Wikipedia Science Conference
We are planning a two-day conference, around the intersection of STEM subjects and Wikimedia, to take place in 2015.
Details
- Where?
The Gibbs Building, Euston Road, London NW1 2BE (provisionally). This is opposite Euston Square tube and within easy walking distance of three other tube stations.
Despite the London location, this will aim to be a national conference and we will try to schedule it with long-distance travellers in mind.
- When?
To be decided: The Easter holiday and early September are both possibilities. Please weigh in!
- Cost?
Costs are low thanks to the generosity of the two charities involved (Wellcome and Wikimedia UK) so we anticipate that this will be free or very cheap to attendees.
Audience
- Researchers and educators in STEM subjects
- Science communicators
- Librarians & other information professionals
- Managers & funders of research
- Wikipedia/ Wikimedia volunteers and staff
Themes
Note: a theme appearing here does not mean that it will be covered exhaustively in the conference. These themes define the overlap of Wikipedia and science: it will be up to the participants to decide which themes to focus on.
- Wikipedia and Wikimedia (including Wikidata, Wikisource, Wikimedia Commons...) as platforms for promoting informed public discussion of scientific topics (acknowledging that the public have a curiosity about all sorts of scientific topics, and overwhelmingly use Wikipedia as a starting point to self-educate).
- Wikipedia and Wikimedia as a platform for research (e.g. the Research portal).
- Wikipedia and Wikimedia as a model for scientific publishing and citizen science (including Wiki-to-Journal publication, Journal-to-Wiki publication, altmetrics, machine-extraction of data from published research, open bibliographic data, data citation, crowdsourced enhancement of scholarly databases, integration of Wikipedia with open/free services such as Figshare, ORCID, Flickr...)
- Wikipedia and Wikimedia as platforms for scientific education.
- Women in STEM subjects: is Wikipedia reinforcing stereotypes or providing role models? What is being done?
Programme
- Invited speakers
- Dr Daniel Mietchen (User:Daniel Mietchen) has agreed in principle.
- MLP will approach Dr Peter Murray Rust for a follow-up on his Wikimania talk.
- It would be great to have a speaker from the Wellcome Trust
- Other suggestions? Who would be ideal to talk about women in science & their biographies on Wikipedia?
- Submitted panels/ demos
We should call for session proposals on the above themes, although there will not be much time available
- Unconference
A block of the conference will be left unplanned so that attendees can divide into groups and run short sessions on what they are interested in.
- Training
Attendees should be able to get training on wiki editing, and on finding articles in their subject area. This could be done as a half-day session.
- Evening event
There will be some sort of networking or cultural event in the evening between the two days. Perhaps a visit to the Wellcome Library next door?
Interested Wikimedians
The following have expressed an interest
- User:MartinPoulter
- User:JohnBod
- User:Pigsonthewing
- User:Yaris678
- User:HenryScow
- User:FrankNorman
- add yourself
WMUK Staff: Stevie Benton
Rationale
- to come when I'm back from lunch. - MLP
How will success be measured?
- Number of attendees; variety of organisations represented; attendee evaluation; open content projects that result; media coverage; sessions written up as papers; new wiki editors registered/ lapsed editors reactivated. What else?