The reliability of Wikipedia…and what you can do to help

Is Wikipedia a reliable source of information? What can you do to help make it better?

In this session we will have a talk and Q&A session to discuss these questions and more. We will explore the history of Wikipedia, what happens behind the scenes to make it all work, how information is fact-checked and kept trustworthy, as well as the role of the extensive Wikipedia editorial community. There will also be a free sandwich lunch.

After this interesting discussion, there will be a 2 hour hands-on session to help you understand the Wikipedia editorial process. Please bring your own device and sign up for a Wikipedia account before the session. We will look at lots of different things such as how to fix factual errors and citations, and finding legitimate sources to support the facts, all while discussing and asking questions about the process throughout. We will also fuel you with tea and coffee.

This session is open to all. We would especially like to encourage librarians, and anyone working with facts and information such as researchers, to come along.

The outline of the afternoon will be:

13:00 Arrival and sandwich lunch

13:30 Talk and Q&A session

14:30 Hands-on session

16:30 Close

We have two ticket types: Talk only and Talk & Hands-on, so you can have the option to come along for one hour only or for the full session.

This session will be led by our Wikimedian-in-Residence, Dr Charles Matthews.