Shani Evenstein is a lecturer and Ph.D. candidate involved with the Wikimedia Foundation. Evenstein described the Wikidata project that is “A database of structured, linked data multilingual and read by humans and machines open to all, under a free license.” Alexa and Siri have access to Wikidata to search for information. Evenstein’s doctoral research is on this topic. An example provided was Histropedia that takes Wikidata project and creates interactive timelines. Evenstein showcased Scholia that generates publication interactive “ecosystems” to engage information. The next example was from The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford that created The Astrolabe Explorer to show that Wikidata can be used to tell stories. The University of Edinburgh has a project that created an interactive map from Scottish Witch Hunts. The Met is an interactive tool that helps connect relevant data. The Met Dashboard shows the completeness of data with a table and heatmap. The Depiction Wikidata Game takes pictures and crowdsourced public curation about the Met. There are examples of autogenerated proof of concept Wikipedia pages. There are ways of creating new content that did not exist before with an adaptation of Histopedia to make multiple timelines. There are data visualizing tools that allow Data Archaeology with users sending photos of artifacts from a damaged museum. There are COVID-19 data visualization tools. After presenting examples, Evenstein talked about a course they developed that uses Wikidata. This course is based on a model Evenstein designed in 2013 to follow design guidelines that emphasize active learning and community interaction with Wikimedia. Evenstein also wanted students to access information, learn about diversity, and create artifacts that would last beyond the course. The outcomes show that the contributions were viewed and used by the public. The course activities also aimed to reduce gender gaps by learning about notable women. In the process, students tell stories with data and critically analyze data. I agree with Einstein that this is an exciting opportunity to teach and learn about data literacy.
