Using Wikipedia to Expand your Reach and Provide Credible Information

Wikipedia is the most trafficked reference website on the Internet. It contains more than 3 million articles in English-all of them written collaboratively by anonymous authors. Since its creation ten years ago, Wikipedia has become the world’s go–to starting point for learning about nearly any topic imaginable. Participating in the Wikipedia community can provide great benefits to an organization and should be a part of a communication strategy. This presentation will report on how NIOSH (USA) has used Wikipedia to provide information in a place where others are seeking it an on pages that frequently top search engine results. In addition, Wikipedia listing drives search engine optimization. Additional discussion will focus on reliability and credibility of the information provided and how an open public system may best compliment a more controlled expert system. Expanding reach goes beyond dissemination to building a community of practice.