Jump to content

James Heilman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Heilman
Heilman in 2015
Born1979 or 1980 (age 44–45)
Saskatchewan,Canada
EducationUniversity of Saskatchewan
(BS,MD)
Medical career
ProfessionPhysician
FieldEmergency medicine
Institutions
James Heilman introducing himself
recorded August 2017

James M. Heilman(born 1979 or 1980) is a Canadianemergency physician,Wikipedian,and advocate for the improvement ofWikipedia's health-related content.He encourages other clinicians to contribute to the online encyclopedia.[1][2]

With the Wikipedia usernameDoc James,Heilman is an active contributor toWikiProject Medicineand a volunteer Wikipedia administrator. He was the president ofWikimedia Canadabetween 2010 and 2013, and founded and was formerly the president of Wiki Project Med Foundation.[3][4][5][6][7]He is also the founder of WikiProject Medicine's Medicine Translation Task Force.[8]In June 2015, he was elected to theWikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees,a position which he held until he was removed on December 28, 2015.[9][10][11]Heilman was re-elected to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees in May 2017.[12]His term ended in November 2021.[13]

Heilman is a clinical assistant professor at the department of emergency medicine at theUniversity of British Columbia,[14][15]and the head of the department of emergency medicine atEast Kootenay Regional HospitalinCranbrook, British Columbia,where he lives.[1][16]

Early life and education

[edit]

Heilman was born in 1979 or 1980,[16]nearCochin, Saskatchewan.[17]He graduated from theUniversity of Saskatchewanin 2000 with aBachelor of Sciencedegree in anatomy, and he subsequently earned hismedical degreethere in 2003.[1]He then completed hisfamily medicineresidency inBritish Columbiafrom 2003 to 2005.[18]Heilman currently holds a certificate of added competency inemergency medicinewith theCollege of Family Physicians of Canada.[19]

Medical career

[edit]

Heilman worked atMoose Jaw Union Hospital,a hospital inMoose Jaw,Saskatchewan, until 2010, when he began working atEast Kootenay Regional Hospital,[1][20]where, in October 2012, he was appointed head of the department ofemergency medicine.[1]In 2014, he told theCranbrook Daily Townsmanthat the emergency department at East Kootenay saw an average of 22,000 patients each year.[21]

Research

[edit]

As of May 2014, Heilman was working on a study with Samir Grover, of theUniversity of Toronto,which would assign medical students to take a test using either Wikipedia or medical textbooks to determine which is more accurate.[22]Later that year, Heilman co-authored a version of the Wikipedia article fordengue feverin thepeer-reviewedjournalOpen Medicine.[23]Heilman also worked on a study withMicrosoftwhich found that in the three countries where the2013–2016 Ebola outbreakhad the largest impact, Wikipedia was the most popular source for information about the disease.[24]In 2015, Heilman and Andrew West published a study which found that the number of Wikipedia editors who focused on editing medical articles decreased by 40 percent from 2008 to 2013.[25][26][why?]These results, together with other detailed analyses about the production and consumption of medical content on Wikipedia, were published by theJournal of Medical Internet Researchin 2015.[27]

Wikipedia and Wikimedia activities

[edit]
Question and answer session with Heilman about editing Wikipedia at theUniversity of British Columbia

Since the beginning of his activity as a contributor to medicine-related Wikipedia articles in 2008, Heilman has been promoting the improvement of medical content by encouraging fellow physicians to take part.[1]He became interested in editing Wikipedia on a slow night shift, when he looked up the article onobesityand found that it contained many errors. "I realized that I could fix it. I made a huge number of edits and improved the quality a great deal. I sort of became hooked from there," he told theHamilton Spectatorin 2011.[2]In 2016, he stated that he edited medical articles on Wikipedia for about 60 hours a week.[28]His time spent editing decreased to 20 hours a week in 2020, during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[17]

