Dawnbazely

This user is or was a participant in Wiki Education's Scholars & Scientists Program.

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I'm a University Professor at York University in Toronto, and I have been explicitly incorporating Science Communication, Open Access and Public Science curriculum content in my Biology courses since 2013. Learning about how to edit Wikipedia is a part of my course curriculum.

I teach students how to become Wikipedians, because through doing this, they gain a much clearer understanding of why they aren't allowed to use Wikipedia pages as sources in their assignments!

On January 14, 2020, I’m participating in the Wikipedia Editathon for Girls (24 and under) by editing their Wikipedia pages. Read about it here: https://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Toronto/Girls

On February 9, 2020, I’m participating in the Wikipedia Editathon at the Ontario Science Centre as part of the activities for the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Read about it here: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Ontario_Science_Centre/Women_in_Science_Wikipedia_Edit-a-thon_(Sun_9_Feb_2019)/home

On February 12, 2020, I'm participating in the virtual Wikipedia Editathon co-sponsored by 500 Women Scientists and SACNAS. Read about it here: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Virtual/SACNAS_x_500_Women_Scientists_Wikipedia_Edit-a-thon_(July_12,_2020)/home

On July 8, 2021, I supported the virtual Wikipedia Editathon sponsored by Ingenium Canada and organized by Soulsinsync and BCCasey52

https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Canada_Science_and_Technology_Museum_Ingenium/A_Wikipedia_Edit-a-thon_to_Promote_Gender_Equity_in_Ocean_Science_(8_July_2021)/home

On October 14, 2021, I am a co-organizer of the virtual Ada Lovelace Day Wikipedia Editathon at York University co-hosted by librarians, Dupuisjl and Alixwongo

https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Steacie_Library/Ada_Lovelace_Day_Wikipedia_Women_in_Science_Edit-a-thon_(October_14,_2021)/home

My earlier Wikipedia username

In 2013, I began learning how to become a Wikipedian. I had developed the idea of teaching Biology students in my courses to edit Wikipedia, and to organize Wikipedia editathons. At the time, I inadvertently made more than one account, because I couldn't remember my log-in passwords when I was sitting in the basement computer lab in Steacie Library, learning to edit alongside my students. That was BEFORE the visual editor came into being. In 2013-14, I didn't do any Wikipedia editing from my accounts, because I initially learned to edit by helping students who were editing their own articles. I would look up Wikipedia terms and rules with them, and we would discuss them. I didn't make any of my own edits via my Wikipedia account until 2015 when we held our first Ada Lovelace Day Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. Clearly, I am a slow learner!

In 2019, I realized that I had created a second, dormant Wikipedia account, in 2014. I decided to activate this account, and to make it my main account with my real name, Dawnbazely. I have retired activity on the original account that I used for Ada Lovelace Day editathons between 2015-19, Carries_mum. When I began giving students Wikipedia editing assignments, and organizing edit-a-thons, we were advised not to use our real names, because we were editing pages for women scientists, which was, and continues to be a contentious area: Wikipedia:Username policy

My anonymity was somewhat busted via an editorial that I wrote about Nobel laureate, Donna Strickland's lack of a Wikipedia page, for the Washington Post in Fall 2018. It was easy for people to connect the dots from me to user Carries_mum. Some people did, and they emailed me to complain about what I had written.

I turned a third, inadvertently-made account from spring 2015 (I seem to have made another Wikipedia account every semester!) into one that I use when I teach ecology students. It's primarily where I write about botany, botanical history and botanists (women and men). In 2020, I started using this account for my Wikipedia Education Dashboards where students in my biology courses can easily track their Wikipedia assignments as they learn to edit.