Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science
#citeNLM Wikipedia Edit-a-thons
Wikipedia’s health topics pages are visited a staggering 7 billion times a year, making it possibly the world’s most popular health information resource. The objective of #citeNLM is to improve the credibility and content of medical and health-related articles on Wikipedia by adding citations and information from National Library of Medicine (NLM) sources.
NLM is actively engaged in reaching a major strategic goal to “reach more people in more ways through enhanced dissemination and engagement pathways.”
By holding #citeNLM Wikipedia Edit-a-thons, we can:
- Make it easier to get credible, evidence-based health information online
- Disseminate NLM sources and increase their reach
- Leverage network members’ expertise, experiences, and audiences
- Engage NNLM members nationwide
Our NNLM #citeNLM campaigns run twice per year, in the Fall and Spring. Join NNLM staff members and Wikipedians virtually during our twice yearly one-day edit-a-thons or host an event at your institution anytime during the campaign period. Check-out our Organizer’s Guide to learn how.
Fall 2019 #citeNLM Edit-a-thon
The Fall #citeNLM campaign period will run from October 1-November 30, 2019. Host your own event during the campaign period or join us for our virtual #citeNLM Edit-a-thon on Wednesday, November 20. Sign-up on our dashboard today to participate! Attend our training session on Thursday, October 17 for more information.
How to Participate
Step 1: Create a free account on Wikipedia
Step 2: Register on our campaign dashboard
- Sign-up to independently participate in our one-day virtual edit-a-thon on November 20, 2019, find an in-person event happening during the campaign period, or host your own event
- If you’re a new editor, or new to WikiProject Medicine, complete the training modules on Wikipedia Basics and/or Editing Medical Topics
Step 3: Find an article that needs a citation. Here are some strategies:
- Choose one of the pre-selected articles on the program dashboard
- Find an article with sourcing or other problems
- Select an article while browsing pages related to the campaign theme
Step 4: Cite a source
- Find a source from an NLM product or other reliable website to support the article
- Add a citation using Wikipedia Style (learn more about adding citations from 1Lib1Ref)
- Add the project hashtag #citeNLM in the Wikipedia Edit Summary
Step 5: Share!
- Include the hashtag #citeNLM in your tweets about the event and follow the hashtag to interact with fellow Wikipedians
- Drop a pin of your location on our participant map