An Open Letter to the Royal Society: Please employ a wikipedian in residence « O'Really?

“... To improve public engagement with Science and Scientists, the Royal Society should employ awikipedian in residence. Here’s why:  The Royal Society is a National Academy of Science which represents some of the world’s leading scientists. The stated aim of the society is to: ‘recognise, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity...’  a significant part of what the Royal Society does is engage with members of the general public of all ages through a wide range of events. The annual Summer Science exhibition, Royal Society Blogs, Policy Centre and Royal Society television channel are just a few examples... Many Fellows are of interest to the general public and already have extensive biographies in wikipedia which are up to date, well-written, well-referenced and conform to the wikipedia guidelines for the biographies of living persons. Wikipedia biographies often appear top of the list of google search result for a scientists name... However, many other scientists do not have pages about them on wikipedia... At the time of writing, less than half of the notable and distinguished Fellows elected in 2012 have biographies on wikipedia... Putting scientific information into wikipedia isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Alex Bateman at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute [1], PLoS Computational Biology [2] and many others [3] have already made considerable progress in improving the scientific content of wikipedia. This information is immediately accessible to a huge global audience.  Wikipedia is arguably one of the greatest ever opportunities for public engagement in Science. By employing a wikipedian in residence, the Royal Society could improve and influence the scientific content of wikipedia, while engaging even more with the general public around the world, who are often just as interested in the scientists as the science itself. As the current president of the society I hope you will consider this proposal...”