Wikimedia Science Communication Network

The Wikimedia Science Communication Network (WiSciCoN) is an open network of (institutional) science communicators committed to expanding the presence of scientific content in Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects and to establishing this approach as best practice in science communication. Strengthening collaboration from universities, higher education and science institutions with Wikimedia and its authors is a key element of this approach.

The aim is to develop routines for contributing to Wikimedia projects, to connect interested individuals and institutions and to strengthen collaboration with Wikimedia. The network also aims to emphasise the potential for science communication and a call for a shift in science communication towards open platforms.

The network first formed at the conference Enhancing the voice of science on Wikipedia. How universities can collaborate with the online encyclopedia in science communication, which took place at the University of Innsbruck from 7 to 9 April 2024.

WiSciCoN is open to interested individuals and institutions to join.

Basics

Science (Communication) and Wikipedia. Potentials and Pitfalls. Keynote by Leonhard Dobusch (2024)

The members of the Wikimedia Science Communication Network support the openly licensed, non-commercial and collaborative form of knowledge creation and will intensify and expand their activities in Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Especially in the areas of science communication and strengthening international visibility, a presence in the various Wikimedia projects offers promising opportunities: It opens up a wide range of possibilities to make content from universities accessible to an international audience.

In light of the developments in the commercial digital sector, making the increasingly problematic structures of large platforms for public institutions particularly evident, the group emphasizes the need to expand its involvement in Wikipedia and its affiliated projects. Publicly generated knowledge should also be openly and, above all, sustainably accessible to all. This requires a reorientation in the perception of science communication.

To achieve this, collaboration with Wikimedia projects is an important necessity. An overall commitment to open platforms and projects with collaborative approaches – towards a dedication to open (science) communication – provides the foundation of this approach.

Participating

The organisation team from the Innsbruck conference (Melanie Bartos, Christian Flatz, Stefan Hohenwarter) can also be reached via wikipedia uibk.ac.at

Melanie Bartos, Communications team, University of Innsbruck
Christian Flatz, Communications team, University of Innsbruck
Stefan Hohenwarter, Communications team, University of Innsbruck
Christian Watzke, Web Office, Communications and Marketing, Heidelberg University
Roman Vilgut, Editor, Communications and Public Relations, University of Graz
Christof Simon, Website Manager, Public Relations and Media, Medical University of Innsbruck
Raimund Liebert, Wikimedia Österreich
Thomas Schallhart, Wikimedia Österreich
Pavel Zahrádka, Palacký University Olomouc
Diego Hättenschwiler (User:HaDi), Wikipedian from Switzerland working on ResearCH goes Wiki and ETH Zurich: Portraits
Daniel Mietchen, data scientist focused on the intersection between Wikimedia projects and the research ecosystem

Dates and Events

To ensure consistent networking and collaboration and to further expand the group of collaborating institutions, online meetings are held every 6 to 8 weeks on selected topics with input from experts.

The next online meeting will take place on January 20 2025, 14:00 CET online via BigBlueButton (Webbrowser, no further software needed) with a workshop by Raimund Liebert, Wikimedia Austria:

Wikipedia: How to navigate the volunteer project as a paid representative of an institution You will get a practical short guide about the basics and their background: from choosing the right Wikipedia user name to the required paid editing declaration and optional verification of your user account. There is also time to discuss the input and to ask the Wikimedia expert your specific questions. '

Everyone interested is welcome!

The last online meetings took place on 27 May 2024, 24 June 2024 and 14 October 2024.

Topics were: Summary of the Innsbruck conference; planning of topics for future online meetings, exchange on current Wikimedia projects at the respective institutions

The conference Enhancing the voice of Science on Wikipedia will be organised annually and take place again in 2025.

Steps

At the conference in Innsbruck, the following further steps were jointly decided, which are currently being worked on. The results will be continuously updated on this page:

Establishing a presence in the Meta-Wiki as a sustainable networking platform with (learning) resources and updates on upcoming events
An editorial team of science communicators and Wikipedia experts is working together on a position paper combined with a "living" manual on how universities and higher education institutions can best cooperate with Wikimedia.
Preparation of a toolbox for working in Wikimedia projects to meet the specific requirements of science communication (concepts, resources, learning resources, cooperation opportunities, Creative Commons licensing, dealing with conflicts of interest)

Resources

Slides from Enhancing the voice of science on Wikipedia

Christian Erlinger, ZHB Luzern: Wikidata your friendly (university's) knowledge graph (Wikidata item)
Leonhard Dobusch: Science (Communication) and Wikipedia. Potentials and Pitfalls

Best practices

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Other links

c:Category:Saxorum with c:File:Als Wissenschaftliche Bibliothek im Wikiversum (2022).pdf