"DIY Wikipedia Edit-a-thon" March 21st, 1-2:30 Sheraton Harborside Hotel Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Wikipedia is a widely known resource and can often be a “first-stop” for researchers of all levels of expertise. Despite its ubiquity, cultural heritage institutions have been slow to participate in Wikipedia. As a consequence, many people, organizations, and events documented in our collections have a minimal, if any, presence on Wikipedia. The first half of this session will be dedicated to explaining and generating conversation among attendees about “why” and “how” to host a Wikipedia edit-a-thon at a library, archives, museum, or other cultural heritage site. Specific topics to be addressed in this part of the presentation include how to “sell” the idea of hosting an edit-a-thon to one’s home institution, how to get to know the local Wikipedia community, and how Wikipedia fits into emerging scholarly discourses in media studies, public history, and digital humanities. Attendees will leave with a checklist plan that they can implement for hosting an edit-a-thon.
The second half of this session will focus on explaining the “nuts and bolts” of how to create and edit articles in Wikipedia, as well as the many different ways to contribute to Wikipedia. Please feel free to bring a computer or mobile device to the session, as well as ideas for Wikipedia entries you’d like to create. We’ll help you get started, discuss best practices, and answer questions. Our hope is for attendees to become familiar with Wikipedia and its editing culture, so that they will be more likely to host an edit-a-thon.
Formally launched on January 15th, 2001. For deep detail, see How Wikipedia Works and of course the Wikipedia article on the History of Wikipedia. From that article, data as of March 2014 tell us:
Wikipedia:Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia
Wikipedia makes recommendations about the use of primary sources that can be at odds with archival understandings of the role of secondary sources, particularly when dealing with underrepresented groups.
The Luce and Lunder Edit-a-thon at the Smithsonian American Art Museum provides an excellent template for thinking about what your edit-a-thon can look like and what it can accomplish.
More in-depth instructions about planning an edit-a-thon can be found here: Wikipedia: How to Run an Edit-a-Thon
Plan an edit-a-thon in 5 steps:
1. Create a project page for your edit-a-thon.
2. Decide on a date, time & venue
3. Publicize the event
4. Make two lists
5. Recruit two people from your staff to help on the day-of
Here is a sample schedule for a half-day event:
The following is a sampling of suggested articles to create or add upon.
You can also contribute to Wikipedia by assisting with categories, for example adding new articles to:
Or by improving citation formatting (see examples in our further reading section) on these articles or others:
Learning Tools
GLAM / Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation, Gender Gap
Wikimedia Foundation, Gender Gap Manifesto
Khanna, Ayush (2012). "Nine out of ten Wikipedians continue to be men: Editor Survey". Wikimedia Global Blog. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
Gardner, Sue (2010). "Unlocking the Clubhouse: Five ways to encourage women to edit Wikipedia". Sue Gardner's Blog. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
Wadewitz, Adrianne (2014). "Teaching with Wikipedia: the Why, What, and How". HASTAC Scholars' Blog. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
Simonite, Tom (2013). "The Decline of Wikipedia: Even As More People Than Ever Rely on It, Fewer People Create It". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
Feltman, Rachel (2014). "America's future doctors are starting their careers by saving Wikipedia". Quartz. Retrieved 2014-02-13.
Owens, Simon (2013). "The battle to destroy Wikipedia's biggest sockpuppet army". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2013-10-10.
"DIY Wikipedia Edit-a-thon" March 21st, 1-2:30 Sheraton Harborside Hotel Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Wikipedia is a widely known resource and can often be a “first-stop” for researchers of all levels of expertise. Despite its ubiquity, cultural heritage institutions have been slow to participate in Wikipedia. As a consequence, many people, organizations, and events documented in our collections have a minimal, if any, presence on Wikipedia. The first half of this session will be dedicated to explaining and generating conversation among attendees about “why” and “how” to host a Wikipedia edit-a-thon at a library, archives, museum, or other cultural heritage site. Specific topics to be addressed in this part of the presentation include how to “sell” the idea of hosting an edit-a-thon to one’s home institution, how to get to know the local Wikipedia community, and how Wikipedia fits into emerging scholarly discourses in media studies, public history, and digital humanities. Attendees will leave with a checklist plan that they can implement for hosting an edit-a-thon.
The second half of this session will focus on explaining the “nuts and bolts” of how to create and edit articles in Wikipedia, as well as the many different ways to contribute to Wikipedia. Please feel free to bring a computer or mobile device to the session, as well as ideas for Wikipedia entries you’d like to create. We’ll help you get started, discuss best practices, and answer questions. Our hope is for attendees to become familiar with Wikipedia and its editing culture, so that they will be more likely to host an edit-a-thon.
Formally launched on January 15th, 2001. For deep detail, see How Wikipedia Works and of course the Wikipedia article on the History of Wikipedia. From that article, data as of March 2014 tell us:
Wikipedia:Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia
Wikipedia makes recommendations about the use of primary sources that can be at odds with archival understandings of the role of secondary sources, particularly when dealing with underrepresented groups.
The Luce and Lunder Edit-a-thon at the Smithsonian American Art Museum provides an excellent template for thinking about what your edit-a-thon can look like and what it can accomplish.
More in-depth instructions about planning an edit-a-thon can be found here: Wikipedia: How to Run an Edit-a-Thon
Plan an edit-a-thon in 5 steps:
1. Create a project page for your edit-a-thon.
2. Decide on a date, time & venue
3. Publicize the event
4. Make two lists
5. Recruit two people from your staff to help on the day-of
Here is a sample schedule for a half-day event:
The following is a sampling of suggested articles to create or add upon.
You can also contribute to Wikipedia by assisting with categories, for example adding new articles to:
Or by improving citation formatting (see examples in our further reading section) on these articles or others:
Learning Tools
GLAM / Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation, Gender Gap
Wikimedia Foundation, Gender Gap Manifesto
Khanna, Ayush (2012). "Nine out of ten Wikipedians continue to be men: Editor Survey". Wikimedia Global Blog. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
Gardner, Sue (2010). "Unlocking the Clubhouse: Five ways to encourage women to edit Wikipedia". Sue Gardner's Blog. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
Wadewitz, Adrianne (2014). "Teaching with Wikipedia: the Why, What, and How". HASTAC Scholars' Blog. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
Simonite, Tom (2013). "The Decline of Wikipedia: Even As More People Than Ever Rely on It, Fewer People Create It". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
Feltman, Rachel (2014). "America's future doctors are starting their careers by saving Wikipedia". Quartz. Retrieved 2014-02-13.
Owens, Simon (2013). "The battle to destroy Wikipedia's biggest sockpuppet army". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2013-10-10.