Jeffrey Keefer, PhD PCORI Wikipedian-In-Residence

Michelle Henton, MA Sr. Program Associate, PCORI Dissemination & Implementation Program

February 6, 2020

An Introduction to Editing Health Articles on Wikipedia

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Agenda

• Welcome

• What is Wikipedia?

• Why is Wikipedia Valuable for Medicine and Healthcare?

• Editing 101

• Wikipedia Editing of Health Articles

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PCORI’s Mandate

– from PCORI’s authorizing legislation

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PCORI’s Dissemination & Implementation Program

The D&I Program is charged with heightening awareness of the results of PCORI-funded research, and with advancing efforts to put these findings into practice to improve healthcare delivery and health outcomes.

• Transparent reporting and public release of findings

• Increasing awareness of these findings among relevant audiences

• Promoting systems that enable doctors, patients, and others to use

the evidence to help with real-life decisions and improve care

What is Wikipedia?

Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project supported by the Wikimedia Foundation and based on a

model of openly editable content.

Wikipedia is written collaboratively by largely anonymous volunteers who write without pay.

Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles, except in

limited cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism.

Why is Wikipedia Valuable for Medicine and Healthcare?

Who Uses Wikipedia?

How Big Is Wikipedia?

• 309 active Wikipedias

• English (language) Wikipedia has 5,998,502 articles

• 124,813 active editors (users)

Editing 101

Wikipedia Core Content Policies

1. Neutral point of view – All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing significant views fairly, proportionately and without bias.

2. Verifiability – Material challenged or likely to be challenged, and all quotations, must be attributed to a reliable, published source. In Wikipedia, verifiability means that people reading and editing the encyclopedia can check that information comes from a reliable source.

3. No original research

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Wikipedia Article – Editing Basics

Elements of Wikipedia Articles

• Article

• Talk

• Anybody can edit (Edit)

• All edits are tracked (History)

Change Your Editor Settings

• Preferences > Editing > Editing mode (show both)

Let me show how to do a general edit . . .

Wikipedia Editing of Health Articles

Medical and Healthcare Editing Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Patient-Centered_Outcomes_Research_Institute

Jeffrey Keefer, PhD PCORI Wikipedian-In-Residence

Michelle Henton, MA Sr. Program Associate, PCORI Dissemination & Implementation Program

February 6, 2020

An Introduction to Editing Health Articles on Wikipedia