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Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Stony Brook University/Health Communication (autumn 2015)

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Course name
Health Communication
Institution
Stony Brook University
Instructor
Bluerasberry
Subject
health communication
Course dates
2015-09-01 – 2015-12-31
Approximate number of student editors
15


We will consider Wikipedia as a communication channel for distributing health information. The lecture will cover the quality and popularity of Wikipedia's health content, how it competes for attention with other similar sources of information, and how anyone may influence the content in Wikipedia. Participants in this project will reflect on the quality of a Wikipedia article of their choice, contribute health information to it, and note what response the Wikipedia community makes to their contribution.

Lane Rasberry, Wikipedian-in-residence at Consumer Reports, is presenting. Consumer Reports is a nonprofit organization which, among other projects, seeks to increase access to the health information which informs health care decisions.

Student Assigned Reviewing
Ipikachooseyou
Alubitz45
Jeberhart93
Marissagold1024
Rachelleah15
Datagirl05
Akranidis
Csaninocencio1
Kerri.mahoney10

Timeline

Week 1: Preparation

Before class
  • Bookmark this course page!
  • Review this syllabus
  • Create a Wikipedia account (2 minutes)
  • Click the enroll button at the top left of this course page. You should see your Wikipedia username at the bottom of this course page after enrolling.
  • Find an academic paper on a health topic that you like and bring it to class. You will share a fact from this paper in a Wikipedia article that you choose, and you will cite this paper.
  • Watch the videos to the right — "The Impact of Wikipedia" and guide for contributors to health topics (7 minutes total)
  • Complete the online training for students (30 minutes maximum)
Assignment - Class 1
Wikipedia as a health information source

Objectives

  1. Learn enough about Wikipedia to be able to discuss it
  2. Add a little information to some Wikipedia health article
  3. Home assignment - add more information to the article you choose

Class is three hours - this is the approximate agenda

  • 0:00-0:20 - Overview of health information on Wikipedia - why it matters
  • 0:20-1:00 - Ask questions about Wikipedia. Live demos are ready for common questions.
  • 1:00-1:20 - Tutorial on contributing to Wikipedia.
  • 1:20-2:30 - It's time! Everyone breaks into small groups and edits Wikipedia. Breaks throughout for demos and questions.
  • 2:30-2:50 - Reconvene - share experiences.
  • 2:50-3:00 - Review assignment for next week. It will be just like class, except you do it alone, and next week we check it.

Assignment

  • Add more information to the article you have chosen to develop
  • Review the work of two classmates - post your comments and constructive criticism in Wikipedia's place for article feedback
  • Consider reading "Editing Wikipedia articles on medicine", a PDF.

Milestone

  • After this class, everyone should be comfortable making small changes to Wikipedia articles if you wish.
  • Because participants will have edited Wikipedia, also now and forever after everyone will be more comfortable having conversations about how online health information comes to appear in Wikipedia, on blogs, in new sites, etc.

Week 2: Remixing and circulating online information

Assignment - Considering feedback, metrics, and impact

Objectives

  1. Learn enough about citing and remixing sources to be able to discuss the issue
  2. Post critiques of your classmates' work
  3. In class and later in life — check the Wikipedia metrics showing the impact of what you did

Class is three hours - this is the approximate agenda

  • 0:00-0:20 - Introduction to Wikipedia metadata - a tour of how citations, articles, images, and pdfs get remixed into other websites and languages
  • 0:20-1:00 - Ask questions about Wikipedia. Quality control will be discussed, particularly matching academic citations to facts.
  • 1:00-2:30 - It's time! Everyone breaks into small groups and edits Wikipedia. Breaks throughout for demos and questions.
  • 2:30-2:50 - The project is almost over - let's talk about impact and metrics in health communication, and how you can see the results of what you did.
  • 2:50-3:00 - Information wants to be free - may you and everyone around you always have the information you need when you need it.

Milestone

  • From here forward, if you wish to share information in Wikipedia, you will know how to do this properly and be able to estimate the time commitment for doing so.
  • By extension - you will have a model to consider if you share health information anywhere online, and be able to think about the differences between online and print publishing.

Week 3: Follow up - sometime later

In class -
  • Sometime after the course, the class will receive a report containing the following metrics
    • How much content the class collectively added
    • How many pageviews the audience gave the Wikipedia articles which the class edited
  • Wikipedia is an open forum - all are welcome to do as they like on Wikipedia without further permission, now or anytime later
  • Thanks!
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