Wikipedia, usually forbidden from academia as potentially inaccurate, has found a place in a handful of college classrooms.

Select universities across the nation, including Syracuse University, and the nonprofit organization that runs Wikipedia are working together to incorporate Wikipedia in the classroom. The project, known as the Public Policy Initiative, is the first attempt to systematically improve articles on Wikipedia, starting with the public policy topic area, according to a news release from May 2010.

Wikimedia, the nonprofit, received a $1.2 million grant from the Stanton Foundation, a long-time partner with the nonprofit, to fund the initiative, which will take place in a two-phase process.

Phase one, which began in November, consisted of creating face-to-face relationships and getting feedback on ideas from university professors nationwide. 

Fall 2010 marked the start of phase two: to improve the quality of the public policy area of Wikipedia. With both phases combined, the project is expected to be a 17-month long process, according to a Wikimedia Outreach article in August.

Early in the semester, students will be trained in skills, including writing techniques, understanding how Wikipedia works, learning the appropriate use of the website as a resource, strengthening the ability to think critically and evaluate cited sources, and experiencing the collaborative and technical aspects of working on a website like Wikipedia.

Students will then begin to improve public policy content for Wikipedia in various ways, such as writing new articles, creating visual aids, researching and adding sources to existing articles, and more. 

Carol Dwyer, research project coordinator at SU, is currently teaching a course titled ‘Wikipedia and Public Policy.’ She could not be reached for comment to elaborate on her class.

Organizers chose public policy as the topic of interest for the initiative because it is a topic area Wikimedia believes needs improvement and because it covers a wide array of fields, such as history, economics and law, according to the article.

Wikimedia representatives could not be reached for comment.

Eight professors in five universities across the country are taking part in the project for the fall semester: one from SU, four professors at George Washington University, two professors at Georgetown University, one professor at Harvard University and one at Indiana University at Bloomington.

Donna Infeld is a professor at GW participating in the Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative. She has redesigned the course requirements for her policy analysis class to incorporate Wikipedia into a yearly summer assignment.

Rather than having students choose between finding an evaluation report and critiquing it or following a policy analysis and critiquing it, Infeld added a third option to the assignment. The new option required students to write a policy analysis paper, which allowed them to become experts in a specific policy topic. Students then used the knowledge they gained in order to update, add content to or create a page on Wikipedia, she said.

‘We’re in the digital age — the Internet age,’ she said. ‘Wikipedia has a very strong presence, so I just thought it would be exciting for the students to learn how to use and to try to improve it.’

Incorporating Wikipedia in the classroom will give assignments a greater purpose because students’ written work would be published for a global audience, rather than just their professors, according to the Wikimedia blog.   

Throughout the semester, Wikimedia will send campus ambassadors and online ambassadors who are trained in Wikipedia to provide support for students at participating colleges. Campus ambassadors are assigned to each class and are available for help on campus. Online ambassadors will provide students with online support, coaching and mentoring.

From August to September 2011, Wikimedia will evaluate the improvement of the public policy topic area and the success of the educational effort, which will mark the end of phase two of the initiative.

‘I’m very confident it will be successful,’ Infeld said. ‘The students, I think they enjoyed the exercise, and I think it gave them confidence in the exercise. They had a new way to share that knowledge.’

lgleveil@syr.edu

Published on September 14, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Laurence: lgleveil@syr.edu | @lgleveille