Wikipedia:GLAM/New Zealand Wikipedian at Large/Join

Institutions

Here are some of the talks and workshops I did as Wikipedian at Large; contact me (giantflightlessbirdsgmail.com) if you'd like to arrange one.

Public lecture: How Wiki Works
Everybody uses Wikipedia, and anybody can edit it. So where does all that information come from? How reliable is it? If anybody can edit Wikipedia, why isn’t it riddled with errors and hoaxes? If nobody is in charge, why doesn’t it descend into anarchy? Learn how to assess the reliability of an article, fix mistakes, and what we in New Zealand can do to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of us. (An hour including questions)

Presentation to researchers: Wikipedia for Outreach
Anyone doing research needs to tell the public what they’re doing. We often spend a lot of time writing for papers, magazines or blogs, but I argue we should divert some of that effort to Wikipedia instead, which has a far greater public impact. I’ll showcase the collaborative Critter of the Week project, and list some concrete steps researchers can take to engage with Wikipedia and Commons, up to and including editing articles.

Presentation to researchers: Wikidata and Commons
These sister projects to Wikipedia are less well-known but almost as important. Commons is a repository for openly-licensed images, diagrams, sound, and video that can be used by anyone for any purpose: Wikipedia takes all its photos from Commons. Wikidata is an open structured database anyone can edit, and it’s rapidly become the backbone underlying projects like Wikipedia and Wikicite. Wikidata can act as a hub linking up the databases of very different institutions.

Presentation to journalists/comms people: Wikipedia for Journalists
How Wikipedia works, how to assess the reliability of an article and see who’s been editing it, and to what extent it can be a source for journalists. I’ll touch on Wikipedia hoaxes, “hacking”, and how you can fix mistakes yourself. We’ll also look at Wikimedia Commons as a source for images, and how to attribute Commons images properly. (50 minutes including discussion)

Presentation to institutions: Engaging with Wikimedia
An introduction to Wikipedia, Commons, and the other Wikimedia Foundation projects. These are huge and heavily-used information resources, so it’s important for institutions to have a strategy for working with them. In many cases it makes more sense to share information via Wikimedia than on one’s own website. There are many ways to engage with Wikimedia Projects, and as a Wikipedian at Large I’m travelling the country working with organisations and the public to support volunteer editors and improve NZ’s Wikipedia coverage. (50 minutes including discussion)

Workshop: Editing Wikipedia
Famously, anyone can edit a Wikipedia article. But many newcomers are surprised to find their contributions being brusquely corrected or even deleted by people they’ve never met. Learn how Wikipedia works, the rules and guidelines, how to write for an encyclopaedia, and how to make your edits and new articles stick. This will be a hands-on session, so bring a laptop. (Two hours with a short break halfway through; the best format is a half day if the time is available)

Edit-a-thon
Wikipedia editors are invited to join forces to improve the coverage of (insert TOPIC here). Bring a laptop and any reference materials you can. Prerequisites: To take part, you’ll need to have taken Mike’s "Editing Wikipedia" workshop and have made 100 edits, or 200 edits on your own. (Full morning or afternoon with tea break; followed by social lunch or dinner after)

Individuals

I encourage people to come to editing events and meetup groups, to chat with other editors and get answers to your questions. If there isn't a meetup group in your area, organise one! It's the best way to meet other Wikipedians.

Sign up to the New Zealand Wikifans mailing list so I can let you know of events coming up in your area
Join the Wikipedia New Zealand Facebook group
You can email me at giantflightlessbirdsgmail.com
Or you can leave a Wikipedia-related question on my Wikipedia talk page