Wikipedia Editing for Librarians

$250.00

Dates: October 7 - November 3

Credits: 1.5 CEUs or 15 PDHs

Wikipedia, with over a billion visitors monthly, is one of the most-accessed websites on the Internet. It is often the first and only stop for general research purposes. As a freely editable public cultural record, Wikipedia both highlights inequities and provides opportunity to correct them.

Since it launched in 2001, librarians and educators have been grappling with Wikipedia’s place in the information landscape. Its staying power and prevalence suggests librarians should incorporate this open information source into our teaching, programming, and information practices.

In this course, you will learn how Wikipedia actually functions philosophically, structurally, and technically. You will create an account and work collaboratively with fellow participants to learn how to create and edit Wikipedia content while critically reflecting on adjacent topics like ethics, credibility, access, equity, and social justice. This course will give you the tools, skills, community, and confidence to incorporate Wikipedia into your work. No previous knowledge of editing Wikipedia required, and librarians and information workers at any and all types of institutions are welcome.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

-Explain how Wikipedia functions, particularly as an open educational resource
-Describe how teaching people to edit Wikipedia can increase community agency, complicate traditional notions of credibility, and serve goals relating to social justice
-Practice navigating, using, and editing on the Wikipedia platform
-Explore ways librarians are using Wikipedia for community engagement and learning
-Explore other services offered by the Wikimedia Foundation to support your project goals
-Consider opportunities to use Wikipedia at your organization

Course Information

Session

Credits

1.5 CEUs or 15 PDHs

Registration dates

We accept registrations through the first week of classes, unless enrollment is full, and unless the class was canceled before it started due to low enrollment.

Course Description

Wikipedia, with over a billion visitors monthly, is one of the most-accessed websites on the Internet. It is often the first and only stop for general research purposes. As a freely editable public cultural record, Wikipedia both highlights inequities and provides opportunity to correct them.

Since it launched in 2001, librarians and educators have been grappling with Wikipedia’s place in the information landscape. Its staying power and prevalence suggests librarians should incorporate this open information source into our teaching, programming, and information practices.

In this course, you will learn how Wikipedia actually functions philosophically, structurally, and technically. You will create an account and work collaboratively with fellow participants to learn how to create and edit Wikipedia content while critically reflecting on adjacent topics like ethics, credibility, access, equity, and social justice. This course will give you the tools, skills, community, and confidence to incorporate Wikipedia into your work. No previous knowledge of editing Wikipedia required, and librarians and information workers at any and all types of institutions are welcome.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • Explain how Wikipedia functions, particularly as an open educational resource
  • Describe how teaching people to edit Wikipedia can increase community agency, complicate traditional notions of credibility, and serve goals relating to social justice
  • Practice navigating, using, and editing on the Wikipedia platform
  • Explore ways librarians are using Wikipedia for community engagement and learning
  • Explore other services offered by the Wikimedia Foundation to support your project goals
  • Consider opportunities to use Wikipedia at your organization

Alison Baitz

Alison Baitz received her MLIS and MA in Children's Literature from Simmons University. Since 2020, she has served as a Regional Ambassador for Art+Feminism, an organization dedicated to closing information gaps related to gender, feminism, and the arts. Alison's role at A+F is to empower and assist people and institutions who are interested in holding Wikipedia editing events. She is passionate about editing Wikipedia, teaching others to edit, and talking to librarians about how they can incorporate Wikipedia into their own work.

Colleen Sanders

Colleen Sanders is a librarian, faculty developer, instructional designer, and open education practitioner with an evergreen curiosity for how openness transforms learning to be more relevant and authentic. She currently supports faculty in academic and technical fields to combine access with inclusive pedagogy. Her work advocating for strong OER policy amidst bookstore outsourcing and analysis of commercial textbook affordability programs earned her an OER Champion award in 2019 from Open Oregon Educational Resources, where she’s an OER Development Consultant on the Targeted Pathways Open Curriculum project. She hopes to empower librarians to leverage open practices to create more equitable and critical information practices.

How to Register

To enroll yourself or other participants in a class, use the “Register” button that follows the description of each course. If the “Register” button does not show up, try loading the page in a different web browser. Contact us if you have technical difficulties using our shopping cart system or would like to pay for an enrollment using another method. On the payment page in the shopping cart system, there is a place to add notes, such as the names and email addresses of participants you wish to enroll. We will contact you to request this information in response to your processed payment if you do not include it in the “notes” field. Prior to the start of the workshop, we will send participants their login instructions.

Payment Info

Our shopping cart system allows you to pay with a credit card or with PayPal.

Alternatively, if it is an institutional payment, we can arrange to invoice you. Contact us by email, and we can make arrangements to suit your institution's business processes.

Special Session

Please contact us to arrange a special session of this class for a group of seven or more, with a negotiable discount, or to be notified when it is next scheduled.

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