Wikipedia as Public Scholarship: Communicating Our Impact Online

To contribute to the forum asking “Has Communication Research Made a Difference?,” this essay examines whether communication scholarship makes a difference (a) to those who search for information online, (b) in the sense that a primary way our research can make a difference is through its accessibility, and (c) by using the criteria of its presence (or absence) on Wikipedia. In this essay, we reason that Wikipedia is a useful benchmark for online accessibility of public scholarship in that it provides immediate, freely available information to today's diverse global public seeking online answers to questions and relief from problems.

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