Wikipedia:WikiProject Consumer Reports/university outreach

a Wikipedia editing party at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Lane Rasberry (user:bluerasberry), the Wikipedian at Consumer Reports, visits universities to support students in contributing to Wikipedia pages. Particularly this happens with students and teachers in health classes.

Purpose

Wikipedia is a highly consulted source of information on many topics. If people contribute to Wikipedia then readers of Wikipedia benefit.

Anyone can contribute to Wikipedia articles, including students. In the Wikipedia's education program, there are tutorials and support resources to help professors and classes integrate exercises to contribute to Wikipedia into classrooms. Students who contribute to Wikipedia report that they find the experience meaningful and helpful for their learning.

Scope

This project is sponsored by Consumer Reports, and for that reason, professors and classes which are sharing information which is relevant to typical consumers are favored in this project.

More particularly, classes in New York state are favored, and medical schools and health classes are preferred over other kinds of classes.

Process

Wikipedia outreach to universities began in summer 2010 with the public policy project. After that trial was finished, the Wikipedia education program was established to develop best practices and resources for classes to partner with Wikipedia. About 1000 classes have participated in the program. Most of what happens in the course of this kind of outreach is established and can be predicted, even though since Wikipedia is live and public, there are always surprises.

Resources

Wikipedia education program

• The general portal to information about the Wikipedia education program is at Wikipedia:Education program.
• To ask a question about the education program, visit the Education noticeboard.
• To access training and resources to support a class in doing Wikipedia, visit the hub for instructors or the hub for anyone who wants to volunteer

Health content on Wikipedia

• The general portal to all Wikipedia health policy is WikiProject Medicine. On the talk page anyone may get an answer to any question about anything related to Wikipedia and health.
• Health information on Wikipedia is a Wikipedia article

Affiliations

• Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/Medicine October 2013
• Education Program:Harvard University/Obgyn bootcamp (April 2014)
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 2014-present

Potential affiliations

Medical schools are the obvious options for partnership.

Medical and Allied Health Schools in New York
School	University affiliation	Hospital affiliation	Institution type	Location
Albany Medical College	Union University	Albany Medical Center Hospital	medical school	Albany
Albert Einstein College of Medicine	Yeshiva University	?	medical school	The Bronx
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons	Columbia University	Columbia University Medical Center	medical school	Manhattan
Hofstra University North Shore–LIJ School of Medicine	Hofstra University	North Shore University Hospital	medical school	Long Island
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	none	Mount Sinai Hospital	medical school	Manhattan
New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine	New York Institute of Technology	?	medical school	Long Island
New York Medical College	Touro College	Metropolitan Hospital Center	medical school	Valhalla, New York
New York University School of Medicine	New York University	NYU Langone Medical Center	medical school	Manhattan
Stony Brook University School of Medicine	Stony Brook University	Stony Brook University Hospital	medical school	Long Island
State University of New York Upstate Medical University	State University of New York	?	medical school	Syracuse
SUNY Downstate Medical Center	State University of New York	?	medical school	Brooklyn
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine	Touro College	?	medical school	Harlem
University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences	University at Buffalo	(does not own hospital)	medical school	Buffalo, New York
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry	University of Rochester	University of Rochester Medical Center	medical school	Rochester, New York
Weill Cornell Medical College	Cornell University	?	medical school	Manhattan

• watchlist
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Consumer Reports/Medical education

Events

Consumer Reports presented the "Why Medical Schools Should Embrace Wikipedia" paper as noted on that paper's project page.

Participate!

Anyone can participate in the Wikipedia education program if they like. If you are in New York and interested in health articles and want to partner with Consumer Reports in developing Wikipedia health content, then contact Lane Rasberry, Wikipedian in Residence at Consumer Reports!

• email lrasberry@consumer.org
• call 914.378.2684 during office hours EST. This number is in New York.