Heilman takes part in an initiative through Wiki Project Med Foundation withTranslators Without Borders,working to improve and translate English Wikipedia medical articles of top importance into minority languages.[29][30][31]The Wiki Project Med Foundation has started a collaboration with theUniversity of California, San Franciscoas a recruit for scientifically literate editors, by giving students college credit for improving medicine-related Wikipedia pages.[32]In 2014, the Wiki Project Med Foundation also partnered with theCochrane Collaboration,with the goal of improving the reliability and accuracy of information on Wikipedia. With regard to this partnership, Heilman said, "The way Wikipedia works is that all content is to stand entirely on the references that are listed. If the best quality sources are used to write Wikipedia there's a good chance that Wikipedia will contain the best quality information."[33]

Heilman spoke atWikimania 2014,where he said that 93 percent of medical students use Wikipedia, and argued that "fi xing the internet" is now a critical task for anyone who cares about healthcare.[34]

Ebola contributions

[edit]

By reviewing and correcting medical content in the manner promoted by Heilman (and with many of his contributions), in Wikipedia articles like that aboutEbola,Wikipedia has become a source of information to the general public, thus being regarded among respected sites run by theWorld Health Organization[35]and theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention,[36]covering the topic.[3][37]Heilman reduced the time he spent working in theemergency departmentso he could spend more time updating this page.[38]In 2014, he told theCranbrook Daily Townsmanthat with respect to Wikipedia's coverage of Ebola, "The big thing is emphasizing what we know, making sure that minor concerns don’t get blown out of proportion."[39]He also said that, despite rumours to the contrary, there was no evidence that the disease had become airborne, and that Ebola had caused far fewer deaths than other conditions such asmalariaandgastroenteritis.[39]

Rorschach test images

[edit]

In 2009, Heilman, who was then a resident of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan,[40]addedpublic domainimages of the ink blots used in theRorschach testto the Wikipedia article on the subject, and concerned psychologists said that this could invalidate the tests.[20][41][42]Some psychologists stated the test had "already lost its popularity and usefulness."[20][42]In an interview withThe New York Times,Heilman stated that he added the entire set because a debate about a single image seemed absurd and psychologists' fears were unfounded.[43]Appearing onCanada AMon July 31, 2009, Heilman also said that "This information [i.e. the inkblots] is encyclopedic. This is what people expect to see when they see this page."[44]In August 2009, two Canadian psychologists filed complaints about Heilman to his local doctors' organization; Heilman called the complaints "intimidation tactics".[45]In September 2009, theCollege of Psychologists of British Columbiaurged theSaskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeonsto launch an investigation into Heilman's posting of the images. Heilman toldCTV Newsthat "The psychological community is trying to exclude everybody outside their field from taking part in discussions related to what they do. And personally, I think that's bad science."[46]An extensive debate ensued on Wikipedia, and the images were kept.[43]

Discovery of textbook plagiarism of Wikipedia

[edit]

In 2012, Heilman noticed that the bookUnderstanding and Management of Special Child in Pediatric Dentistry,published byJaypee Brothers,contained a long passage aboutHIVthat was plagiarized from Wikipedia's article on the subject.[29]This subsequently led to the book being withdrawn by the publisher.[47]

In October 2014, while reading a copy of theOxford Textbook ofZoonoses(published byOxford University Press), Heilman noticed that the book's section on Ebola was very similar to the Wikipedia page on that subject.[25]He initially suspected that a Wikipedia editor had copied the portion but later noticed that the part of the Wikipedia article that resembled the part of the textbook had been written in 2006 and 2010, while the textbook had not been published until 2011.[25]Christian Purdy, an Oxford University Press spokesperson, acknowledged that some of the text in the textbook had been copied but described it as an "inadvertent omission of an appropriate attribution" rather than plagiarism.[25]

Tenure on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[edit]

