Wikipedian in Residence

Description

Are you an active member of the Wikipedia community who is passionate about helping the public understand medical information? Are you looking to bring your experience to the not-for-profit sector?

At Cancer Research UK, we aim to save more lives by preventing, controlling and curing cancer. Every day we achieve extraordinary things by being innovative, imaginative and bold in our work.

Our Press and Science Communications team brings our work to life, explaining how it is making a difference to peoples’ lives and getting important information about our research across to millions of people. The team are continuously looking for new ways to help people affected by cancer understand the disease and the life-saving outputs of medical research.

As a result, we have an exciting opportunity for a hands-on individual to join the team and foster collaboration between our staff, Wikipedians, the research community and the general public, with the aim of improving the usability of Wikipedia’s cancer-related content. The role is funded under a people awards grant from the Wellcome Trust for a fixed term of 6 months. Key responsibilities will include:

Holding Wikipedia training sessions at our offices and institutes around the UK
Undertaking research on how and why people use cancer information on Wikipedia
Supporting the creation/adaption of well structured, accurate and readable pages about cancer
Working to make Cancer Research UK’s content more accessible to Wikipedia editors and for other Wikimedia projects.

Ideally an active Wikipedian with experience of working within the Wikimedia community, this is a unique opportunity to make a real impact by bringing your skills to the charity sector. With a passion for Wikipedia and ideally science communication, you’ll have the ability to teach and generate real interest with those learning to use Wikipedia and its sister websites.

To take on this fantastic opportunity, you’ll have…

• Significant experience of editing Wikipedia and the issues relating to copyright
• Excellent presentation and communication skills
• Project management experience.
• Experience of delivering training, including running events (desirable)

If you’re as ambitious as we are, join our collective force and enjoy an excellent career, as we save lives and add years.