Module 4: Creating Open Knowledge Projects
Introduction
When open scholarship, open data, and open tools bring information into the world, it becomes open knowledge. According to the Open Knowledge Foundation, “Open knowledge is what open data becomes when it’s useful, usable and used.”
The Open Knowledge Practicum (OKP) is one of a suite of initiatives in the ETCL’s Open Knowledge Program. It helps transform open scholarship into open knowledge by using a practicum model to support researchers from UVic and the greater Victoria community as they contribute their knowledge to open venues.
Wikipedia is a cornerstone of the OKP because of its significance as an open knowledge resource. As an encyclopedia, it is a tertiary source, meaning it draws information from primary and secondary sources. But unlike print encyclopedias, its content is open, socially created, and accessible to everyone with an internet connection. Importantly, it is where many people go for information: it is the most popular reference site on the web and one of the most visited websites in the world. By helping researchers contribute their research to Wikipedia, the OKP helps them transform expertise into open knowledge.
Practicums are very common in education and clinical training, where they are often supervised and part of a course of study, but less so in other fields. The OKP is an applied, project-based program that draws on the practicum model to support researchers as they put their knowledge and skills into practice and contribute knowledge in open venues. The OKP is not part of a course of study; rather, it follows the Open model in being open to all researchers from UVic–including students, librarians, faculty, and academic staff–and the greater Victoria community.
Activity
Browse some articles on Wikipedia that interest you. Do you see any opportunities for editing them? Are there any new articles that you want to see on Wikipedia that you could create?
Browse the existing OKP, OKP@DHSI, and OKR projects listed on the ETCL website for ideas and inspiration.
Using the workplan template below, think through an open knowledge project that you would like to create.
Resources
- Open Knowledge Foundation
- The Open Knowledge Practicum (OKP)
- The Open Knowledge Program at the ETCL
- The Cogewea Project by Sara Humphreys
- Oregon Black Pioneers Museum by Jonathan Cain and Tatiana Bryant
- We Are Harmless, A Graphic Novel by Caitlin Burritt
- Wikipedia
- C.A. Campbell Wikipedia article by Harris Watt
- The New Republic (newspaper) Wikipedia article by Ying Liu
- OKP Toolkit Sample Workplan Template
