Japan SciCom Forum Workshop
- Date: 16 May 2019 (Thurday) 16:00-17:30
- Place: Tokyo Institute of Technology
- Language: English (partly Japanese)
- Website
Proposal edit
This workshop aims to help scientists and science communicators to understand Wikipedia. Although Wikipedia is now widely regarded as a basic information resource for citizens, especially children and students, the relationship between Wikipedia and specialists is not very good. Specialists and academics tend to consider Wikipedia as a source of unreliable information, while Wikipedia communities are often at odds with specialists because Wikipedians sometimes find their behaviour ‘bossy’ at their standard. The facilitator of the session, the organiser of the Wikipedia Translation Class Project, hopes to bridge the gap between these two communities.
The workshop consists of two parts: lecture and practice. In the first part, the facilitator explains basic rules and cultures of Wikipedia. As of March 2019, there are 288 Wikipedias in different languages, and each Wikipedia has a distinct editing community, culture, and rules. Beginner Wikipedians, especially specialists, must understand its culture and rules before editing articles. This part also discusses the problems of Wikipedia, including reliability and gender bias.
In the second part, participants practice Wikipedia editing. The participants are required to log in to Wikipedia and make their own ‘sandboxes’, or the user’s own practice field for preparing drafts. The facilitator also invites questions and free discussions, for the participants will most likely come up with various questions while playing around in the sandboxes.
Note: Please bring your own laptop and mouse. Do avoid using a touchpad or tablet, for they may make it difficult for beginners to edit Wikipedia. Create your own Wikipedia account in advance. If you would like to maintain your own privacy, choose the username which does not easily reveal your real identity.
Useful links edit
Please read the following pages before coming to the event.