Berkeley hires first 'Wikipedian-in-residence'

BERKELEY, Calif. -- A 24-year-old geography major is the first Wikipedian-in-residence at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Contra Costa Times reports (http://bit.ly/1mfnaz2 ) the school has hired Kevin Gorman to advise students and professors on the complex task of editing articles for Wikipedia, the user-generated online encyclopedia that gets 500 million monthly visitors.

The newspaper says more than 150 universities nationwide -- including the University of San Francisco and California Maritime Academy -- have classes producing content for Wikipedia.

Cal is the first American university to create a position devoted to improving the site and getting its own scholarship out to the public.

Editing Wikipedia articles is already part of the curricula in environmental justice and cultural studies courses. The students will tackle existing articles on air pollution, urban agriculture and hydraulic fracturing.

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  The University of California is the first American university to create a position devoted to improving Wikipedia and getting its own scholarship out to the public. (AP / Yves Logghe)