Since 2001, Wikipedia has been much loved by users and oft vilified by librarians and educators. Now slightly more than twenty years into this experiment in crowdsourcing, Wikipedia has stood the test of time and shown its value as an encyclopedia for the world. Yet we as librarians and educators are not making the most of its existence and accessibility. Many of us still steer students away from it while, secretly or not so secretly, using it as a fast-fact reference tool. It is time to embrace using Wikipedia as an encyclopedia everyone can not only learn from but can add information to and edit existing articles.
Courtney Baron (2020) suggests that even while students should not be taught to cite Wikipedia, even the most novice researcher should be taught to use Wikipedia to identify both topics of interest and resources outside of Wikipedia that may be references in research writing (p. 225). But the real genius of using Wikipedia with students is in using it to teach information literacy through doing. Courtney Stine (2022) recently pointed out that “writing and editing Wikipedia articles showcases the research process, requiring students to understand how information is created, ask questions to identify information gaps, use strategic searching to find information, evaluate articles for authority and inclusivity, properly use and cite sources, and connect with other researchers (p. 166).”
Teaching information literacy through editing Wikipedia is an engaging way to teach upper-level teen students and university students the concepts encompassed in ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy (“Framework for information literacy for higher education,” 2016). Any number of universities and libraries have held Wikipedia edit-a-thons for various reasons. Yet, how many of us really know how to edit Wikipedia ourselves, let alone how to train others to edit? It is all well and good to host an edit-a-thon and hope that everyone is able to figure out how to do it. But to be able to use an edit-a-thon as a tool for learning takes some skill, practice, and knowledge many of us do not already possess.
In this workshop, attendees will create a Wikipedia login (if they have not already done so), learn some basic editing skills, and edit in real-time a Wikipedia article, with guidance from the presenters. We have participated in some train-the-trainer sessions with Wikimedia to prepare to them to use Wikipedia editing to teach information literacy skills and have hosted joint virtual edit-a-thons at both USF and TSU. We will share their experiences and student feed back from these edit-a-thons.
At the end of the workshop, participants will have enough skills to edit Wikipedia and host an edit-a-thon in their library or educational setting.
References
Baron, C. (2020). From “Don’t use it” to “Let’s edit!”. Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, 39(2), 219-238. https://doi.org/10.1086/711302
Framework for information literacy for higher education. (2016, January 11). Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). https://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
Stine, C. (2022). Crowdsourced pedagogy: Editing Wikipedia and the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. College and Research Libraries News, 83(4), 166-170.
