The ASA is calling on members to use the power of Wikipedia to represent the discipline of sociology as fully and as accurately as possible. Additionally, we seek to promote the free teaching of sociology worldwide.
The broad goals of the ASA Wikipedia Initiative are:
- Ensure that articles about sociological research, terminology, and theory are accurate, up-to-date, complete, and written in a style appropriate for the general public,
- Ensure that articles are based on independent reliable secondary sources
- To represent scientific controversies from a social science perspective, writing articles in a neutral style
- Improve and review articles to Good Article and Featured Article quality
- Assess sociology-related articles and tag them appropriately when there are problems
All ASA members are encouraged to participate by adding new entries and enhancing existing ones with more complete and accurate information with references. This is an especially exciting initiative for teachers and students who can make updating or creating Wikipedia entries part of coursework.
Such work can teach students:
- that even the simplest ideas are hard to communicate to general audiences
- the importance of logic, strength of argument, flow and clarity of writing, and citations of the appropriate literature
- the significance of accuracy in scientific writing
To get started, visit the ASA website.
Tutorials are available, introducing you to Wikipedia, its community, and editing process. There are also tools available to match ASA members and students to appropriate volunteer opportunities in Wikipedia, and easy ways to connect contributors to fellow volunteers and Wikipedia experts.
Feel free to download and distribute the ASA Wikipedia Initiative Information Flyer.
Posted by asaresearch 
