Information literacy & the importance of reliable sources - edited presentation given to Glasgow Caledonian University Library staff in February 2018.
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ICT role in 21st century education and it's challenges.pdf
Don't cite Wikipedia, write Wikipedia!
1. Don’t cite Wikipedia,
write Wikipedia!
Information Literacy &
the importance of
reliable sources Glasgow Caledonian University
Monday 5th February 2018
Sara Thomas, Wikimedian in Residence, SLIC
@lirazelf
2. “Wikipedia is the single
greatest Open Education
resource the world has
ever seen”
Jim Groom, Instructional technologist, speaking at #OER16
3. Wikipedia is more
accurate than you
think
● Quality & ratings scale
● Vandalism picked up quickly
● Study by Nature in 2005,
found Wiki nearly as
accurate as Britannica
● Journal of Clinical Oncology,
2010 found Wiki as accurate
as Physician Data Query.
4.
5. Notability
General notability guideline:
If a topic has received
significant coverage in reliable
sources that are independent
of the subject, it is presumed
to be suitable for a stand-
alone article or list.
11. Student reflections
Students respond well to this sharing of open
knowledge in a real world application of teaching and
learning.
Aine Kavanagh’s article on High Grade Serous
carcinoma has been viewed 20,000 times in a year...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQR_1mZ-gAA
(Screengrab omitted for licensing reasons)
Intro
Name & position & organisation
Bit about the project
Bit about what a wikimedian in residence is, difference between Wikipedia & Wikimedia
Why is open important? (Do not give me do not remove or for reference only)
Better decisions, Better society
Bassel Khartabil - opened up internet in Syria, increased the volume & quality of info available to the Syrian public.
But this, to me, this is what Wiki really looks like.
Wikipedia is the best-known face of the open knowledge movement. Open knowledge is important because a better quality of available information makes for a more informed general public. A more informed general public is able to make better, more informed decisions. Better decisions give us a better society. Sick ofbeing asked to make decisions based on incomplete or inaccurate information. Contribution to open knowledge is a contribution to society. Open knowledge can help to give us a better society.
Writing on Wiki teaches information literacy - wiki has rules about reliable sources, it has rules about referencing, it has rules about taking a neutral point of view.
Nature of objectivity…
Nature study - 42 articles from each were tested - Only eight serious errors, such as misinterpretations of important concepts, were detected in the pairs of articles reviewed, four from each encyclopedia," reported Nature. "But reviewers also found many factual errors, omissions or misleading statements: 162 and 123 in Wikipedia and Britannica, respectively."
Talk here about CRUK residency
First thing 5ey do when they get a diagnosis is go to google
2013, WHO bulletin said that EP is the most popular health content website in the world.
80% med students, 50x70% GPs
Wikipedia also has a guideline about not using Wikipedia as a source for Wikipedia - must come from another source… Wikipedia is Not a Reliable Source
We’re open to anonymous editing - but we’re much more accurate than you think.
https://www.nature.com/articles/438900a
https://www.nature.com/search?date_range=2005-2013&order=relevance&q=wikipedia
http://corporate.britannica.com/britannica_nature_response.pdf
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4530930.stm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia
Much of the argument around the DM not being deemed a reliable source is that it does not have a good history when it comes to fact-checking or accuracy.
We also have guidelines about Conflict of Interest, Neutral Point of View, No personal interpretation (don’t put stuff on that doesn’t have a published reliable source to back it up)
Wikipedia is a tertiary source, based on reliable secondary sources, & some primary sources
Wikipedia does not INTEND to be the be all and end all.
Wikipedia by its nature encourages critical thinking
Don’t trust everything you read on the internet
Don’t trust everything you read.
This guide introduces...
His is an old slide too, this is from November last year. And I’ll still using it, which I think says so,etching about the issue of fake news...
We’ve been combating fake news for years… Teaching with Wiki teaches information and media literacy.
The real face of Wiki and Education - Wiki EDU
Wiki Education Foundation, which specialises in the use of Wiki projects to enrich education, cultivating deep learning experiences for students, working with libraries to expand public access to their material, and working with academic associations to enrich the coverage of their field on Wiki.
Wiki Education Dashboard, Visiting Scholar Programme, and resources for use - specific to particular subjects - but only available in the US & Canada
Wikipedia is very open about the fact that it is a tertiary source based on reliable secondary sources. It is not a place for wild new non-peer reviewed theories. It is a springboard, it is the starting place, it is a ready made reading list if you use the references section correctly.
Chris Harlow - Neuroangiogenesis- learning to search, using databases, learning to formulate search
Writing Wikipedia articles
Improving Wikipedia articles
Translate an article
All illustrations to an article
Copyediting
Writing Wikibooks
Adding pictures
Translation studies at University of Edinburgh
Queen Mary University of London x research methods (film) 2013-2016, compulsory from 2015
Write an article, collaborate
Stirling uni - use wiki books as collaborative tool in media studies
Imperial college London - working with WikiProject medicine to improve the content avail online about healthcare.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQR_1mZ-gAA
2.20
4.20
Wiki EDU sponsored Dr Zach McDowell to conduct a study of program participants in the autumn term of 2016.
What skills does contributing to Wiki teach?
Writing skills development
Media, digital & information literacy
Critical Research, critical thinkingThe study found 96% of instructors thought the Wikipedia assignment was more or much more valuable for teaching students digital literacy than traditional assignments, and 85% thought the Wikipedia assignment was more or much more valuable for teaching students about the reliability of online sources. As one student participant in a focus group said about learning to write for Wikipedia and having to understand sourcing guidelines, “It raises an awareness of what is good information, what is bad information … you have much more of a questioning mentality and you’re a lot more conscious of the validity of the information that you read.”
Writing for a public Audience79% of instructors thought the Wikipedia assignment was more or much more valuable for teaching students to write clearly for the general public.When students contribute to Wikipedia, they recognize that their work may be read by a broad and diverse audience. They are compelled to ensure that their contributions are comprehensible to a wide variety of readers.
CollaborationThey become adept at receiving as well as offering criticism, and they learn that relinquishing some level of ownership over your work is a path to improvement.
Motivation - study has found that motivation for writing for Wikipedia is twice that of writing for an instructor - because the public are going to read it, they want it to be accurate, and because they have a sense of pride in what they’ve written.At the same time, they have a sense of pride that something they produced may help others and live well beyond the classroom. “When you think about someone else reading your work, you don’t want there to be errors in it, you want it to be relevant. I think it just encouraged me to look back at everything and get input from other people and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite,” a focus group participant said. Responsibility and pride encourage students to produce work that is meticulous, well-researched, and thorough. Not only can they share their work with friends, family, and colleagues, but they can truly say that they’ve published something — a feat most undergraduates rarely get to experience.