How can Wikipedia help disseminate research findings?
29 November 2022
More than 100 people gathered for an ARC West online seminar to learn more about how Wikipedia can be used to disseminate research findings. The event was led by the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s (NIHR) resident Wikipedian Adam Harangozo and was chaired by Dr Clare Thomas of ARC West and the HPRU in Behavioural Science and Evaluation.
Adam kicked things off with an explanation of what Wikipedia is and how much it’s used to access medical information. The English language site contains around 50,000 medical articles, which received nearly 2 billion page views in 2021. It’s also well used by medical doctors and students.
He also acknowledged that many people have preconceptions about the quality and reliability of Wikipedia, since anyone can edit it. But he set out to bust that myth: “that doesn’t mean you can say just anything”. He explained the stringent editorial processes that Wikipedia uses to ensure its content is reliable.
Adam went on to explain the project to use Wikipedia to disseminate NIHR evidence. It is inspired by other organisations, such as the British Library and British Museum, and in health, Cochrane and Wellcome, who have successfully employed a Wikipedian in residence.
Adam is keen to collaborate with NIHR-funded researchers to help them unlock the potential of Wikipedia as a platform to disseminate their findings.
The audience at the seminar was mainly researchers, with communicators the next largest group. In the feedback, many said that they will be having conversations with colleagues and Adam to progress using Wikipedia in this way. If you want to get in touch with Adam, his email address is adam.harangozo@nihr.ac.uk.
Adam said:
“I was very happy that so many people were interested in this topic and came along to the webinar. I hope that the session demonstrated that Wikipedia is an important platform for dissemination and that NIHR are committed to using it.”
Clare said:
“I heard Adam speak about NIHR’s Wikipedia project at a conference earlier this year. It raised my awareness of the potential of Wikipedia for disseminating research. It was great to provide an opportunity for a wider audience to learn from Adam’s experience and I hope it will inspire others to use Wikipedia to increase the reach and accessibility of their research findings to health and care professionals, patients and the public.”