getting started-wikipedia-wiki apa2014

Schedule

11:30 AM - 12:00 PM - Welcome12:00 PM - 12:30 PM - About the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center12:30 PM - 1:00 PM – Introductions and New Editor Tutorial1:00 PM - 1:30 PM - Lunch, courtesy of Wikimedia DC1:30 PM - 4:45 PM - Editing Wikipedia4:45 PM - 5:00 - Document your outcomes/results

A Beginner’s Guide to

Contributing to Wikipedia

Wikipedia APA

Editathon

Washington, D.C.May 10, 2014#WikiAPA

1. Name2. Level of experience contributing

to Wikipedia 3. What are you hoping to get out

of your participation today?

Introductions

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia

• Freely licensed without restrictions

• All content created & maintained by volunteers

• Non-profit education project, one of many supported by the Wikimedia Foundation

• All edits/versions are recorded indefinitely

• 4,510,785+ articles, 287 languages (see size of Wikipedia)

Who or what merits an article in Wikipedia?

If a person or topic has received significant coverage in reliable sourcesthat are independent of the subject, then it is deemed “notable.”

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability

Wikipedia Content Standards

Neutral Point of View

Verifiabilityreliable sources, cited correctly

No “original research” i.e. unpublished data, opinions, speculation

Assume good faith towards other editors

Avoid conflict of interest (i.e. editing page about self, boss) See Wikipedia: Policies

and guidelines

WikiProjects

WikiProjects = venues on Wikipedia where editors coordinate coverage around a particular field or topic

Real examples:

WikiProject Architecture

WikiProject Fungi

WikiProject Visual Arts

WikiProject Martial Arts

WikiProject Feminism

WikiProject District of Columbia

Lactarius indigo, Dan Molter [CC-BY-SA-3.0]

#GLAMWiki Project: A Global Network and Community

Wikipedia & GLAMs: a relationship of mutual benefit

Wikipedia benefits from GLAM resources, resulting in better articles and higher quality of sources cited

GLAMs benefit from having information about their collections available to a larger audience, and from the experience of working with volunteers

Online researchers & students benefit from consulting better quality, authoritative Wikipedia articles

Volunteer editors benefit from the learning experience of researching, writing and collaborating on articles

ANATOMY OF AN ARTICLE

LETS START EDITING!

Step 1 - Register a user account

1. Go to en.wikipedia.org, click “Create Account”

2. Choose a username and password There should be a 1:1 ratio between editors and accounts on

Wikipedia. Sharing an account is not allowed, so you should notcreate an account in the name of your organization.

Advantages of registering an account: – A record of your work builds credibility

– More privacy, since anonymous contributors’ IP address is recorded

– Ability to create/rename articles, upload images, edit preferences

– Signals membership in the community

Step 2 – Turn on “Visual Editor”

1. Click the Preferences link at the top of the page

2. Visit the Beta features tab, scroll down and check the box “VisualEditor”

Step 3 - Create a user page

1. Click the link at the top with your username on it.

2. Write something (i.e. “Hello world”) and click Show Preview.

3. Leave a comment under Edit Summary explaining what you did. Now you have a user page!

This user page can be personalized—or not—as you want. Some GLAM employees may wish to post a conflict of interest statement: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Sarasays/COI

Edit Source Edit beta

MediaWiki software markup language

Type WP:CHEAT in the search box for more information

a.k.a. “Visual Editor,” what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG)

Type WP:VE/UG in the search box for more information

Relatively simple to learn, especially if you have any experience with HTML

Familiar symbols for formatting, similar to word processing programs

Best for ultimate control and ability to customize the page; working with wiki “templates” {{ }}

Best for making straightforward textual edits, adding links, headings, etc.

Not very good for people who dislike or get confused by markup languages! Also it is easy to lose your place, or make a typo. Always click “Show Preview” before saving!

Not very good for the more complex wiki markup, such as “templates” {{ }}, still a work in progress, so it can be buggy and/or confusing at times.

Citing Sources

Editbeta

1. Click on More > Reference

2. Type or paste in a new citation, or click the Existing reference button to cite the same source again

Edit Source

• Paste in reference (inside <ref></ref> tags) directlyCheck out reference generators: reftag.appspot.com

• Or, use Cite > Templates or Cite > Named references in the editing toolbar

Adding Categories

Categories appear at the bottom of the page

Warning: they are hierarchical, not like tags!

(example: women novelists issue)

Learn more: Wikipedia:CAT

Creating a new article

1. Do some searching around to confirm the article doesn’t exist under a different name.

2. Draft the article stub in your user Sandbox.

3. Search (unsuccessfully) for the exact name of the article you want to create.

4. Click on the resulting redlink to create the page, paste in code from your Sandbox, Save.

NOTE: “Submit for review” is not required for registered editors. Be bold!

Images: Wikimedia Commons vs. “Non-free Use” rationale

• Wikimedia Commons image

– commons.wikimedia.org

– Example: Teton Range (Ansel Adams photo)

• Non-free image

–en.wikipedia.org

– Example: Look Mickey

Thank others for their work!

Ways to bring a positive & collaborative spirit to the community

Share the WikiLove!