# An educator framework for organizing Wikipedia editathons for computational biology

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a framework for organizing Wikipedia editathons to improve non-English content in computational biology, increasing accessibility for non-English speakers.

## Contribution

A new framework and web tool to organize editathons and identify missing multilingual Wikipedia content in computational biology.

## Key findings

- An editathon at the 2024 ISCB Latin America conference created ten new Spanish Wikipedia articles.
- The compbio-on-wiki tool helps identify English Wikipedia articles missing in other languages.
- Editathons effectively expand accessibility and visibility of computational biology content globally.

## Abstract

Wikipedia is a vital open educational resource in computational biology; however, a significant knowledge gap exists between English and non-English Wikipedias. Reducing this knowledge gap via intensive editing events, or “editathons,” would be beneficial in reducing language barriers that disadvantage learners whose native language is not English. Results: We present a framework to guide educators in organizing editathons for learners to improve and create relevant Wikipedia articles. As a case study, we present the results of an editathon held at the 2024 ISCB Latin America conference, in which ten new articles were created for the Spanish-language edition of Wikipedia. We also present a web tool, “compbio-on-wiki,” which identifies relevant English Wikipedia articles missing in other languages. We demonstrate the value of editathons to expand the accessibility and visibility of computational biology content in multiple languages.

Source code for the compbio-on-wiki Toolforge site is available at: https://github.com/lubianat/compbio-on-wiki