Transforming Wikipedia for Dental Students
By Rachel Boutet
University students, including dentistry students, use Wikipedia as a source of information multiple times a week, if not every day. But what happens when that information lacks accuracy and proper citations?
This is a problem the Wikipedia Collaboration of Dental Schools (WCODS) is aiming to address. Linnaea Halpert, a DDS4 student who is graduating in June, is the president of the Faculty’s WCODS club. The club was started three years ago with the assistance of associate professor Hashim Nainar and head of Dentistry’s Library, Helen He.
“Wikipedia is the first point of access for patient and student questions,” says Halpert. “WCODS is a community of dental students and dentists who monitor dental and oral health related content on Wikipedia and keep the information up to date.”
WCODS was started by Dr. Nour Geres at Dundee University in the UK and now has chapters all around the world, including the one at U of T. At the beginning of every year, each chapter is assigned a topic of focus with specific Wikipedia articles to work on to ensure that there is no overlap in editing efforts among different chapters. Since Wikipedia utilizes open collaboration, one of the challenges is that editing work can be undone. Halpert says each chapter monitors the pages after they have updated it, to ensure accuracy.
Halpert became interested in WCODS when she was working at Princess Margaret Hospital and was working with someone who went to dental school in the UK.
“I know I have been told that Wikipedia isn’t a credible source and we shouldn’t use it, but I also know it’s a website many of my classmates go to for a last-minute check,” she says. “So, I thought if so many of us are using it anyway, why not try to make it as good as it possibly can be.”
She also notes that because Wikipedia is so accessible, other people are using it as well, including patients and other dentists, making it even more important that everyone is accessing the same accurate information.
Halpert says this is a great initiative for the students at U of T to be involved in and an opportunity for students at the Faculty to join a community of students and dentists around the world.
“Joining the WCODS club gives students great networking opportunities, the chance to bridge the gap between dentists and patients, and allows them to gain dentistry knowledge and literature appraisal skills,” she says. “Being a part of WCODS also helps students in their pre-clinical years as a way to improve content online so that when the patient sits in their chair, they can help further bridge that knowledge gap.”
Halpert encourages all students and faculty to get involved in this club.
“We would love to have more faculty members involved so we can further expand the scope of the topics we edit and make more accurate.”
To learn more about WCODS at U of T or to get involved, visit:
YouTube: WCODS Remote Clubs Night Video
Instagram: @uoftdentwiki
Facebook: @UofTDentWikiCollab
Email: uoftwcods@gmail.com
Photo: Wikipedia page (Luke Chesser/Unsplash)