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;Altmetrics and Wikipedia
;Response to the House of Lords Select Committee on Digital Skills report


[[File:Altmetric logo.png|right|200px]]
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‘Impact’ is a perennial concern for organisations, including Wikimedia chapters. Showing that what you’re up to makes a difference: contributing to free knowledge.
The House of Lords Select Committee on Digital Skills [http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/digital-skills-committee/news/report-published/ today published its report]. Wikimedia UK submitted evidence to the consultation, [[House_of_Lords_Digital_Skills_Committee_evidence|which you can see here]].  


It’s a familiar topic if you’re a researcher and can affect whether you get funding. It’s one thing to be able to say that your article has appeared in a journal with a circulation of 10,000 copies but that doesn’t necessarily show that it has influenced people. Ideally you want to see people talking about your research, sharing it with other people, and using it to inform their own work. This is often done by counting how many times an article is cited in other publications, but misses out the likes of social media and newspapers. Altmetric.com measures the digital impact of articles, and <span class="plainlinks">[http://www.altmetric.com/blog/new-source-alert-wikipedia/ recently announced]</span> that they are now including Wikipedia in their statistics.
In the report the Committee makes a series of important recommendations which will influence the future digital skills of the UK. Perhaps chief among these is the recommendation to “define the internet as a utility service, available for all to access and use.” This would place access to the internet on an equal footing with access to water and energy and is an acknowledgement of just how fundamental the internet is to our modern way of life.


This is a significant step. Wikipedia is the 6th most visited website in the world and receives about 500 million unique visitors every month. Not only is it one of our first sources of information in the digital age, it is read on an incredible scale. If your work is being used there, it is reaching far more people than would otherwise be possible.
The report makes a number of recommendations and statements that are of particular interest to Wikimedia UK. The countries that ranked above the UK in a recent digital study had all “invested heavily in digital 'foundations', including up-skilling the population in technical expertise and digital capability...” These skills are extremely important and we believe that the use of Wikipedia and other open knowledge projects as both teaching and learning tools can offer great benefits to digital literacy.


So why is the inclusion of Wikipedia something to celebrate?
The Wikimedia movement globally is making great strides towards the acceptance and appreciation of Wikipedia as a learning and teaching tool. Countries such as [http://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/06/10/israels-ministry-of-education-wikimedia-israel-agree-on-new-unique-initiative/ Israel], Serbia and [https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/09/06/wikiskills-helps-teachers-use-wikipedia-part-one/ Sweden] are taking advantage of the capacity and scale of the free encyclopedia in creative ways within their education systems. The UK should likewise adopt the use of Wikipedia and other open knowledge projects.


In short it’s another step towards recognising the reach and importance of Wikipedia and might encourage academics to interact with it. Already groups are considering Wikipedia as part of their outreach work when applying for funding. The <span class="plainlinks">[http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/hillforts-atlas.html Atlas of Hillforts Project]</span> of Oxford University’s school of archaeology specifically mentioned Wikipedia in terms of data dissemination and received £950,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. One more incentive might help people get involved and it creates a positive feedback loop. The better quality information Wikipedia has, the more likely academics will be to improve it.
<span class="plainlinks">[https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2015/02/response-to-the-house-of-lords-select-committee-on-digital-skills-report/<nowiki>[</nowiki>Read the full post here...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span>
 
Importantly, this move might help encourage open access. Researchers and academics generally understand conflict of interest issues, so the key way of making it more likely that Wikipedia will cite your work is to make it available to as wide an audience as possible through open access.
 
Overall any initiative which might increase the quality of Wikipedia in the long run and improve its reputation is surely a good thing.
<span class="plainlinks">[https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2015/02/altmetrics-and-wikipedia/<nowiki>[</nowiki>...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span>


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Revision as of 18:47, 17 February 2015

Cymraeg | English

Wikimedia UK

Open knowledge for all

Our website

If you'd like to see what Wikimedia UK is working on, our website is the best place for our community of volunteers, donors and members to stay up to date.

About Wikimedia UK

The Wikimedia projects are special: they are written and curated by thousands of volunteers. They are also supported by voluntary donations, through Wikimedia UK, the Wikimedia Foundation and other international chapters.

Wikimedia UK is a charity registered in England and Wales that supports and promotes Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects such as Wikimedia Commons. Our mission is to help people and organisations create and preserve open knowledge, and to help provide easy access for all. We do this by supporting volunteer editors and contributors ('Wikimedians'), by working in partnership with cultural and educational institutions, by hosting training sessions and editing events, and by acting to advocate the benefits of open knowledge generally.

There are several ways to get involved in the charity's work. You can become a member for just £5 per year. You can volunteer to work with us in a variety of ways, both online and offline. You can also make a donation (and if you're a UK taxpayer, we can claim Gift Aid). Subscribe to our Friends' Newsletter to stay in touch. Click the buttons below to learn more.

Volunteer

Contact us

General inquiries: infoatwikimedia.org.uk
Media: pressatwikimedia.org.uk

You can follow us on Twitter (@wikimediauk) or Like us on Facebook (WikimediaUK).

You can also sign up to the email discussion list for the Wikimedia community in the UK.

More contact details

Get Involved

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Join Wikimedia UK

Members play a key role in shaping the future of the Chapter. Membership is open to all and costs just £5 a year.

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Events

We organise dozens of events each year, including meetups, editing events, "Backstage Pass" events at museums, workshops and conferences.

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Volunteer

Participate in one of our ongoing outreach projects, working with the cultural and education institutions of the UK.

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Project grants

Request a project grant to help you with your editing or outreach activities on any Wikimedia project.

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Donate to Wikimedia UK to keep Wikipedia running free from advertising and support our work getting more people and institutions working with Wikipedia and its sister projects.

We are always interested to hear from new volunteers. If you have an idea you'd like to help make happen, or time and skills you would like to offer Wikimedia UK, please get in touch on volunteeringatwikimedia.org.uk

Для української мови Вікіпедії ласка, відвідайте http://uk.wikipedia.org; для Вікімедіа Україна відвідайте http://ua.wikimedia.org
For the Ukrainian language Wikipedia please visit http://uk.wikipedia.org; for Wikimedia Ukraine please visit http://ua.wikimedia.org

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