Wikipedia:Meetup/Palmerston North/2016 Edit-a-thon

Rangitane guardians in the Square.

What's it about?

An Edit-a-thon is an all-day attempt to improve the Wikipedia pages on a particular topic. Led by an experienced Wikipedia editor, participants learn to edit pages, correct mistakes, add references, and upload photos. Complete beginners are welcome; training and troubleshooting is provided.

When and where

• Sunday 13 March, 2016 Postponed until later in 2016 due to lack of enrolments
• Central Library, 4 The Square, Palmerston North. Report to the customer service desk on the mezzanine floor; the Edit-a-thon itself is on the second floor, in Research & Archives.
• Participants from anywhere in the world are welcome to join in remotely, hashtag #PNeditathon

Timetable

• 10:00 onwards: Setting up, meet and greet, account creation if needed
• 10:15–12:00: How to edit and create articles on Wikipedia (morning tea supplied)
• Lunch break (BYO lunch or forage nearby)
• 12:30–16:00: Wikipedia editing. The theme is The Manawatu and all topics connected to that. Take the opportunity to improve Palmerston North's pages!

What to bring

• Laptop and power cord. The library can provide a computer or tablet if that's not an option for you.
• Any snacks and drink you want, but morning and afternoon tea are supplied.
• Any books, journals, magazine or newspaper articles relevant to pages you're interested in. The library will have reference books and resources available of course.
• Photos you've taken that could illustrate Wikipedia articles; local buildings and landmarks especially.

How to sign up

The Edit-a-thon is free; we just ask that you sign up and make a commitment to coming, so we can plan catering. Register here.

Preparation

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. Creating an account make editing much easier (more info). You'll need to pick a "handle" for your username; you could use your real name, but it's nicer to have the option to be a bit anonymous if you want. Mike's username is Giantflightlessbirds.

Read up on Wikipedia: there are lots of tutorials on the Wiki Wednesday Help page, like the Wikipedia Adventure.

Have a think about topics you'd like to work on. Check out their pages and see if there are obvious mistakes or problems. Maybe even do a little research first so you're prepared. Bring along references for information you want to add. If the topic you're interested in doesn't have a Wikipedia page, we could even create one. If you're stuck, there are lots of pages that need work, and we will keep a list below of ones you could improve.

Useful Stuff

• How to edit pages using the Visual Editor: for when you go Edit
• A cheatsheet for wiki markup: for when you go Edit Source

Attendees

Add your Wikipedia username if you have one. Tip; you can just type asterisk-space-three tildes (* ~~~)

• Giantflightlessbirds (facilitator)

Outcomes

A personal thanks to Palmerston North City Library staff Maria Shiva and Harley Bell for making Palmerston North's first-ever Edit-a-thon a reality. —Giantflightlessbirds (talk)