‘Obsession' leads to Wikipedian placement
What started out as a hobby quickly became "an obsession".
Now it has gone one step further and become a profession for Dr Tamsin Braisher.
The University of Otago researcher and editor of science papers has been named a Wikipedian in residence, making the university the first tertiary institution in New Zealand to have its own Wikipedian.
Universities are home to experts on a variety of topics, ranging from the life cycle of a freshwater parasite or the inspirations behind a historic author, to the geological processes that shaped a specific mountain.
They are places for people to discover and share the intricacies of their favourite subjects.
Hosted by institutions such as universities, museums or libraries, the role of a Wikipedian in residence is to help their institution's engagement with Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects.
They may assist with Wikipedia entries related to the institution's mission, releasing material under open licences and developing the relationship between the institution and the wider Wikipedia community.
The role is funded by a grant from Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand, the New Zealand affiliate of the international Wikimedia Foundation, which aims to provide free open access to knowledge via projects such as Wikipedia.
Dr Braisher was delighted with her new role.
She first began editing Wikipedia pages in her spare time in 2018, and in 2022 she ran the New Zealand Thesis Project, which made dissertations from all New Zealand universities more visible and accessible, leading to them to being cited in more than 2000 Wikipedia articles, in 34 languages.
Then in 2024, still in her own time, she achieved a remarkable feat by creating 367 new Wikipedia profiles on notable New Zealand women — more than one a day.
Dr Braisher said she took on the mammoth task in response to the significant gender imbalance on the online encyclopedia website.
"It started as a hobby, and then because I was only working part-time, it grew into, you know, rather more.
"You could probably call it an obsession."
Now that she was a Wikipedian in residence, her role had a different focus, she said.
"I'll be spending my time helping staff and students understand how Wikipedia works, and how they can engage with it.
"Some of the work will be about helping students to understand how to read Wikipedia critically, looking at the reliability of the sources that have been used on a page, the history of the writing of a page, thinking of what might be missing — what we call digital literacy skills."
Graduate students might be extended into improving articles as a way of learning research communication skills, she said.
"I've already worked with some anatomy students to examine how some Wikipedia articles on particular muscles could be improved.
"And then there's looking at how information the university holds could be used to improve Wikipedia.
"For instance, the Hocken Collections are a treasure trove of images and information about New Zealand, and I'm looking forward to working with the experts there to identify what could be released openly," she said.
john.lewis@odt.co.nz
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