 鈥� such as women in science 鈥� by using articles written by students from around the country, supervised by their professors?
That鈥檚 the goal of a project launched by the independent Wiki Education Foundation, which has students write articles, in collaboration with their professors, in order to demonstrate their knowledge of a topic, instead of a term paper.
The program, which is focusing this year on , and specifically on women in science, has student members from 200 schools, including University of California at Berkeley, Duke University, George Washington University, Harvard University, and New York University, which have incorporated editing Wikipedia pages into their curriculum, .
They鈥檝e worked on 35,000 articles, which have received 78 million views so far. Given Wikipedia鈥檚 ubiquitous nature online, particularly among younger users, focusing on how the public views science will also give students a chance to shape Wikipedia itself.
The program鈥檚 goal is simple. 鈥淚f it isn鈥檛 presenting the information you think it should be presenting, or you don鈥檛 think the information鈥檚 accurate鈥攆ix it.鈥� Eryk Salvaggio, the foundation鈥檚 communications manager, told Motherboard.
Tackling diversity on the site is a key focus. Wikipedia鈥檚 editors often skew white and male, with one study finding that less than 13 percent of the site鈥檚 editors were women (though of female editors), an imbalance that is particularly pronounced when it comes to female scientists editing the site.
45 percent of 鈥� Italy, France, the UK, Germany, and the US 鈥� researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute found. Many pieces about specific places came from far-away parts of the world, they found, noting that more editors came from the Netherlands than from all of Africa.
Another concern for the Wiki Education Foundation is to get a broader group of scientists to use the service, noting that it could broaden the appeal of their research beyond the academy. That鈥檚 long been a controversial topic for researchers, particularly in fields that often dip into national headlines, such as climate science.
鈥淚t almost seems like a hugely irresponsible thing to ignore the largest place for information where everyone goes to learn about science鈥攖o not include your expertise,鈥� Greg Boustead, an education programs manager at the Simons Foundation, which is supporting the project, told Motherboard.
Students have also been involved in similar types of collaborative projects through so-called , which particularly aim to keep costs down by having students track their learning by moving through a series of 鈥渃ompetencies.鈥�
One program, at Texas A&M University at Commerce, has students learn to use quantitative data to make decisions by reading a paper on data analysis in government or watching a video, .
They then demonstrate their knowledge by answering questions on a discussion board and interacting with their peers and finally write a short paper that uses personal examples to sum up their knowledge.
But questions about accuracy have long dogged Wikipedia, compared to news media accounts and traditional encyclopedias. In 2009, one sociology student in Ireland attributed to the film composer Maurice Jarre on the site, quickly duping a series of media outlets into using the quote in their obituaries when he died.
One aspect of editing for the site is working actively to ensure stories remain neutral and unbiased by flagging articles for review. The site鈥檚 policy also bars scientists from writing about their own research unless they disclose a conflict of interest on a that鈥檚 used by editors to discuss improvements to an article.
Wikipedia also works to identify topics that would be particularly helpful for the students to cover through its own WikiProjects, which includes a task force that focuses on women in science, Motherboard reports.
A key goal for the Wiki Education Foundation is to encourage a discussion among professors and students about how they use sources, and particularly whether a source is promoting a particular perspective or bias.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e also just thinking about how to read things they find on the Internet,鈥� Mr. Salvaggio told Motherboard.
[Editor's note: This story originally misidentified the name of the Wiki Education Foundation.]
