Dr. Daniel Mietchen, Wikimedia Expert for Open Science, Speaks at ZEW Research Seminar

Dr. Daniel Mietchen, Germany's "Wikimedian in Residence for Open Science", held an exceptional ZEW Research Seminar on June 12, 2013. He presented and discussed possible ways to enhance interaction of scientists in the Wikimedia community. In the spirit of openness, the talk was made available and editable at Wikipedia. He first gave a general introduction to Wikipedia and its sister projects. He focused on the role these projects play in opening up the research conducted at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) for the public and in integrating the public into academic discourse. Daniel Mietchen's visit is the first result of joint activities in the Leibniz research network "Science 2.0", where ZEW is one of the project partners.

Wikipedia and its sister projects, particularly Wikimedia Commons, are one of the most popular sources of information, including information on science and research topics. So it is in the interest of researchers to familiarise themselves with the way these platforms work, and to get acquainted with the culture of openness embedded in them - a culture that has already started to spread into academia. In his talk, Dr. Mietchen presented his view on Wikimedia as a platform for communicating scientific content. In the following discussion, he addressed together with ZEW researchers possibilities to increase exchange between researchers within the various Wikimedia projects, such as Wikipedia or the Wiktionaries.

Daniel Mietchen is a freelance scientist and is currently working for the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany as "Wikimedian in Residence for Open Science". True to Wikipedia’s principles, his talk was made available and editable on his Wikipedia page, and it was also held from that site. Before the presentation started, participants had the opportunity to contribute suggestions, questions, or reports of experience with Wikimedia in an open brainstorming session. In this way, participants could contribute to the seminar in advance.

ZEW’s Research Seminar brings together ZEW economists and external speakers to explore research findings from a variety of fields. Talks delivered by renowned scientists from Germany and abroad are particular highlights within the series.