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Wikipedia:Meetup/Palmerston North/Godwits

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Massey University Godwit Edit-a-thon

What's it about?

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An edit-a-thon is an event where volunteer editors tackle a part of Wikipedia that needs improvement. Complete beginners are welcome; training and troubleshooting is provided. All you need to bring is a laptop!

This edit-a-thon is being hosted by Massey University to coincide with the late-March departure of bar-tailed godwits from the Manawatū estuary, a research topic for Dr Phil Battley from Massey University’s Ecology Group. You don't need to be an bird migration expert to take part, though: anyone can help with editing, researching, proofreading, and adding or improving photos.

When and where

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Large Group Discussion Space, Massey University Library
  • Thursday 19 March 2020, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm NZST: people are welcome to drop in any time of the day. (This event happened six days before New Zealand entered a total lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)
  • Large Group Discussion Space, Level 2, Massey University Library, Palmerston North
  • This will be a social-distancing-friendly event. There is plenty of room to spread out, and if you are participating remotely feel free to Skype Adzebill 11:00–12:30 or 1:30–5:00 NZST.
  • Wikipedians from anywhere in the world or stuck in quarantine are of course welcome to join in. Please feel free to hashtag edits with #godwits and add yourselves to the participants list below.

Timetable

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  • 9:00: Wikipedia tutorial
    We'll learn how Wikipedia works and how to improve, create, and reference articles. People are welcome to attend, then come and go during the day.
  • 12.30: Lunch
    We'll all head down to the Library cafe space for refreshments and a chat.
  • 16.30: Finishing up
    Tidying up of the work everyone has done today and a summary of everything achieved.

To attend

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  • The Edit-a-thon is free and open to all, Massey staff, students, and interested members of the public are welcome.
  • The format of this edit-a-thon is drop in, drop out. People are welcome to turn up when they have some time, learn a little about how Wikipedia works, and make some improvements.
  • This workshop will be following "friendly space" guidelines; check them out. Harassment and disruption won't be tolerated, online or offline.

Media

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  • Use the link http://w.wiki/HCX if you want a short, shareable link to this page

People attending

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In person

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  • Giantflightlessbirds (Mike Dickison, Massey R&E, assisting newcomers)
  • Six librarians and a researcher attended the introductory session on Wikipedia and had lots of questions. Half a dozen others popped in and out over the course of the day.

Remotely

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What to bring

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  • Laptop and power cord; the venue is a nice collaborative space, with good wifi, but doesn't have computers. Laptops are definitely easier to edit on than tablets.
  • Any snacks or drink you want. There are vending machines and a good cafe on the ground floor.
  • Any resources such as books, journals, magazine or newspaper articles relevant to the theme of the event.
  • Photos you've taken that could illustrate articles; you'll learn how to donate these to Wikimedia Commons so other Wikipedia articles can use them.

Preparation

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  1. If you're coming, try to create a Wikipedia account beforehand: don't wait until the day to do it! Here's a form you can use if you like. Creating an account makes editing much easier (here's more info on why you should). You'll need to pick a "handle" for your username; you could use your real name, but it's nice to have the option to be a bit more anonymous if you want. Here's some advice on picking a username.
  2. You may want to read up on avoiding common mistakes, but Wikipedia has a "don't bite the newbies" policy, and there'll be an experienced editor there to troubleshoot.
  3. You don't have to be an expert; anyone who can do library research and write clearly can help improve Wikipedia. If you want to create a new Wikipedia article it's important to make sure your subject is "notable". In Wikipedia terms, "notable" people or things are those who've been covered in a number of reliable independent sources, such as news, books, authoritative websites, or magazine interviews, so dig out a half-dozen good references.
  4. If you want to bring photos along and add them to Commons and Wikipedia, they need to be free of any copyright or released under a Creative Commons license that lets anyone use them. (What's Creative Commons?) If they aren't, you must be the copyright owner – which means you took the photo, not someone else.

Useful

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Resources

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Outcomes

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Document what you do! If you add or improve something, note it down here

In flight, showing tail barring

Wikipedia

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  • Phil Battley dropped in 3 theses and 18 printed references for the bar-tailed godwit article
  • Katherine Chisholm expanded diet section of bar-tailed article, added to the Protection section, adding citations.
  • Added two more subspecies to article, and numerous references
  • Brenda facts and newspaper citation to Nurses' Memorial Chapel
  • Joanna added to Early Years sections in Aunt Daisy and Marie Clay

Wikidata

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Wikimedia Commons

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  • Cropped down a Commons photo to chow tail barring, and rearranged and improved the image gallery
  • Modified a Spanish-language distribution map for the English article.
Distribution of the five subspecies of Limosa lapponica, showing Northern Hemisphere summer breeding grounds (red), non-breeding overwintering areas (blue) and migration routes in each direction

Media

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We'll be taking photos for the record.

Acknowledgements

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Many thanks to the Massey University Library for supporting this event, and Research and Enterprise for bringing Wikipedian Mike Dickison to Massey.