Jack Andraka on Wikipedia: #keepitfree
Support Wikipedia: #keepitfree https://donate.wikimedia.org/?utm_campaign=video_link utm_source=VL01Jack utm_medium=direct_link Also view on Wikimedia Common...
By: WikimediaFoundation
Wikipedia has a gender problem.
The online, crowdsourced encyclopedia is open to anyone who wants to edit it, but surveys suggest that nearly 90 percent of these volunteer "Wikipedians" are male. A 2011 editor survey by the Wikimedia Foundation pegged the number of active female editors at only 9 percent. Other surveys have found slightly different percentages, but none exceed about 15 percent female representation worldwide.
Now, researchers are delving into how that gender schism affects the content of Wikipedia, even as the Wikimedia Foundation and independent groups search for ways to get more women involved. [6 Myths About Girls and Science]
"This is something that people have lots of opinions about, but about which there is very little serious research," said Julia Adams, a sociologist at Yale University who is currently running a study on how academia is portrayed on Wikipedia compared with the actual structure and demographics of the academic world.
Adams' work, which is supported by the National Science Foundation, has already come under fire. A blurb on the ongoing study appeared in Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-Okla.) 2014 "Wastebook," a publication put out by the senator's office that highlights what he believes to be wasteful government spending.
The goal, Adams told Live Science, is to understand how well Wikipedia portrays scientific research and the demographics of the researchers doing the work.
"Girls and women look at Wikipedia, as do boys and men, and this influences how people see, for example, whether they belong in the sciences or not," Adams said.
Initial results should be ready soon, with further information coming in throughout next year, Adams said.
This is a condensed version of a report from Live Science. Read the full report. Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+.
First published December 3 2014, 3:25 PM
The rest is here:
Wikipedia's Scarcity of Women 'Wikipedians' Gets a Closer ...
A wiki (i// WIK-ee) is a web application which allows people to add, modify, or delete content in collaboration with others. In a typical wiki, text is written using a simplified markup language (known as "wiki markup") or a rich-text editor.[1][2] While a wiki is a type of content management system, it differs from a blog or most other such systems in that the content is created without any defined owner or leader, and wikis have little implicit structure, allowing structure to emerge according to the needs of the users.[2]
The encyclopedia project Wikipedia is the most popular wiki on the public web in terms of page views,[3] but there are many sites running many different kinds of wiki software. Wikis can serve many different purposes both public and private, including knowledge management, notetaking, community websites and intranets. Some permit control over different functions (levels of access). For example, editing rights may permit changing, adding or removing material. Others may permit access without enforcing access control. Other rules may also be imposed to organize content.
Ward Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work".[4] "Wiki" (pronounced [wiki][note 1]) is a Hawaiian word meaning "quick".[5][6][7]
Ward Cunningham and co-author Bo Leuf, in their book The Wiki Way: Quick Collaboration on the Web, described the essence of the Wiki concept as follows:[8]
A wiki enables communities to write documents collaboratively, using a simple markup language and a web browser. A single page in a wiki website is referred to as a "wiki page", while the entire collection of pages, which are usually well interconnected by hyperlinks, is "the wiki". A wiki is essentially a database for creating, browsing, and searching through information. A wiki allows non-linear, evolving, complex and networked text, argument and interaction.[9]
A defining characteristic of wiki technology is the ease with which pages can be created and updated. Generally, there is no review before modifications are accepted. Many wikis are open to alteration by the general public without requiring registration of user accounts. Many edits can be made in real-time and appear almost instantly online. This can facilitate abuse of the system. Private wiki servers require user authentication to edit pages, and sometimes even to read them.
