Open Knowledge Foundation Blog » Blog Archive » Experts to underpin Wikipedia’s open wisdom? Turning anecdotes into data.

"Yet many among academics, scientists and experts are reluctant to contribute to Wikipedia, despite a growing number of calls from the scientific community to join the project. The Association for Psychological Science launched an initiative to get the scientific psychology community involved in improving the quality of articles in their field, while biomedical experts recently called upon their peers to help make public health information in Wikipedia rigorous and complete. In December 2010 Alex Bateman and Darren W. Logan from the Wellcome Trust noted that “Wikipedia’s user-friendly global reach offers an unprecedented opportunity for public engagement with science”. These initiatives remain sporadic and as anecdotal evidence suggests most academics – despite goodwill to contribute – still perceive major barriers to participation, which typically include a general lack of time to contribute, but also barriers of a technical, social and cultural nature. These also encompass the lack of incentives from the perspective of a professional career, the poor recognition of one’s expertise within Wikipedia, the widespread perception of Wikipedia as a non-authoritative source. A survey has been launched by the Wikimedia Research Committee to understand why scientists, academics and other experts do (or do not) contribute to Wikipedia, and whether individual motivation aligns with shared perceptions of Wikipedia within different communities of experts...."