Wikipedia:Medical Library Association October 2016

This is a supplemental event page for the Wikipedia presentation and event at October 2016 annual meeting for the Upstate New York and Ontario Chapter of the Medical Library Association.

Event details

• Friday, October 28, 2016
• conference in Watkins Glen, New York
• Official website
• Presentation by Lane Rasberry, user:bluerasberry, Wikipedian-in-Residence at Consumer Reports
• slides online!

Presentation - "The Inside Track on Wikipedia for Medical Librarians"

Wikipedia has been one of the most consulted sources of medical information for a generation. Despite popularity among readers, Wikipedia has a challenging relationship with libraries in its place among other reference works. This talk explores the extent to which Wikipedia matters in health science communication and what precedent exists for medical libraries responding to Wikipedia in a way that complements other library resources. Examples for general new media concepts are illustrated with Wikipedia’s own medical content as a way of critiquing Wikipedia’s scope, depth, and accuracy.

The event will start with a presentation which gives the Wikipedia community perspective on the following:

1. To what extent does Wikipedia matter in health communication?
2. How does one edit Wikipedia?
3. What is Wikipedia's quality control system?

Following the presentation, anyone may ask any question about Wikipedia to get answers or demonstrations.

All talk attendees will gain the ability to describe the nature of health information on Wikipedia, and have more insight into health information on the Internet

Referenced reading materials

• 
  Why Medical Schools Should Embrace Wikipedia
• 
  Editing Wikipedia articles on medicine
• 
  Wikipedia and Medicine: Quantifying Readership, Editors, and the Significance of Natural Language
• 
  Wikipedia Education Program Case Studies

Other support

The presentation is provided by Consumer Reports. Other organizations supporting Wikipedia outreach to health classes in New York include the following:

• 
  Consumer Reports
• 
  Choosing Wisely
• 
  Cochrane
• 
  Wiki Project Med
• 
  New York Academy of Sciences
• 
  Wikimedia New York City
• 
  Wiki Education Foundation
• 
  Docgraph

All of these organizations endorse this classroom outreach. Your facilitator, user:bluerasberry, does not represent any of them except Consumer Reports. The nature of the support is as follows -

• Consumer Reports sponsors the outreach and presentation.
• Choosing Wisely is the outreach health campaign on which this Wikipedia outreach program is based.
• Cochrane remains available to provide access to Cochrane publications or talk with Wikipedia contributors about using good sources.
• New York Academy of Sciences encourages universities in New York to contribute to Wikipedia.
• Wikimedia New York City is the local volunteer chapter of the Wikipedia community.
• Wiki Project Med is the international volunteer chapter of the Wikipedia community supporting the development of Wikipedia's medical coverage.
• Wiki Education Foundation provides support for professors in assignment design and students as they navigate editing Wikipedia for the first time, and software to report impact of Wikipedia editing by groups of students.
• DocGraph is providing analysis of Wikipedia use by medical students. Please consider opting in to participate.

Tools and support

• WikiProject Medicine, Wikipedia's own community forum for developing Wikipedia's health content
• DOI Wikipedia reference generator, a simple tool for converting a DOI into a citation on Wikipedia
• The Wikipedia Adventure, an online training program
• The Wikipedia:Education program provides Wikipedia:Training/For students

Contact

For local Wikipedia support contact user:bluerasberry, lrasberryconsumer.org.