Cochrane-Wikipedia 'edit-a-thon': sharing Cochrane evidence with the world

Workshop category: 

  • Knowledge translation and communicating evidence
Date and Location

Date: 

Tuesday 18 September 2018 - 14:00 to 15:30

Location: 

Moffat
Contact persons and facilitators

Contact person:

Sylvia De Haan

Facilitators:

De Haan S1, Dawson J2, Millward H3
1 Cochrane, Netherlands
2 Cochrane-Wikipedia, Canada
3 Cochrane, United Kingdom

Acknowledgements:

Dawson J1
1 Cochrane, Canada
Target audience

Target audience: 

Anyone interested in communicating Cochrane evidence through Wikipedia, thus improving health information availble on Wikipedia

Level of difficulty: 

Basic
Type of workshop

Type of workshop : 

Training
Abstract

Abstract:

Background:
Wikipedia is one of the most widely viewed sources of medical information online, receiving over 10 million page views per day of the medical content alone. The Cochrane-Wikipedia initiative was established in 2014 with the joint goal of sharing Cochrane evidence on Wikipedia in order to provide high-quality, unbiased, health-related information in an accessible format for everyone: medical professionals, healthcare consumers and patients.

Objectives:
1) The first objective of this workshop is to teach participants the basic skills necessary for editing health-related articles on Wikipedia.
2) The second objective of this workshop is for participants to assist in a Wikipedia 'edit-a-thon', with the overall goal of improving the quality of existing health-related Wikipedia articles using Cochrane evidence.

Description:
This will be a hands-on workshop in which participants will be guided through the process of Wikipedia editing by experienced Wikipedians, culminating with each participant having added evidence from a Cochrane Review on Wikipedia. For novice or beginner Wikipedians, a teaching session will focus on providing participants with the basic skill set required to edit a health-related article on Wikipedia, including: setting up a Wikipedia account, finding reliable sources appropriate for Wikipedia health-related articles, communicating evidence to a general audience on Wikipedia, inserting citations into Wikipedia articles and working together with the Wikipedia medical community at WikiProject Medicine. A Wikipedia 'edit-a-thon' will be held at the same time. New and experienced Wikipedians will be encouraged to 'be bold' (Wikipedia-style) and add paraphrased Cochrane evidence directly into Wikipedia articles.

Relevance to patients and consumers: 

Research indicates that Wikipedia is one of the most read sources of medical information in the world. In developing nations, Wikipedia is often the only available source of medical information, even for health care professionals. Encouraging practitioners and researchers to share Cochrane evidence on Wikipedia empowers consumers by giving them access to accurate information pertaining to their health, translating this knowledge for those people who need it the most.