Project title: Improving communication of climate change knowledge through Wikipedia
This is the website for a Wikipedia communications project that runs from mid 2022 to mid 2024. The work includes collaborations between Wikipedia editors and content experts from a range of universities and institutions.
The project selects relevant Wikipedia articles dealing with climate change topics that have significant daily pageviews and at the same time require updating and improvement in content and quality. The project team scores the quality of these Wikipedia articles at the start and at the end of the project using ten quality parameters. We also interact with published experts who advise us on necessary content edits. The core project team is made up of academics who have scientific and climate change expertise and also know how to edit Wikipedia.
This project is important because there are gaps between what various stakeholder groups find on the internet and the published scientific work on climate change-related topics. That much of the specialized literature containing critical knowledge is unavailable to the informed public is a handicap in the dissemination of climate change information. Wikipedia articles usually appear at the top of internet search results but are incomplete in many areas. Wikipedia therefore has a key role in helping promote climate change knowledge and the improvement of the key articles making use of available scientific expertise is necessary.
Anyone with an interest in Wikipedia editing on climate change topics is welcome to participate. This project follows the Friendly Space policy and the Code of conduct for Wikimedia technical spaces.
The project is administered by Stockholm Environment Institute and funded by Formas, a Swedish government research council for sustainable development.
The previous Phase 1 of the project (2020 to 2022) had the title "Communication of SDG-related research knowledge in water and sanitation (SDG 6), climate action (SDG 13) and life below water (SDG 14) in Wikipedia while engaging professional networks".