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2023:Program/Submissions/What’s good for GLAM is good for STEM? Editor recruitment and retention at NIOSH - TAMFMC

From Wikimania


Title: What’s good for GLAM is good for STEM? Editor recruitment and retention at NIOSH

Speakers:

John P. Sadowski

I've been a contributor to Wikipedia since November 2006, where my work has mainly been in the topics of nanotechnology, biomolecular structure, and science policy.

Pretalx link

Etherpad link

Room:

Start time:

End time:

Type: Lecture

Track: Research, Science, and Medicine

Submission state: submitted

Duration: 30 minutes

Do not record: false

Presentation language: en


Abstract & description

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Abstract

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Many of the Wikimedia community’s outreach structures were devised in the context of GLAM and academic institutions. In this talk, I will discuss whether and why they work effectively in a government research institute context. Additionally, a multi-component strategy to improve hearing health content on Wikipedia in multiple languages will be discussed.

Description

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Many of the Wikimedia community’s outreach structures, such as Wikipedian-in-Residence positions and edit-a-thons, were devised in the context of GLAM and academic institutions. But what are the challenges of recruiting and retaining editors within the unique context of a government science laboratory? Over six years of being a Wikipedian-in-Residence at NIOSH, the U.S. federal research institute for health and safety in the workplace, I have applied these structures and tried to discern whether and why they work effectively in a government research context.

Internally, these activities include public and internal edit-a-thons, internal trainings through both in-person workshops and webinar series, and one-on-one mentoring of staff and student interns. These resulted in several new articles on health and safety topics being written and featured in the Did You Know section of the Main Page, as well as expansions of existing articles. Topics for discussion include the differences between in-person and remote trainings, and between group and one-on-one interactions. The outcomes of a webinar training series to teach scientists and program staff how to contribute to Wikipedia, Commons, and Wikidata will be featured.

Additionally, NIOSH has adopted a multi-component strategy to improve the health content shared on Wikipedia, especially content in multiple languages related to hearing, hearing testing, and preventive and treatment interventions. In 2019, 2020, and 2023, NIOSH sponsored a Wiki4WorldHearingDay or Wiki4YearOfSound campaign in collaboration with the World Health Organization and other organizations, which led to many articles being improved across many languages. Ongoing efforts to translate hearing-related and other medical articles into non-English languages will also be discussed.

Disclaimer: The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of NIOSH.

Further details

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Qn. How does your session relate to the event themes: Diversity, Collaboration Future?

The talk discusses collaborative efforts to create and improve articles across multiple languages.

Qn. What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Everyone can participate in this session

Qn. What is the most appropriate format for this session?

  • Tick Onsite in Singapore
  • Empty Remote online participation, livestreamed
  • Empty Remote from a satellite event
  • Tick Hybrid with some participants in Singapore and others dialing in remotely
  • Empty Pre-recorded and available on demand