London Wikipedia Academy

When: Wednesday April 13th 2011
Where: Sir Alexander Fleming Building, Exhibition Road, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ

Presenters/ facilitators

• Wikipedia:User:Vinnypatel
• Wikipedia:User:Charles Matthews
• Wikipedia:User:Rzepa
• Wikipedia:User:Jfdwolff
• Wikipedia:User:Sadads (Alex S)

Note for presenters

• We will get a room with a networked Windows PC and Powerpoint. Presenters are asked to e-mail their slides beforehand (if using a Powerpoint presentation) and also bring slides on a USB stick. We hope to make the slides available online afterwards. Use of slides isn't mandatory: talk through the relevant WP pages if that's more informative/works better.

Aims

The focus of the day is to start a conversation about how academia and WP should view and engage each other, using as much evidence and as little personal opinion as possible We want to reset the tone of discussion to one which is focussed on working with practical realities of WP's widespread use and is accurate and precise about WP's strengths and weaknesses. This will help Wikipedia by increasing input from academics in London and will help academics as they will be talking in detail about what may well be the most widely used cross-faculty resource in modern higher education.

Please note there is NO official support from Imperial College or its library implied in this event. It is designed as a place of discussion between interested parties.

Attendees (by group) will:

1. All
   1. Understand the aims of Wikimedia UK and how they overlap with those of their own organisations/group;
   2. Understand the diversity of value present in Wikimedia projects (not just the encyclopedia);
   3. Have discussions with other groups
2. Students
   1. Join an edit-group to contribute to Wikipedia articles with other people of common interests
   2. Begin Wikipedia student clubs at their own Universities
   3. Be inspired to make Wikipedia a better resource
3. Academics
   1. Consider setting up a Campus Ambassadors program in their department http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Campus_Ambassadors
   2. Consider forming/leading edit groups at their department
4. Librarians
   1. Understand the key issues about Wikipedia as a learning tool in more detail
   2. Explore the usefulness of Wikipedia as one of several tools with other academics and students
   3. Understand GLAM and new Wikipedia initiatives better - there will be an opportunity to do this in informal discussions

Agenda

• 1345 Students meet and set up outreach activities
• 1400 Outreach around campus
• 1400-1730 Talks

  Talks will include Introducing Wikimedia (20 mins), Improving Wikipedia (20 mins), 5 pillars of Wikipedia (20 mins)

• 1745 Vinesh Patel (introduction) – 5 minutes
• 1750 Charles Matthews – Wikipedia and academia: Culture clash? - 25 minutes
• 1815 Professor Henry Rzepa – Wikipedia and the molecular sciences – 25 minutes
• 1840 Break and discussion with food and drink - 25 minutes
• 1905 Alex Stinson – Campus Ambassadors, the US experience – 25 minutes
• 1930 Dr. Jacob de Wolff – Wikipedia and Medicine – 25 minutes
• 1955 Vinesh Patel (closing speech) – 5 minutes

Handouts and materials

Suggestions welcome:

Attendees

Add yourself here if attending! If you are unsure as to how to edit a Wikimedia page, please e-mail vinesh.patel06@imperial.ac.uk to confirm your attendance

• Tom Morris 16:34, 13 March 2011 (UTC)