Loomio
Thu 8 May 2014 8:04AM

Are we giving credit where credit is due?

SY Stuart Yeates Public Seen by 10

There are a ton of great looking people in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:New_Zealand_scientists almost none of whom seem to get talked about. Should we be talking more about our great scientists (living and dead)? Which ones?

TM

Tim McNamara Thu 8 May 2014 8:15PM

Wow - this list is a great list.

I would say that it's very worthwhile to make this happen. Every field has its leaders. A slightly flippant question though perhaps - what would it mean to "talk about" someone. Who should be involved in that conversation? How do we make it a conversation?

SY

Stuart Yeates Thu 8 May 2014 8:39PM

It means that there's an awareness of these people, so that when a student of and expresses an interest in , someone knows to tell them "You should read up about " where has the same and and the student. It's about having a handy set of role models / stereotypes to inspire people.

[I really need to go through that list and do race / nationality better for pacifica people]

TM

Poll Created Wed 14 May 2014 8:05PM

Create a "Researcher you should know" Tumblr Closed Sun 25 May 2014 8:10AM

We have a large list of researchers on Wikipedia.. I wonder if 'bite size' posts about those researchers (and links to more details) would make for an interesting Tumblr feed.

Results

Results Option % of points Voters
Agree 25.0% 1 AT
Abstain 25.0% 1 PR
Disagree 0.0% 0  
Block 50.0% 2 KC SY
Undecided 0% 11 FK TM NG SH SW DO BC TL KH JC DU

4 of 15 people have participated (26%)

SY

Stuart Yeates
Agree
Wed 14 May 2014 8:58PM

greatkiwiresearchers.tumblr.com?

PR

Pierre Roudier
Abstain
Wed 14 May 2014 9:52PM

My opinion is really divided on that one:
- I do think it would make a lot of sense to have a repository of short/punchy articles about our unsung heroes,
- OTOH I wonder if priority shouldn't be to increase the Wikipedia articles first.

KC

Kimberley Collins
Block
Wed 14 May 2014 9:53PM

I really like this idea - it's important to show that researchers are human. However, I'm not so keen on the idea of a Tumblr.

I'm wondering if Tumblr is the right medium (/right audience) and don't see the point in re-inventing the wheel.

SY

Stuart Yeates
Block
Fri 23 May 2014 12:21AM

greatkiwiresearchers.tumblr.com?

update: i'm going to change my yes to a block. we need a more detailed plan and better agreement on platform before we create public mouthpiece.

PR

Pierre Roudier Wed 14 May 2014 9:57PM

If we go bite-size, what about a Twitter stream?

KC

Kimberley Collins Wed 14 May 2014 10:11PM

Funnily enough, my master's research was looking at how scientists use Twitter and it's definitely a possibility. There is a curated account, called @realscientists - http://www.twitter.com/realscientists - which has proven to be popular.

I think we need to agree on who our audience is before we can consider a medium.

SY

Stuart Yeates Wed 14 May 2014 10:57PM

Pierre Roudier: if you want to increase the number of NZ science biographies on wikipedia, it is largely a question of getting the sources. In an ideal world, professional organisations (including historically female-dominated ones) would digitise their honours, office holders and life members lists; (ideally their full archives, but that's where to start). If you're serious about putting effort in this direction, start a thread at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WPNZ which is the logical place to coordinate.

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