In June 2015, Heilman was elected by the community to theWikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.[9]In December 2015, the board removed Heilman from his position as a Trustee,[10][48]a decision that generated substantial controversy amongst members of the Wikipedia community.[49]A statement released by the board declared the lack of confidence of his fellow trustees in him as the reasons for his ousting. Heilman later stated that he "was given the option of resigning [by the board] over the last few weeks. As a community elected member I see my mandate as coming from the community which elected me and thus declined to do so. I saw such a move as letting down those who elected me."[50]He subsequently pointed out that while on the board, he had pushed for greater transparency regarding the Wikimedia Foundation's controversialKnowledge Engineproject and its financing,[51]and indicated that his attempts to make public theKnight Foundationgrant for the engine had been a factor in his dismissal.[52]

The volunteer community re-elected him to the Wikimedia Foundation board in 2017, until November of 2021.[53]

Other

[edit]

In 2012, Heilman was one of two Wikimedia contributors sued byInternet Brandsfor shifting freely licensed content and volunteer editors from the for-profit siteWikitravelto the non-profit siteWikivoyage.The Wikimedia Foundation defended Heilman's actions in the lawsuit, citing volunteer freedom of choice.[54][55]In February 2013, the parties settled their litigation.[56]In 2014, Heilman criticized a study which concluded that nine out of ten Wikipedia medical articles contained errors.[5][57][58]In 2015,the Atlanticran a piece aboutconflict-of-interest editing on Wikipediawhich detailed Heilman's efforts to counteract edits made by employees ofMedtronicto the Wikipedia page forpercutaneous vertebroplasty.[25]In 2017,Vicealso ran an article about conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia, in which the author noted that Heilman had vocally called on the Wikimedia Foundation to increase its enforcement of Wikipedia's policy against undisclosed paid editing.[59]

Personal life

[edit]

Heilman enjoys runningultramarathonsandadventure racing.[20][60]He and his girlfriend ran theGobi Marchin 2008.[61]He has also run theMarathon des Sables,theAdventure Racing World Championships,[18]and theSaskatchewan Marathon.[62]

[edit]

See also

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related toJames Heilman.

