2024:Program/Closing the loop: the “Antibiotics under our feet” project
Session title: Closing the loop: the “Antibiotics under our feet” project
- Session type: Poster
- Track: Education
- Language: en
“Antibiotics Under Our Feet” was a Wellcome Trust funded public engagement with research project conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. It aimed to identify biosynthetic pathways for new antibiotics from environmental DNA found in soil samples collected by school-based citizen scientists. The DNA results highlighted a knowledge gap on English and Simple English Wikipedia about soil microbes, and so we collaborated with undergraduate students from the University of St Andrews to plug that knowledge gap, and therefore close the loop!
Description
editAim: to share the pros and cons of collaborating with undergraduate students to plug specific knowledge gaps on Wikipedia, and to highlight how simple modifications increased engagement with our editing project. Objectives: for visitors to be interested in our approach and be tempted to try it in their home institutions. Our project has also been accepted for publication in a microbiology journal.
- How does your session relate to the event theme, Collaboration of the Open?
not specified
- What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
not specified
Resources
editSpeakers
edit- Dr Kirsty Ross
- Dr Kirsty Ross joined the Wikimedia community in August 2019, at a training session delivered by @Stinglehammer. In 2021, she, along with Dr Sara Thomas (Wikimedia UK) and Dr Abd Alsattar Ardati, co-founded the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility in Open Knowledge Network (IDEA Network for short) at the University of St Andrews. She won the Up and Coming Wikipedian of the Year (UK) in 2022 for her efforts with the IDEA Network. Since then, she has explored a plethora of ways to integrate Wiki projects into teaching, knowledge exchange, and research. Kirsty likes to hang out primarily on Wikicommons and Wikidata, with occasional forays into Wikipedia. She considers herself to be a WikiShepherd.