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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

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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.

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"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.

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Medical Students Learn to Treat Ailing Wikipedia Entries

(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales emphasised on the potential of individuals to engage as a community and harness tools like the Internet to help address needs in a speech delivered at Sultan Qaboos University on Wednesday.

He was speaking as part of the ceremonies for the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment which awards public and private sector organisations for their use of technology in providing services.

He said Wikipedia's philosophy is in empowering individuals and giving them access to knowledge they can use for the betterment of mankind.

"Wikipedia shows one path forward...having a system in which people come together and collaborate in a spirit of openness and kindness and thoughtfulness' he said. 'This gives us a really strong need to have a sense of responsibility in our community.'

Contrary to popular belief that random people edit Wikipedia entries Wales said that the organisation relies on around 8000 volunteers of whom 3000-5000 act as a 'core community' that monitors the site.

"These are the people who are really building Wikipedia' he said.

He distinguished Wikipedia from social media such as Twitter which he considers to be emotional reactionary and ineffective in creating change.

"Things like Twitter can be as much of a mob mentality as anything else. It's not a place for thought and reflection. It's a place for quick reaction with short pieces of information.

'If we're really looking for the opportunities for humankind on this planet it has to be about thinking really hard and using reason to come to solutions to our problems' he said.

'And that involves a lot more than the very simple acts of social media.'

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Internet can be a tool to address community needs, Jimmy Wales says in Muscat speech

Wikipedia meaning and pronunciation
A project to create the most accurate and complete free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. Written as a collaboration of users across the Internet. Basically, the UrbanDictionary.com version...

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Wikipedia meaning and pronunciation - Video

OSB2013 - Roan Kattouw_Trevor Parscal - Wikipedia #39;s new editing system, and how you can use it too
This video is about OSB2013 - Roan Kattouw_Trevor Parscal - Wikipedia #39;s new editing system, and how you can use it too.

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OSB2013 - Roan Kattouw_Trevor Parscal - Wikipedia's new editing system, and how you can use it too - Video