2024:Program/Integrating Intercultural Insights and Educational Dynamics: My Journey as a WIki Contributor and Teaching Assistant

Session title: Integrating Intercultural Insights and Educational Dynamics: My Journey as a WIki Contributor and Teaching Assistant

Session type: Lightning talk

Track: Education

Language: en

The NTUST AFL Wikipedia Education Program, a codesigned module between AFL NTUST and Wikimedia Taiwan since Fall 2022. As both a student and a teaching assistant, I examine the impact of editing articles, such as on Yuma Taru, on developing research and critical thinking abilities. The program also reveals patterns for communication among digital-native students, indicating a shift in interaction styles. Efforts to counter Wikipedia's gender imbalance by focusing on female Taiwanese artists are highlighted, aiming for a more equitable content representation. This participation aids in understanding the dynamics of digital communication and content diversity on Wikipedia.

Description

The NTUST AFL Wikipedia Education Program, a codesigned module between AFL NTUST and Wikimedia Taiwan since Fall 2022, has significantly shaped my academic and professional journey [1]. This course aims to enhance ESL/EFL learners' media and information literacy skills for the 21st century. Through various activities like lectures, discussions, and mini edit-a-thons, students evolve from passive readers to active writers and editors, addressing challenges and generating solutions. A 2018 study by Wikipedia indicated a gender bias among editors, with a majority of male contributors, leading to skewed content representation [2]. Our program counters this by emphasizing the biographies of female Taiwanese artists, increasing their global visibility and encouraging gender balance in Wikipedia's content. As a student in the program, our group project involved contributing to an article about Yuma Taru, a Taiwanese indigenous craft artist. This task was illuminating for two main reasons. Firstly, beyond the scope of typical English reading and writing courses, our work on Wikipedia required adherence to strict citation rules, enhancing our academic writing skills and deepening our understanding of reference sourcing. Secondly, once published, our article extended beyond the classroom, subject to review and enhancement by the English community. My current role is to observe the interaction and collaboration patterns among students, focusing on female artists in Taiwan on Wikipedia. I've noted that some digital-native students tended to utilize online communication, even during in-person classes, indicating a shift in traditional communication modes. However, this change in interaction style does not significantly affect the outcome of their projects, highlighting the patterns of communication in the digital age. Through this Education Program, my engagement with indigenous culture, particularly via editing Yuma Taru's article, has enhanced my research and critical thinking skills. It also showed the importance of source reliability and objectivity. Observing student interactions has provided insights into modern communication trends, while our program’s commitment to promoting female artists addresses the content gender gap on Wikipedia. This journey has been a fulfilling cycle of learning, contributing, and facilitating, which underscores the value of the Wikipedia Education Program in fostering knowledge exchange and cultural appreciation. After completing the course, I dedicated my free time to translation work by translating the article Formosa from Chinese to Japanese Wikipedia. This translation endeavor not only allowed me to apply and expand my linguistic skills but also contributed to cross-cultural knowledge exchange.

Keywords: NTUST AFL Wikipedia Education Program, Wikimedia Taiwan, Critical thinking, Digital-native students, Gender bias, Female Taiwanese artists

References: [1] Yen-Ting, Lin. (2024, March 20). The NTUST AFL Wikipedia education program. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_NTUST_AFL_Wikipedia_Education_Program [2] Wikimedia Foundation. (2024, March 24). Gender bias on Wikipedia. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_bias_on_Wikipedia

How does your session relate to the event theme, Collaboration of the Open?

1. Teamwork Dynamics: Observing and facilitating the communication and collaboration patterns among students, especially in the context of digital-native preferences for online interaction, reflects the evolving nature of teamwork in the digital era.

2. Content Diversification: The program's focus on highlighting female Taiwanese artists and addressing gender bias in Wikipedia content creation represents collaborative efforts to diversify and enrich the encyclopedia's cultural and gender representation.

3. Community Impact: By contributing to Wikipedia, the participants collaboratively enhance the global knowledge base, promoting cultural recognition and educational development through shared efforts.

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

Everyone can participate in this session

Resources

• https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15JCZBrSVKVbJitlAEmCccw2cDxpEKSSZxECFZWNlhp8/edit?usp=sharing

Speakers

• 林文仁

Wen-Ren Bill Lin is an undergraduate student in Applied Foreign Languages at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), focusing on multicultural and multimodal communication. He has worked as an English and Japanese tutor at the Language Center in NTUST since 2022 and participated as a Teaching Assistant in Wikipedia: The NTUST AFL Wikipedia Education Program in 2023 and 2024.

His career interest lies in enhancing communication across departments in the workplace through the application of multimodal communication principles. He has held leadership positions as President of the Applied Foreign Languages Student Association in 2023 and the Japanese Culture Research Club in 2024. He was also a member of Engineers in Action in 2022.

He has attended the 2024 International Conference on Applied Linguistics & Language Teaching (ALLT). He aims to pursue a master’s degree to deepen his understanding of communication studies and plans to apply this knowledge to improve inter-departmental communication in professional settings.