Submissions/Soliciting expert reviews and contributions

From Wikimania 2011 • Haifa, Israel


This is an open submission for Wikimania 2011.

Review no.

171

Title of the submission

Soliciting expert reviews and contributions

Type of submission (workshop, tutorial, panel, presentation)

presentation

Author of the submission

Alex Dunkel

E-mail address or username (if username, please confirm email address in Special:Preferences)

VisionHolder

Country of origin

U.S.A.

Affiliation, if any (organization, company etc.)

N/A

Personal homepage or blog

N/A

Abstract (please use no less than 300 words to describe your proposal)

The contributions and feedback from experts is critical for the enhancement of Wikipedia's reputation, particularly among the academic community. Whether coordinated by WikiMedia or solicited by individual editors, the potential rewards are great for both Wikipedia and the researchers. Although Wikipedia has its own vetting processes in the form of peer reviews, good article nominations, and featured article candidates, the researchers know their subjects better than anyone else and can usually provide better feedback than volunteer reviewers. Researchers often have access to sources that require subscriptions, as well as their own photos or rare specimens not typically accessible to the general public. In some cases, a researcher can even critique illustrations based on fragmentary remains of the original. In return, researchers can not only gain a comprehensive, illustrated, and accurate Wiki article about their subject, but can also use their Wiki-contact to help announce new discoveries. A high-quality Wikipedia article can also be used by researchers to help solicit funding for their research (despite the neutrality) because the article(s) can highlight the importance of the subject and other critical facts.

Focusing primarily on primates, particularly lemurs, I have developed professional relationships with most lemur experts. I have collaborated with primatologists and paleontologists to produce multiple high-quality articles (e.g. Saadanius, Subfossil lemur, Silky Sifaka, Javan Slow Loris, and many others). I have even had success reaching out to unrelated fields, which resulted in the professionally reviewed article Thomcord (grape). I will share my success stories as well as offer advice for individual editors who wish to develop such professional relationships to enhance the content and appearance of their articles.

Large-scale academic collaborations, such as Expert review, may also be discussed. Such projects provide their own unique set of challenges. For example, such standardized interactions offer less potential for relationship building and announcing discoveries. However, the increased visibility offers the potential to attract more attention and feedback. But until such large-scale projects take flight, individual editors can easily solicit feedback and contributions from experts by simply reaching out in a professional manner.

Track (People and Community/Knowledge and Collaboration/Infrastructure)

Knowledge and Collaboration

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?

Yes, pending scholarship application. (I cannot attend without a full scholarship.)

Slides or further information (optional)

N/A


Interested attendees

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  1. Slashme 09:42, 24 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  2. CT Cooper · talk 21:06, 20 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Philippe (WMF) 06:19, 28 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Delphine (notafish) 08:45, 1 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  5. This might be interesting. Espacially how specialist will work for free as Nupedia failed and if they will not bring SciPOV to Wikipedia.--Juan de Vojníkov 06:07, 7 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Georgiasouthernlynn 21:01, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  7. Sadads 10:19, 31 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  8. Julle 19:58, 7 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  9. JanPaul123 21:44, 26 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  10. --Frank Schulenburg 23:28, 26 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  11. DarTar 20:44, 5 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  12. Vibhijain 11:41, 6 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  13. Very cool. --Charles Jeffrey Danoff 04:59, 17 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  14. Mietchen 02:54, 27 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  15. Add your username here.
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