Two Chicago-area university libraries are collaborating on a Wikipedia editing event on Thursday, October 23rd, from 1pm to 5pm. The library at Roosevelt University's downtown Chicago campus is hosting RU's portion of the event at the Congress Lounge, and the library at Northeastern Illinois University's main campus is hosting NEIU's portion of the event in the library's cafe space on its main floor.
The event will be focused particularly on creating an article about the Chicago Fire of 1874, a smaller fire than the Great Chicago Fire, and one that disproportionately affected minority neighborhoods just south of the Loop. Given the 1874 fire's impact on the area surrounding RU's campus, and given both universities' interest in the history of minorities in Chicago, the universities are collaborating to write a well-referenced article about the event. There is at present no article about the fire, and few online resources, so both libraries will have copies of newspaper accounts from the time, archival documents from the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (located at NEIU), and other print secondary sources available for people to use in writing the article. The libraries hope to use the event to raise awareness about how Wikipedia articles are constructed and what role scholars can play in that work.
I (Jwrosenzweig (talk)) am the "experienced Wikipedian" who'll be at the event (physically at NEIU, and virtually at RU via FaceTime) helping new users to accustom themselves to editing the site, and other librarians coordinating the event also have some experience with editing. We anticipate a small turnout, and that activity will be very focused on that one article (and probably a few related articles about that era in Chicago's history, or the communities affected). If people are interested in the event -- either how it will run or how you can attend -- leave a note here or on my talk page, and I'll answer your questions as well as I can. Thanks!
Attendees edit
- Awesome! I've run these events before (though not in this remote fashion), and can help with organizational needs. Would you prefer I be at NEIU or at Roosevelt? I, JethroBT drop me a line 23:22, 20 October 2014 (UTC)
- Jethro, you'd be very welcome! :-) Honestly, if one campus is easier for you to access, you'd be a helpful addition in either place, but if it really made no difference to you, right now I will be at NEIU but we won't have an experienced Wikipedian at Roosevelt. Freeda, the librarian at RU who's coordinating that half of the event, has edited before (and we worked together on this event last year), but it might be helpful to have someone up on the community's norms and rules at RU -- again, though, you'd be helpful to us no matter where you showed up! Thanks for taking an interest! Jwrosenzweig (talk) 14:29, 23 October 2014 (UTC)
- @Jwrosenzweig: Hey, unfortunately something has come up for me here, so I have stick around at home. That said, I can help you edit the Chicago Fire of 1874 from here, and have started making some additions. I, JethroBT drop me a line 20:22, 23 October 2014 (UTC)
- Thanks so much, @I JethroBT:! The map is a fantastic addition. We keep going here -- we haven't gotten to all the source material or topics we wanted to address, but I think we've made real progress, and I'm thrilled at anything you can add or edit. I know some of this stuff is still very rough style-wise, and the article may need a reorganization to straighten some of that out, but I'm pleased at what we have managed. Thanks again for pitching in! Jwrosenzweig (talk) 21:34, 23 October 2014 (UTC)
- @Jwrosenzweig: Hey, unfortunately something has come up for me here, so I have stick around at home. That said, I can help you edit the Chicago Fire of 1874 from here, and have started making some additions. I, JethroBT drop me a line 20:22, 23 October 2014 (UTC)
- Jethro, you'd be very welcome! :-) Honestly, if one campus is easier for you to access, you'd be a helpful addition in either place, but if it really made no difference to you, right now I will be at NEIU but we won't have an experienced Wikipedian at Roosevelt. Freeda, the librarian at RU who's coordinating that half of the event, has edited before (and we worked together on this event last year), but it might be helpful to have someone up on the community's norms and rules at RU -- again, though, you'd be helpful to us no matter where you showed up! Thanks for taking an interest! Jwrosenzweig (talk) 14:29, 23 October 2014 (UTC)