STUDENT. Initially he used Wikipedia as an aid for his own studies, then he began to discover minor errors or formulas that he could clarify and improve. Now, medical student, Carl Fredrik Sjöland, is active in the comprehensive international translation project intended to make medical information accessible to people in developing countries.
During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, traditional media such as CNN, the BBC, or WHO was not where people turned most often for more information about the disease. It was Wikipedia.
On April 6 at 12 noon, James Heilman was invited to speak at the Onsdagsakademin (Wednesday’s Academy), on Wikipedia’s development in order to improve the global health situation. James Heilman is a Canadian emergency room physician who is heavily invested in Wikipedia’s medical information.
James Heilman is also Carl Fredrik Sjöland’s supervisor in the ongoing major project of translating articles in Wikipedia into languages that are spoken in developing countries, in particular those in Africa, East Asia and India.
Carl Fredrik has worked with the project over the past two summers.
“I find it to be a fun and important job,” he says and continues,
“Wikipedia is one of the world’s most visited websites. We see to it that the information given out is correct, evidence-based and formulated in an accessible way.
Wikipedia is a kind of open encyclopedia on the net, where anyone can contribute information. In the past month alone, 125 000 people worldwide have contributed something to Wikipedia.
“It might sound like an enormous organization works with Wikipedia, but in medicine, most is written by a core group consisting of, perhaps, 250 people,” explains Carl Fredrik, who is usually present when the Wikimedia Foundation holds its annual conference,
“Last year it was held in Mexico, and I presented, among other things, work on the translation project.
Wikipedia exists in 236 different language versions, but there are great variations between languages and the amount accessible. The medical translation project is intended to create accurate and easily accessible information on diseases and health in languages where it is otherwise difficult to find such information.
“We prefer having several translators work on and proof each article, but that is not always possible when it involves less commonly spoken languages.”
Carl Johan in now in his seventh term of the medical program at Sahlgrenska Academy and hopes to continue working with Wikipedia,
“But first I want to finish my medical studies and be able to work clinically. I am looking forward to that too.”
