Type: Article

The 15th ISCB student Wikipedia competition: past, present and future perspectives

Alastair M Kilpatrick, Audra Anjum, Dan DeBlasio, Pradeep Eranti, Aarón Gallego Crespo, Megha Hegde, Tülay Karakulak, Nicolas C Näpflin, Nelly Sélem-Mojica, Lonnie R Welch, Farzana Rahman;

Abstract:

he International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) Student Wikipedia Competition, now in its 15th edition, has become a cornerstone initiative for promoting open educational resources in computational biology. Launched in 2012, the competition has engaged hundreds of students and postdoctoral researchers worldwide in editing and improving Wikipedia articles, guided by the society’s bioinformatics core competencies. This paper traces the competition’s evolution from its early focus on English-only entries to the inclusion of non-English tracks and collaborative group contributions. It also examines the present format of the competition, effort related to integration of Wikipedia editing into educational curricula, and the persistent challenge of sustaining long-term volunteer engagement.