MISSION AND GOALS

The course aims to provide some hands-on training in technical writing and, at the same time, to contribute to the general diffusion of scientific and technical knowledge. These will be achieved by engaging Politecnico’s Ph.D. students in the production of new material (or revision of existing one) for Wikipedia.

MOTIVATION

Since its birth in 2001, Wikipedia has grown enormously in size and importance, so that today it is probably the first and foremost source of information on scientific and technological issues (but also on literature, arts, history, etc.) for the general public. This interdisciplinary course will introduce Politecnico’s Ph.D. students to the history, the workings and general rules of Wikipedia and, most of all, involve them in the production of new material for it. The Ph.D. students will choose what to contribute, depending both on their own background and on Wikipedia’s needs.

Further distinguishing points of the proposed course are:

• It is truly interdisciplinary, as it may be attended by Ph.D.’s from any course and undergraduate background;

• It will teach them in a very practical way about technical writing (the best Wikipedia articles have high standards, in this respect) and social responsibility;

• It will allow them to experience on-line collaboration with other Wikipedia users, possibly exposing them also to criticism;

• By focusing on Wikipedia’s content in their own field of expertise, the students will be stimulated to adopt a critical attitude towards what is written in it.

PLAN AND TOPICS OF THE LECTURES AND MEETINGS

1. Wikipedia: history, aims and structure. Sister projects. (1 h).
2. Structure of a Wikipedia article. Links and references. Page history and talk pages. Templates and infoboxes. User pages. (2h)
3. First practical session. Initial selection of topics (2h).
3. English-language vs. Italian-language Wikipedia. Copyright issues. (1h).
4. Wikimedia commons (1 h).
6. Wikidata (2 h).
5. Design, writing and editing of new contributions (activities coordinated by the lecturers in the form of workshops) (14 h).
4. Final editing, cross-checking/reading, discussion and evaluation (6 h).

LANGUAGE AND INSTRUCTORS

The introductory lectures will be in English and will be delivered by accredited Wikimedia trainers. Together with the coordinators, these will also provide assistance and aid the preparation/editing of the Wikipedia pages.

The Ph.D. students will be free to contribute to both the Italian and the English versions of Wikipedia.

The students' final score will be based on their contributions to Wikipedia.

These will be judged both for their contents (correctness, depth, organization, etc.: each article will be examined by a competent professor of the Politecnico) and for their adherence to Wikipedia's rules (neutral point of view, formatting, etc.: these will be judged by the Wikipedia tutors of course).

Day 1: introductory lecture to Wikipedia and first hands-on session

Days 2 and 3: lectures on further topics (e.g., Wikimedia and Wikidata) and editing of articles

Day 4: editing of Wikipedia articles

Day 5: publication and cross-checking of Wikipedia articles.

Wikipedia's own educational material, hosted on Wikipedia