The University of Leeds is championing the use of Wikipedia to make education and history more accessible.
Staff and students have worked together to edit pages of the online encyclopaedia to communicate more information about Black history.
Nick Sheppard, a Senior Lead for the Knowledge Equity Network, an initiative designed to change the way we share knowledge for the benefit of all, has championed the editing of Wikipedia for many years.
He was responsible for creating a page on At What a Price, a play by Jamaican feminist and writer Una Marson.
We want to make education and the history of Leeds more accessible to people.
In 2023 Nick was recognised as UK Wikimedian of the Year for his work in the university sector, holding editathons for students and training them to edit the Wikipedia site.
During October’s Black History Month, Nick organised an online discussion that marked the beginning of a collaboration with the University of Rochester in New York to further unearth archives about the impact of the Black community in both the US and UK.
Nick said: “We have lots of open access research that can be used to improve Wikipedia. We want to make education and the history of Leeds more accessible to people.
“Universities across the country need to engage with this more. We want to share the breadth of what we do and address historic bias.”
The Wikimedia Champions project, driven by Joanna Brown, Senior Learning Technologist at the University of Leeds, was designed to champion the use and editing of Wikipedia.
Dr Lucy Hinnie, Wikimedia and Open Knowledge Advisor at the University of Leeds, said: “Leeds is already leading the way in this area. There is a lot of progression here in promoting open access compared to other higher education institutes across the country.
“Only 20% of biographies are about women, and there is more knowledge about the Netherlands than there is about Africa on Wikipedia. We really need to address that.”
Dr Hinnie was previously Wikimedian-in-Residence at the British Library and is currently Topics for Impact Co-ordinator at Wikimedia UK.
Flo Greaves, a PhD student who attended one of Nick’s editathons, said: “Wikimedia is basically run and edited by volunteers who believe in the importance of having open knowledge that is accurate.
“It is quite technical editing the material. You need to have a bit of coding experience but you can learn it. I found it really interesting and thought provoking.”
US collaboration
Nick plans to develop further Wikipedia pages on anti-slavery and the abolitionist movement, having already taken an interest in the research carried out by Professor Bridget Bennett, Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Leeds.
Professor Bennett successfully campaigned to have a blue plaque erected at Lyddon Hall last year on the university campus. Lyddon Hall was the home of Quaker abolitionists Mary and Wilson Armistead in the 1860s and they used the property to collect goods and funds for newly emancipated people in the USA. It is now used as student accommodation.
Professor Bennett found a reference on the 1851 census to ‘fugitive slaves’ Ellen and William Craft who were residing with the Armisteads having fled America to find freedom in England. Nick ensured the story was added to Wikipedia.
Professor Bennett was part of a panel discussion during Black History Month, along with Kate Dossett, a Professor of American History at the University of Leeds, who works with a team of theatre makers and the British Library to increase access to the work of Black theatre makers held in British collections.
The panel was moderated by Lindsey Baker, Black Studies and English Librarian at the University of Rochester.
The two universities are collaborating to unearth and make more visible records that contribute to the story of Black history.
Professor Dossett edited a page about Jamaican playwright Una Marson, as part of a wikithon organised in collaboration with Dr Hinnie and the British Library to amplify the work of Black playwrights, especially women.
Initiatives like AfroCrowd and the Black Lunch Table are also addressing knowledge gaps. AfroCrowd is a US initiative to increase the awareness and participation of people of African descent in Wikimedia and the Black Lunch Table has spent two decades preserving Black histories.
“The fact is, anyone can access Wikipedia and even edit it on their phones,” said Nick. “It is good for us to empower people to make the information more equitable.”
Further information
Discover more about promoting opening knowledge at the University of Leeds in this Wikimedia UK podcast.
Please contact Jane Lewis in the University of Leeds press office at j.lewis3@leeds.ac.uk or pressoffice@leeds.ac.uk.
Photo credit: Mark Bickerdike.
Main image: The Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds.