Wikipedia:GLAM/Wikifying a conference
Background
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I have received a WMF Rapid Grant to develop guidelines for a conference Wikipedian-in-residence, the Wikifying a Conference project. Mike Dickison (Giantflightlessbirds) and I are testing our tools and processes in 2025 at three events:
- Printopia, a printmaking festival in Auckland (2–4 May, Wikipedian in Residence page)
- the 150th Medical School Reunion at the University of Otago in Dunedin (29 May – 1 June) (Wikipedian in Residence page)
- the International Congress of History of Science and Technology (29 June – 5 July) (Wikimedian in Residence page)
We will produce a digital handbook for Wikimedians on how to “Wikify” a conference, which will be drawn directly from our experience Wikifying several events. “Wikifying” involves having a visible “Conference Wikimedian”, creating notable conference presenters and attendees in Wikidata, taking photographs and recording introductions of presenters with their consent, giving advice to professionals on how to engage with Wikipedia and Commons, and collecting subject-expert feedback on articles with a view to building relationships and collaboration.
We will describe in our handbook what activities are involved, what can be done beforehand, what tools are appropriate, what needs to happen afterwards, what level of resource and planning is required, and how to do as much as possible with what you have available.
The handbook will allow other Wikimedians to learn from our experiences in order to more easily become conference Wikimedians. Greater engagement will lead to improved coverage of academics and other experts on Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata and Wikipedia, and greater engagement between those communities and the Wikimedia community.
Resources
[edit]Tools that are useful include the the Wikipedia and Wikidata Googlesheets browser extension (see an example spreadsheet here, for Printopia), and OpenRefine.
Handouts and flyers:
- Editing about yourself on Wikipedia
- How a photo gets into Wikipedia
- A researcher's Wikipedia checklist
- Why is Wikipedia at this event? (generic handout)
- Why is Wikipedia at this event (poster version)
