Wikipedia:Meetup/Greymouth/Wikipedia Workshop

What's it about?

This is a free workshop run by Dr Mike Dickison as part of the West Coast Wikipedian at Large project. Participants will learn how Wikipedia works, how to improve and create articles, tips and tricks for formatting, referencing, and adding photos, and the wider issues of the reliability and bias of Wikipedia.Complete beginners are welcome; training and troubleshooting is provided. All you need to bring is a laptop!

The event is hosted by Grey District Library and supported by Development West Coast.

When and where

• Sat 12 September 2020, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm NZST
• Grey District Library, 18 Albert St, Greymouth
• Wikipedians from anywhere in the world are of course welcome to join in remotely. Please feel free to add yourselves to the participants list below.

Follow-up session

• Sunday 27th September, 12:30–4:00 pm
• Grey District Library, 18 Albert St, Greymouth

There will be a light lunch and excellent coffee – let's get lots of editing done.

Another follow-up session

• Saturday 31st October, 1:00–4:00 pm
• Grey District Library, 18 Albert St, Greymouth

Excellent coffee again. There's a simultaneous event happening in Christchurch who would like to connect to us as some point via Zoom.

Timetable

• 10.00: Meet and greet
  Introductions, name lanyards, and account creation if needed
• 10.15: Wikipedia tutorial
  We'll learn how Wikipedia works and how to improve, create, and reference articles.
• 11.00: Editing
  We'll try out editing an article together, and add information from a reference. You can improve existing articles, try uploading an out-of-copyright photo, or improve information in Wikidata.
• 12.30: Lunch break. Lunch provided. The Library is kindly providing a light lunch for volunteers, with vegetarian/gluten-free options.
• 14.00: Q&A tutorial
  A chance to go over any problems or questions you have as a group.
• 13.30: Editing
• 16.00: Finishing up
  Make sure you fill out an evaluation form and add your contributions to the list below.

To attend

• The workshop is free and open to all, thanks to the support of Development West Coast.
• There are limited spaces, so register here to be sure of a place.
• This workshop will be following "friendly space" guidelines; check them out. Harassment and disruption won't be tolerated, online or offline.

Media

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

People attending

In person

• Giantflightlessbirds
• NZCoaster
• eelgirl2020
• Cushionplant
• Keabones
• BurkesPass
• Mermaidsheart
• Scotout
• Lakebrunner

Remotely

• DrThneed (talk) 01:28, 12 September 2020 (UTC) (for a bit)

Sun 27 Sep

• Giantflightlessbirds
• BurkesPass
• Scotout
• Lakebrunner
• Janet Jones (2)
• Mary Trayes

What to bring

• Laptop and power cord. Laptops are definitely easier to edit on than tablets! The venue has good wifi. The library has 5 Chromebooks available to borrow, but working on your own computer ia always best.
• Any snacks or drink you want, but the library is kindly supplying lunch, coffee, tea, and biscuits; please note at registration time if you have any special dietary requirements.
• Any resources such as books, journals, magazine or newspaper articles relevant to Wikipedia articles you're interested in.
• Photos you've taken or art that could illustrate articles; you'll learn how to donate these to Wikimedia Commons so other Wikipedia articles can use them.

Preparation

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 anonymous if you want. Here's some advice on picking a username.
2. The more you prepare, the more you'll be able to get done. You may want to read up on avoiding common mistakes, but Wikipedia has a "don't bite the newbies" policy, and we'll have experienced Wikipedians present and helping remotely to troubleshoot.
3. Have a think about topics you'd like to work on; do a little research first so you're prepared. You don't have to be an expert; anyone who can do library research and write clearly can help improve Wikipedia. The best candidates for Wikipedia articles are people, places, or things that are "notable". In Wikipedia terms, "notable" people are those who've been covered in a number of reliable independent sources, such as news, books, authoritative websites, or magazine interviews. If you're proposing to create to Wikipedia article it's important to make sure your subject is "notable"; talk to us if you're not sure – we can help.
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 not, you must be the creator/copyright holder – ask us if you're not certain what's allowed, and we'll help.

Useful

• How to edit pages using the Visual Editor: for when you click Edit

Possible things to work on

• Local writer Bill Pearson
• History House Museum (need lots of news story references about its history and collection)
• Blackball Museum of Working Class History – any clippings, media coverage, published information?
• Westland Petrel – redoing the references and adding information from bird field guides and NZ Birds Online
• Reefton – need an entire section on the street lighting
• Dillmanstown – need an article

Resources

• West Coast New Zealand History: we'll be looking at this as a possible source of images, but it has copyright problems
• Digital NZ, which lets you filter by copyright status

Outcomes

Old-school light lunch provided by the Library

Sat 12 Sept

• New article Statue of Richard Seddon, Hokitika – DrThneed
• Improved article on Pounamu – Mermaidsheart (talk) 03:34, 12 September 2020 (UTC)
• Improved article on Punakaiki – Mermaidsheart (talk) 03:34, 12 September 2020 (UTC)
• updated Greymouth page with references from 'Street Names of Greymouth', and added notable people Tony Kokshoorn and Arthur Guiness with links – BurkesPass
• Improved article on Maungatapu_murders – Scotout (talk) 05:28, 12 September 2020 (UTC)
• Improved article on Greymouth – Scotout (talk) 05:28, 12 September 2020 (UTC)
• Improved article on Reefton
• Improved article on Lake Kaniere – Cushionplant (talk) 03:59, 12 September 2020 (UTC)
• Added to Westland petrel article (and lost most of my edits!!) – Eelgirl2020 (talk) 04:07, 12 September 2020 (UTC)
• Added 'Notable people' and 'Notable buildings' sections to Hokitika article DrThneed – (talk) 04:28, 12 September 2020 (UTC)
• Improved Wikivoyage article on Greymouth 03:59, 12 September 2020 (UTC)

All agreed they had a good time, and most were keen to meet up again at the library on Sunday 27th September, 12:30–4:00 pm for a follow-up session.

Sun 27 Sept

• edited Reefton Power Station editors Lakebrunner and Scotout
• Improvements to Charles Heaphy, Greymouth, and Greymouth Airport
• Adding info and citation to Waiuta

Media

We'll be taking photos for the record. If you don't want to be in a photo, just choose a red name lanyard; if you don't mind, pick a green one.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the Grey District Library and Development West Coast for supporting the West Coast Wikipedian at Large project.