User talk:Geraldckane

Survey

The survey can be found at User:Geraldckane/medsurvey.

Feedback Welcome

I am in the process of conducting research on the medical information on Wikipedia. I always strive to conduct my research in a way that respects Wikipedia and the people who contribute to it. I always welcome any feedback about how I might improve my methods of contacting people on Wikipedia. Feel free to post any comments or questions here, or I also respond to email if you'd like a more confidential exchange (gerald.kane@bc.edu)

GeraldCKane

Names

What does the C stand for? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.74.34.151 (talk) 09:12, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Charles, after my great-grandfather. geraldckane (talk) 02:04, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

WAS 4.250

Hi.

You contacted me on my talk page. I don't use email. I only communicate in public; no private messaging. I'm willing to answer what I can say in public. I'll copy your questions below and say what I can. WAS 4.250 (talk) 09:13, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

QA

1. What is your Wikipedia user name? Optional: please also include any demographic information you are comfortable sharing (e.g. age, sex, nationality).
   

WAS 4.250 - retired old male with significant health problems living in Newark, New Jersey. US citizen.

1. How much time per week do you spend contributing (e.g. editing articles, discussion pages, user talk pages, monitoring contributions) a) to Wikipedia in general b) to medical and health-related articles
   

a few hours a day. I'm currently mostly creating learning resources at WikiMedia's WikiVersity site's Ethical Management of the English Language Wikipedia project

1. Do you have any formal training in healthcare? If so, what? Do you have any informal training or experience (e.g. a patient with a condition, a drug rep, an avid reader)?

I have formal training in computer science and physics. My whole life, I have spent much of my spare time studying things. I love learning.

1. Why do you contribute to Wikipedia? Why do you contribute to medical articles in general?

It's fun. I enjoy learning stuff, writing what I learn, coming back a while later and seeing what others have added to it. I got interested in H5N1 and wound up being the main contributer to a whole series of Influenza related articles. The main fun was learning, as I didn't know anything about it at first. I most enjoyed learning about the H5N1 genetic structure. If you look at that article it shows; as it really really needs someone who enjoys writing articles, rather than enjoys learning and databasing what he has learned. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 and Influenza both show what happens when the data I collected is then transformed by people who love crafting a great article. That's not one of my skills or desires. But I'm glad others like to do that.

1. Does the editorial process behind medical articles differ from the editorial process of other Wikipedia articles? If so, how?

Different articles have different problems and communities that edit them. Avian flu gets a lot of drive by vandalism of the "H5N1 is gonna KILL you!!!" type. Some vaccine articles get edit wars about alternative medicine. H5N1 at one time got a lot of "this happened today" type edits, so I made Global spread of H5N1 and that problem went there. Managing articles is as much about managing the community that edits that article as it is about editorial judgements concerning claims and wording in the article itself.

1. In your opinion, what factors are most closely associated with the development of a quality article?

Good writers who understand the subject.

WAS 4.250 (talk) 09:13, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

IRB

Has your research on Wikipedia been approved by your IRB? --Una Smith (talk) 01:13, 4 August 2008 (UTC)