Wikipedia:Online Ambassadors/Apply/History2007

History2007

 * 1) Why do you want to be a Wikipedia Ambassador?
 * I keep asking that question myself... But seriously, in order to increase academic participation, due to my frustration with the very low quality of many scientific Wiki-articles. While articles on cities, rivers, etc. are getting to be of encyclopedic quality at long last, articles on science and engineering usually have a long, long way to go. That needs to change. And often the only people who can improve those articles are those with an academic background. Who else?
 * 1) In three sentences or less, summarize your involvement with Wikimedia projects.
 * I have written over 500 articles on Wikipedia.
 * 1) Please indicate a few articles to which you have made significant content contributions. (e.g. DYK, GA, FA, major revisions/expansions/copyedits).
 * An overview of the articles I have worked on is here.
 * 1) How have you been involved with welcoming and helping new users on Wikipedia?
 * Once in a while, but not much.
 * 1) What do you see as the most important ways we could welcome newcomers or help new users become active contributors?
 * Get more experts. The low quality of some of the scientific articles stems from the fact that those who write the article do not understand the topic and make elementary conceptual mistakes.
 * 1) Have you had major conflicts with other editors? Blocks or bans? Involvement in arbitration? Feel free to offer context, if necessary.
 * I have done over 50,000 edits, no blocks, no bans, no arbitration.
 * 1) How often do you edit Wikipedia and check in on ongoing discussions?  Will you be available regularly for at least two hours per week, in your role as a mentor?
 * I wish, I wish... I am on here every day several hours a day. This thing is addictive.
 * 1) How would you make sure your students were not violating Copyright laws?
 * I think we need a bot for that. That bot will be easy to do and will make a good student project.
 * 1) If one of your students had an issue with Copyright Violation how would resolve it?
 * I will give them a long lecture.
 * 1) In your _own_ words describe what Copyright Violation is.
 * That can not be a serious question.... Is that an intelligence test?
 * 1) What else should we know about you that is relevant to being a Wikipedia Ambassador?
 * I think academic experts are "totally underutilized" in Wikipedia. There are some experts who have contributed very valuable content, but they are a minority. If content quality is to improve, that needs to change. And valuable content is currently being subjected to personal promotion by wannabe researchers who position their own writings as the pinnacle of research. More academic involvement is needed to avoid that. In 3 years, it will be just too hard to unscramble the egg and remove the self-promotions from the technical articles. Experts are needed now. That is my main motivating factor here.