References

[edit]
  1. ^abcdefJames Heilman(January 1, 2013)."Online encyclopedia provides free health info for all. Interview by Fiona Fleck".Bulletin of the World Health Organization.91(1): 8–9.doi:10.2471/BLT.13.030113.ISSN0042-9686.PMC3537258.PMID23397345.WikidataQ24633998.
  2. ^abMcneil, Mark (October 4, 2011)."Wikipedia makes a house call to Mac".The Hamilton Spectator.Archivedfrom the original on December 25, 2018.RetrievedJanuary 12,2014.
  3. ^abCohen, Noam(October 26, 2014)."Wikipedia Emerges as Trusted Internet Source for Ebola Information".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on September 22, 2018.RetrievedOctober 26,2014.
  4. ^Berko, Lex (2013)."Medical Students Can Now Earn Credit for Editing Wikipedia".Vice.Archived fromthe originalon January 12, 2014.RetrievedJanuary 12,2014.
  5. ^abStephens, Pippa (May 28, 2014)."Trust your doctor, not Wikipedia, say scientists".BBC News.Archivedfrom the original on April 29, 2019.RetrievedDecember 9,2014.
  6. ^Trujillo, Maria (November 25, 2011)."Wikipedia and Higher Education – The Infinite Possibilities".University of British Columbia.Archivedfrom the original on December 25, 2018.RetrievedJanuary 9,2014.
  7. ^Bunim, Juliana (September 26, 2013)."UCSF First U.S. Medical School to Offer Credit For Wikipedia Articles".University of California, San Francisco.Archivedfrom the original on October 11, 2018.RetrievedJanuary 12,2014.
  8. ^Beck, Julie (March 5, 2014)."Doctors' #1 Source for Healthcare Information: Wikipedia".The Atlantic.Archivedfrom the original on December 25, 2018.RetrievedAugust 1,2015.
  9. ^abVarnum, Gregory (June 5, 2015)."Wikimedia Foundation Board election results are in".Wikimedia blog.Archivedfrom the original on June 14, 2015.RetrievedJune 11,2015.
  10. ^ab"Resolution:James Heilman Removal".Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.December 28, 2015.Archivedfrom the original on December 25, 2018.RetrievedDecember 29,2015.
  11. ^Kleinz, Torsten (December 29, 2015)."Wikimedia Foundation feuert Vorstandsmitglied".Heise Online(in German).Archivedfrom the original on December 25, 2018.RetrievedJanuary 1,2016.
  12. ^Chan, Katie; Sutherland, Joe (May 20, 2017)."Results from the 2017 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees elections".Wikimedia blog.Wikimedia Foundation.Archivedfrom the original on December 25, 2018.RetrievedJuly 13,2017.The results from this year's community selection of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees are in! Congratulations to María Sefidari (User:Raystorm), Dariusz Jemielniak (User:pundit), and James Heilman (User:Doc James) for receiving the most community support. They will begin the three-year terms being filled through this process after they are officially appointed by the current trustees, which will occur at their August meeting at Wikimania 2017.
  13. ^"Resolution:Term Extension of Dariusz Jemielniak and James Heilman, 2021".wikimedia.org.August 26, 2021.Archivedfrom the original on August 24, 2022.RetrievedMay 31,2022.
  14. ^"James Heilman, MD, CCFP-EM".University of British Columbia.Archived fromthe originalon December 25, 2018.RetrievedApril 19,2016.
  15. ^McClurg, Lesley; Brooks, Jon (November 3, 2016)."Should You Use Wikipedia for Medical Information?".KQED.Archived fromthe originalon November 5, 2016.RetrievedNovember 4,2016.
  16. ^abLaidlaw, Katherine (September 2013)."Is Google Making Us Sick?".Reader's Digest.Archivedfrom the original on December 25, 2018.RetrievedJanuary 9,2014.
  17. ^abGerein, Sharon (June 19, 2020)."Sask. doctor keeps COVID-19 Wikipedia info accurate with encyclopedic dedication".CBC News.Archivedfrom the original on March 17, 2022.RetrievedMarch 17,2022.
  18. ^ab"Board of Trustees".Wikimedia Foundation.Archivedfrom the original on February 4, 2016.RetrievedAugust 20,2015.
  19. ^"James Heilman | Department of Emergency Medicine".Archivedfrom the original on April 18, 2022.RetrievedAugust 24,2022.
  20. ^abcdWhite, Patrick (July 29, 2009)."Rorschach and Wikipedia: The battle of the inkblots".The Globe and Mail.Archivedfrom the original on August 1, 2020.RetrievedJanuary 12,2014.
