London Wikipedia Academy

What:The London Wikipedia Academy is a mini-conference aimed at starting a conversation between academics and Wikipedians in London, moving from ethereal opinions to organised, evidence based, informed discussions. 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 or inferred analyses as possible. The event is being hosted by the first Wikipedia student club in the UK - Wikipedians at Imperial College - and we wish to provide a stimulating and original experience to attendees. We want to reset the tone of discussion about Wikipedia to one which accepts the practical realities of its current widespread use and one which is accurate and precise about Wikipedia's strengths and weaknesses in providing information. 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 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; all people are welcome but those who are not Imperial College card holders must post their name below or e-mail to confirm their attendance beforehand.

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

• 1200-1400 Students meet and conduct outreach activities
• 1430-1700 Group editing amongst students - all are welcome

1745-2000 Talks from invited speakers:

• 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 and Teaching with Wikipedia, the US experience – 25 minutes
• 1930 Dr. Jacob de Wolff – Wikipedia and Medicine – 25 minutes
• 1955 Vinesh Patel (closing speech) – 5 minutes

About the speakers

Charles Matthews

A former mathematics lecturer at Cambridge University, Charles Matthews is a major contributor to Wikipedia with well over 200,000 entries. He is currently also involved in Wikpedia's official structure in the UK as Office Manager for Wikimedia UK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Charles_Matthews/About_me

Professor Henry Rzepa

A professor in Computational Chemistry at Imperial College, Henry Rzepa has been involved and interested in Wikipedia, open source information and the internet itself for many years. http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/h.rzepa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Rzepa

Alex Stinson

Alex is an American undergraduate student with majors in English and History. Currently studying as a visiting student at Hertford College, Oxford, he has been on the Wikipedia Ambassadors Steering Committee since its inception http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Sadads . He has also run teaching assignments at James Madison University, his home university in the United States.

Dr. Jacob de Wolff

Dr. de Wolff is a Dutch doctor currently working as a registrar in acute medicine at UCH. He has an extensive list of Wikipedia edits and is the founder of Wikiproject medicine - the collaborative project aimed at organising efforts to improve Wikipedia medical articles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jfdwolff

Media mentions

• BBC education: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12809944
• Interview with transworld radio 22/03/11
• Boingboing blog post (follow-up of BBC article)

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)
• LoopZilla 08:23, 19 March 2011 (UTC)
• M E Goudge 08:23, 19 March 2011 (UTC)
• Bernie Hogan 10:52, 23 March 2011 (ADT)
• Nawal 17:57, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
• Pingbeebee 17:57, 23 March 2011 (UTC)