book from plant biology and current knowledge on the book’s topic. In addition, students write a book review article for Wikipedia. At the end of this course, both the outcome of the comparative analysis and the book review are published on Wikipedia.
In January 2019, thirteen students participated in this new project, which was developed by an evolutionary biologist from the FSE, the University Library, and a Wikimedia volunteer. During this course, the students worked on a comparative analysis of four botany textbooks from the Special Collections dating from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, resulting in a forty-five-page report. At the start of the project, the students formed three groups; each group selected a post-Linnaean botanical book from the Special Collections, the oldest one dating back to 1821. Students used a personal Wikipedia sandbox for writing sections of the book review and then merged their individual contributions using a group sandbox. After having completed this merger, a Wikimedia volunteer provided in-depth feedback, with a focus on meeting the Wikipedia quality standards and layout guidelines. All the Wikipedia articles have a similar structure: short introduction, context, content, literary styles, reception and impact, gallery, references, and an info box. Information about the project was published on a dedicated Wikipedia project page (MSP, 2019). The instructors assessed the quality of the Wikipedia articles on three levels: contents, referencing, and structure. Grading was done on a Likert-type scale, ranging from very poor to excellent.
A feedback session indicated that it was an interesting experience for everyone involved for several reasons. First, the MSP program was established in 2011 and does not have big historical collections of books to study. They were therefore eager to use books from the Special Collections. Furthermore, the library skills training sessions were evaluated as particularly essential because searching for old books is different from navigating modern literature. Students also indicated that they were excited and eager to physically touch and browse through these old, historical, literary sources and that they really got an understanding about how knowledge evolved. For example, they had great fun laughing at the idea that bacteria were once thought to be plants.