  21. ^MacDonald, Sally (June 16, 2014)."Five family doctors closing down their Cranbrook practices".Cranbrook Daily Townsman.Archived fromthe originalon December 25, 2018.RetrievedMay 16,2017.
  22. ^Beck, Julie (May 7, 2014)."Can Wikipedia Ever Be a Definitive Medical Text?".The Atlantic.Archivedfrom the original on April 8, 2019.RetrievedMarch 30,2015.
  23. ^"How doctors are working to improve Wikipedia's accuracy".The Advisory Board Company.November 15, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on September 29, 2020.RetrievedAugust 24,2022.
  24. ^Terry Murray (March 3, 2015)."WikiProject Medicine making progress".Canadian Medical Association Journal.187(4): 245.doi:10.1503/CMAJ.109-4982.ISSN0820-3946.PMC4347770.PMID25646285.WikidataQ28652898.
  25. ^abcdePinsker, Joe (August 11, 2015)."The Covert World of People Trying to Edit Wikipedia—for Pay".The Atlantic.Archivedfrom the original on April 16, 2019.RetrievedAugust 11,2015.
  26. ^Heilman, James M; West, Andrew G (March 4, 2015)."Wikipedia and Medicine: Quantifying Readership, Editors, and the Significance of Natural Language".Journal of Medical Internet Research.17(3). JMIR Publications Inc.: e62.doi:10.2196/jmir.4069.ISSN1438-8871.PMC4376174.PMID25739399.Archivedfrom the original on April 3, 2019...A number of explanations have been proposed for this poor retention and recruitment: (1) deterrents such as stricter reference requirements and more policy, (2) growing competition for participant attention in the open-source and user-generated content communities, (3) xenophobia and a community unwelcoming of new users..
  27. ^James M Heilman;Andrew G West (March 4, 2015)."Wikipedia and medicine: quantifying readership, editors, and the significance of natural language".Journal of Medical Internet Research.17(3): e62.doi:10.2196/JMIR.4069.ISSN1438-8871.PMC4376174.PMID25739399.WikidataQ28651276.
  28. ^Brooks, Jon (December 22, 2016)."Wikipedia Handles Fake News With Humans, Not Algorithms".KQED.Archivedfrom the original on May 23, 2017.RetrievedJune 4,2017.
  29. ^abCohen, Noam (June 12, 2012)."Book That Plagiarized From Wikipedia Is Pulled From Market".New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on March 27, 2019.RetrievedJanuary 14,2014.
  30. ^Teigen, Sarah (October–November 2012)."Medical translations for minority languages"(PDF).Multilingual.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on January 12, 2014.RetrievedJanuary 12,2014– via TranslatorsWithoutBorders.org.
  31. ^Yeung, Lien (August 21, 2014)."Wikipedia's medical errors and one doctor's fight to correct them".CBC News.Archivedfrom the original on December 11, 2017.RetrievedAugust 22,2014.
  32. ^Sankin, Aaron (October 1, 2013)."Doctors prescribe better editors for Wikipedia—themselves".The Daily Dot.Archivedfrom the original on March 4, 2016.RetrievedApril 6,2015.
  33. ^Ritger, Clara (February 20, 2014)."Wikipedia Is a Massively Popular (Yet Untested) Doctor".National Journal.Archivedfrom the original on June 3, 2015.RetrievedSeptember 21,2014.
  34. ^Reisz, Matthew (August 14, 2014)."Wikimania: student medics get credit for webside manner".Times Higher Education.Archivedfrom the original on August 24, 2022.RetrievedJanuary 12,2015.
  35. ^"Ebola virus disease".World Health Organization.Archivedfrom the original on December 14, 2014.RetrievedAugust 24,2022.
  36. ^"Ebola (Ebola virus disease)".Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.August 3, 2018.Archivedfrom the original on March 25, 2014.RetrievedAugust 24,2022.
  37. ^Judd, Amy (November 14, 2014)."B.C. doctor part of team editing popular Wikipedia page on Ebola".Global News.Archivedfrom the original on May 11, 2019.RetrievedFebruary 7,2015.
  38. ^Sluizer, Jan (December 3, 2014)."Medical Students Learn to Treat Ailing Wikipedia Entries".Voice of America.Archived fromthe originalon December 25, 2014.RetrievedApril 19,2015.
  39. ^ab"Keeping the facts straight".Cranbrook Daily Townsman.November 20, 2014. Archived fromthe originalon September 23, 2015.RetrievedAugust 13,2015.
