Wikipedia Demystified:
the G.L.A.M perspective
Sara Snyder
Smithsonian American
Art Museum
@sosarasays #VHC15

We all use Wikipedia, but what
do we really know about it?

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
• Freely licensed without restrictions
• All content created & maintained by
volunteers
• Non-profit educational project, supported
by Wikimedia Foundation
• All edits/versions are recorded indefinitely
• 4,853,274+ articles in English
• 35 million articles in 288 different languages
(see size of Wikipedia)

“A Wikipedia
article is a
process, not a
product.”
-Clay Shirky

Biggest. Encyclopedia. Ever.

Who or what merits an
article in Wikipedia?
If a person or topic has received
significant coverage in reliable
sources that are independent of
the subject, then it is deemed
“notable.”
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability

Wikipedia Content Standards
• Neutral Point of View
• Verifiability
reliable sources, cited
correctly
• No “original research”
i.e. unpublished data,
opinions, speculation
• Assume good faith towards
other editors
• Avoid conflict of interest
(i.e. editing page about self,
See Wikipedia: Policies
and guidelines

Can I edit the Wikipedia
article about my workplace?
Possibly, but only under the right
conditions.
When advancing outside interests is more
important to an editor than advancing the
aims of Wikipedia, that editor stands in a
conflict of interest (CoI).
Your #1 priority must be: making a
better, more useful encyclopedia article.

How to Avoid Conflict of
Interest Editing
• Register a unique user account
• Disclose your affiliations (see sample CoI
Statement)
• Cite authoritative sources
• Don’t remove “controversies”
• Recognize that no one person can
“own” a Wikipedia article or
control its content

The #GLAMWiki Project:
A Global Network & Community

Alignment of Mission and Vision
Smithsonian
Institution
The increase and diffusion of
knowledge
Shaping the future by
preserving our heritage,
discovering new knowledge,
and sharing our resources
with the world
Wikimedia
Foundation
Imagine a world in which every
single human being can freely
share in the sum of all
knowledge. That's our
commitment.
The mission of the Wikimedia
Foundation is to empower and
engage people around the
world to collect and develop
educational content under a
free license or in the public
domain, and to disseminate it

Wikipedia & GLAMs:
a relationship of mutual benefit
Wikipedia benefits from GLAM resources, resulting in
better articles and higher quality of sources cited
GLAMs benefit from having information about their
collections available to a larger audience, and from the
experience of working with volunteers
Researchers & students benefit from consulting better
quality, authoritative Wikipedia articles
Volunteer editors benefit from the learning experience
of researching, writing and collaborating on articles

Three Easy Ways to Get
Involved with Wikipedia

Improve the quality of the
Wikipedia articles around a topic
while increasing the visibility of
your instiution’s resources.
1.) Add citations to articles

2.) Attend or host edit-a-thons
• Spotlight a collection or theme for
improvement on Wikipedia
• Build relationships with local
Wikipedians
• Training opportunity: improve
information literacy
• Gain visibility on the Web & within the
Wikipedia community
Wikimedia DC is awesome!
wikimediadc.org @WikimediaDC

3.) Host a Wikipedian volunteer,
intern, or visiting scholar
• Sustain involvement from passionate
Wikipedians beyond one-off events
• Work with Wikipedians online or on-site
• Turn to campus groups, or contacts at
The Wikipedia Library project for ideas!

BE
BOLD!
Just click
“edit”