Maged N. Kamel Boulos, Cito Maramba and Steve Wheeler write that the open wikis produce a process of Social Darwinism. "'Unfit' sentences and sections are ruthlessly culled, edited and replaced if they are not considered 'fit', which hopefully results in the evolution of a higher quality and more relevant page. Whilst such openness may invite 'vandalism' and the posting of untrue information, this same openness also makes it possible to rapidly correct or restore a 'quality' wiki page."[10]
Some wikis have an "edit" button or link directly on the page being viewed, if the user has permission to edit the page. If the user does not have the ability to edit the page (due to protection) the page may have a button that says "view source". This leads to an editing page which allows participants to structure and format wiki pages with a simplified markup language, sometimes known as wikitext (for example, starting a line of text with an asterisk often sets up a bulleted list). The style and syntax of wikitexts can vary greatly among wiki implementations,[example needed] some of which also allow HTML tags. Wikis favour plain-text editing, with fewer and simpler conventions than HTML, for indicating style and structure. Although limiting access to HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) of wikis limits user ability to alter the structure and formatting of wiki content, there are some benefits. Limited access to CSS promotes consistency in the look and feel, and having JavaScript disabled prevents a user from implementing code that may limit other users' access. The "view source" link links to a page where the user can view the markup of the page.
"I've had '''nothing''' yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take ''less''?" said the Hatter. "It's very easy to take ''more'' than nothing."
See the article here:
Wiki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikipedia has a gender problem.
The online, crowdsourced encyclopedia is open to anyone who wants to edit it, but surveys suggest that nearly 90 percent of these volunteer "Wikipedians" are male. A 2011 editor survey by the Wikimedia Foundation pegged the number of active female editors at only 9 percent. Other surveys have found slightly different percentages, but none exceed about 15 percent female representation worldwide.
Now, researchers are delving into how that gender schism affects the content of Wikipedia, even as the Wikimedia Foundation and independent groups search for ways to get more women involved. [6 Myths About Girls and Science]
"This is something that people have lots of opinions about, but about which there is very little serious research," said Julia Adams, a sociologist at Yale University who is currently running a study on how academia is portrayed on Wikipedia compared with the actual structure and demographics of the academic world.
Adams' work, which is supported by the National Science Foundation, has already come under fire. A blurb on the ongoing study appeared in Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-Okla.) 2014 "Wastebook," a publication put out by the senator's office that highlights what he believes to be wasteful government spending.
The goal, Adams told Live Science, is to understand how well Wikipedia portrays scientific research and the demographics of the researchers doing the work.
"Girls and women look at Wikipedia, as do boys and men, and this influences how people see, for example, whether they belong in the sciences or not," Adams said.
Initial results should be ready soon, with further information coming in throughout next year, Adams said.
This is a condensed version of a report from Live Science. Read the full report. Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+.
First published December 3 2014, 3:25 PM
See the rest here:
Where Are Wikipedia's Female Editors?
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
When the online encyclopedia Wikipedia came on the scene in January 2001, it initially was met with skepticism. How could an article jointly edited by anonymous volunteers be trusted?
But through the years, Wikipedia evolved becoming one of the most widely used medical references in the world, mainly because it is not edited by just anyone. And last year, the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine became the first American institution to offer a course on how to edit the nonprofit websites medical content.
Dr. Amin Azzam, who leads the month-long course on WikiProject Medicine, says he wants his students to go to Wikipedia, identify gaps in information and update entries using their own knowledge and credible medical resources.
x
"What I hope to do in helping them with this elective is to appreciate that the global system of Wikipedia is a system," said Azzam, a health sciences associate clinical professor. "Since Wikipedia is the fifth, sixth, or seventh most heavily trafficked Web page on the planet consistently, and since thats where people go for medical information, perhaps our students can see themselves as citizens of the global, health information-seeking community and make a difference that way.
That's one reason fourth-year medical student Raquel Kronen enrolled. While she has an extensive medical background, her writing skills are not as developed.
"Those are really different things. In order to be a good Wikipedia editor, you actually need both," she said. "You have to be able to know your information, transcribe your information in a way thats appropriate for the general public, and then, really, write in a clear fashion."
Understanding Wiki style
Students spend most of the course on their own, doing research and writing. But first, they attend two intensive workshops to learn how to write for Wikipedias medical project, WikiProject Medicine.
See the rest here:
Medical Students Learn to Treat Ailing Wikipedia Entries