  40. ^"Moose Jaw Doctor won't back down".mjtimes.sk.ca.Archived fromthe originalon February 4, 2016.RetrievedSeptember 1,2015.
  41. ^Sample, Ian (July 29, 2009)."Testing times for Wikipedia after doctor posts secrets of the Rorschach inkblots".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on February 9, 2014.RetrievedJanuary 12,2014.
  42. ^ab"Sask. MD's Wikipedia posting of ink blots angers psychologists".CBC News.July 31, 2009.Archivedfrom the original on January 10, 2014.RetrievedJanuary 9,2014.
  43. ^abCohen, Noam (July 28, 2009)."A Rorschach Cheat Sheet on Wikipedia?".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on May 9, 2021.RetrievedJanuary 9,2014.
  44. ^"Psychologists see red over inkblot test posting".CTV News.July 31, 2009.Archivedfrom the original on August 9, 2020.RetrievedAugust 22,2015.
  45. ^Cohen, Noam (August 23, 2009)."Complaint Over Doctor Who Posted Inkblot Test".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on April 3, 2011.RetrievedJanuary 10,2014.
  46. ^Canadian Press (September 3, 2009)."B.C. College calls for Rorschach action".The Globe and Mail.Archivedfrom the original on November 3, 2021.RetrievedNovember 30,2014.
  47. ^"Mangalore professor in plagiarism row".New Indian Express.November 11, 2013. Archived fromthe originalon March 4, 2016.RetrievedAugust 21,2015.
  48. ^"[Wikimedia-l] Announcement about changes to the Board".wikimedia.org.Archivedfrom the original on June 17, 2019.RetrievedJanuary 7,2016.
  49. ^Lih, Andrew (January 15, 2016)."Wikipedia just turned 15 years old. Will it survive 15 more?".The Washington Post.Archivedfrom the original on October 31, 2020.RetrievedJanuary 16,2016.
  50. ^Orlowski, Andrew (January 12, 2016)."Wikimedia Foundation bins community-elected trustee".The Register.Archivedfrom the original on February 4, 2016.RetrievedJanuary 27,2016.
  51. ^Noisette, Thierry (February 26, 2016)."Crise à la fondation Wikimedia: sa directrice démissionne".Nouvel Observateur.Archivedfrom the original on November 2, 2016.RetrievedAugust 24,2022.
  52. ^Koebler, Jason (February 15, 2016)."The Secret Search Engine Tearing Wikipedia Apart".Vice.Archivedfrom the original on December 16, 2016.RetrievedFebruary 29,2016.
  53. ^Kolbe, Andreas (June 7, 2017)."Golden handshakes of almost half a million at Wikimedia Foundation".The Register.Archivedfrom the original on October 10, 2017.RetrievedOctober 10,2017.
  54. ^Cohen, Noam (September 9, 2012)."Travel Site Built on Wiki Ethos Now Bedevils Its Owner".New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on June 17, 2022.RetrievedJanuary 10,2014.
  55. ^Morris, Kevin (September 6, 2012)."Wikimedia announces travel site, launches countersuit against competitor".The Daily Dot.Archivedfrom the original on October 11, 2018.RetrievedJanuary 10,2014.
  56. ^Musil, Steven (February 17, 2013)."Wikimedia, Internet Brands settle Wikivoyage lawsuits".CNET.Archivedfrom the original on December 27, 2013.RetrievedJanuary 20,2014.
  57. ^McClurg, Lesley (November 8, 2016)."Should I Trust Wikipedia With My Health?".NPR.Archivedfrom the original on August 11, 2022.RetrievedSeptember 9,2017.
  58. ^Chatterjee, Anwesh; Cooke, Robin M.T.; Furst, Ian; Heilman, James (June 23, 2014)."Is Wikipedia's medical content really 90% wrong?".Cochrane Collaboration.Archived fromthe originalon July 2, 2014.RetrievedDecember 9,2014.
  59. ^Bateman, Oliver Lee (February 1, 2017)."Wikipedia Is Being Ripped Apart By a Witch Hunt For Secretly Paid Editors".Motherboard.Archivedfrom the original on April 5, 2019.RetrievedOctober 10,2017.
  60. ^O'Meara, Dina (April 24, 2006)."Mind over mountain".Western Standard.Archived fromthe originalon April 2, 2015.RetrievedMarch 20,2015.
  61. ^"Surviving the Gobi march".Moose Jaw Times-Herald.July 4, 2008. Archived fromthe originalon April 2, 2015.RetrievedMarch 20,2015.
  62. ^"28th Annual Saskatchewan Marathon".Saskatoon StarPhoenix.May 29, 2006. Archived fromthe originalon February 4, 2016.RetrievedAugust 22,2015.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Heilman&oldid=1234503454"