Wikipedia:Meetup/Greymouth/7

Greymouth Wikipedia Training

Byte Māwhera Digital Hub, 18 Albert St, Greymouth
Saturday 16 October 2021
1:00–4:00 pm
Tea and (good) coffee supplied

This is a meetup for anyone interested in learning how to edit Wikipedia. The coverage of the West Coast in Wikipedia ia pretty poor, but there are plenty of keen researchers, writers, and photographers in the community who could improve it. 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 Mike Dickison, Digital Discovery Librarian at Westland District Library.

Attendees

Edit this section to add your Wikipedia username. Tip: you can just type asterisk-space-three tildes (* ~~~)

Timetable

1.00 pm: Meet and greet
Introductions, name lanyards, and account creation if needed
1.15: Wikipedia tutorial
We'll learn how Wikipedia works and how to improve, create, and reference articles.
2.00: 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.
3.00: Q&A tutorial
A chance to go over any problems or questions you have as a group.
3.30: More editing
4.00: Finishing up
Make sure you fill out an evaluation form and add your contributions to the list below.

Useful links

Good things to bring

Laptop. Laptops are definitely easier to edit on than iPads.
Any resources such as books, journals, magazine or newspaper articles relevant to what you're interested in.
Photos you've taken, especially of buildings that could illustrate articles; we can help you donate these to Wikimedia Commons so other Wikipedia articles can use them.

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 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.
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.
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.
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.

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.