Getting to Grips with Wikipedia: a Practical Session

Brian KellyInnovation AdvocateCetisUniversity of BoltonBolton, UK

Contact DetailsEmail: ukwebfocus@gmail.comTwitter: @briankellyCetis Web site: http://www.cetis.ac.uk/Blog: http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/

Slides and further information available athttp://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/events/lilac-2014-getting-to-grips-with-wikipedia/

Event hashtag: #lilac14 Session hashtag: #wp

Co-facilitator: Nancy Graham, University of Roehampton

14.25-14.55 on Wednesday 23 April 2014

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Abstract

AbstractWikipedia provides an ideal tool for making information more readily accessible to a wide community, ranging from school children, students, researchers, policy makers and the general public.This session will provide an opportunity for those who may be new to Wikipedia to create a Wikipedia profile and even update existing Wikipedia articles.In this workshop participants will edit and perhaps even create Wikipedia pages. The session will take place in a PC cluster or you can use your own laptop or WiFi-enabled device.

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Keeping a Record of the SessionTo help future sessions (which you may run):

• Live tweeting encouraged• Use #lilac14 #wp

hashtags• Photos welcomed• Storify summary of tweets• Helped to gain feedback

and monitor timings

Timings of tweets:14.30-15.30 Workshop14.30-14.58 Interests

described14.49- User profiles

published

MotivationLet’s accept these arguments and the important role of librarians in supporting use of Wikipedia and focus on how to create or edit Wikipedia articles

https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Expert_outreach

Note see also on Wikipedia: it’s not the evil elephant in the library reading room

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About the Facilitators

Brian Kelly:• Innovation Advocate at Cetis, Bolton University • Was UK Web Focus at UKOLN from 1996-2013• Accredited Wikipedia trainer• Contact details:

Email: ukwebfocus@gmail.com Twitter: @briankelly Wikipedia: User:Lisbk

Nancy Graham:• Library Academic Liaison Manager,

University of Roehampton • Chair of the CILIP Information Literacy Group• Contact details:

Email: Nancy.Graham@roehampton.ac.uk Twitter: @msnancygraham Wikipedia: User:Msnancygraham

About You

Who has:• Little or no experience of Wikipedia?• Created or made significant edits to Wikipedia

articles?• Not yet registered for a Wikipedia account?

In less than 30 minutes you will attempt to:A. Create a Wikipedia account and add

information about yourself and your interestsB. Identify pages to improve and make

improvementsC. Possibly identify gaps and create stub

articles

Let’s multitask – login and

begin tasks while we talk

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Creating an Account

You will:• Create a Wikipedia

account • Go to

https://en.wikipedia.org/ and click on Create Account

• Then complete the form

A: New users

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Creating an Account

You will:• Create a Wikipedia account• Create a user profile & add personal details (e.g.

name, organisation, interests, …)• Add hyperlinks to:

(a) external Web sites (e.g. your organisation) (b) Wikipedia articles (e.g. areas of interest)

• Add simple formatting

See the following user profile examples: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ukwebfocushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Andrew_Grayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:msnancygrahamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ToniSanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lawsonstu

A: New users

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Today’s Goal : Create a User Profile

Nancy Graham’s user profile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Msnancygraham

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Today’s Goal : Create a User Profile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lawsonstu

Heading

Body text

Links to Web site

Links to Wikipedia articles

Templated contentFormatted text

Automatically-generated table of contents

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ToniSant

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Metadata (based on controlled vocabulary) …

References displayed using {{<reflist>}}

can be processed

References defined using <ref>citation info</ref>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ukwebfocus

Bulleted list

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Creating Your User Profile

Getting started:• Go to home page

at wikipedia.org and click on Create account link

• Complete registration details

You then have the option to:• Fix spelling mistakes & grammatical errors• Improve the clarity of a page• Add links to pages• Other tasks, such as create your user profile

NB: You’ll need to make > 9 edits before you can

create a new article.

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Click on your username

Creating Your User Profile

The user profile page doesn’t exist so create it

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==Brief Intro==I am the '''Innovation Advocate''' at [[CETIS]], the ''Centre for Educational Technology, Interoperability and Standards'' based at the [[University of Bolton]]. I started this new role on 28 October 2013.

===About The UKWebFocus Username===From 1996-July 2013 I worked at UKOLN and my job title was '''UK Web Focus'''. I have used that name for a number of social media accounts.

==Engaging with the Wikimedia community==I created my first [[Wikipedia]] article, on [[Rapper Sword]] dancing, in 2004. I have created and edited a number of other articles since then including articles on [[Amplified conference]]s and [[Microattribution]]. I have written a number of [http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/category/wikipedia-2/ blog posts about Wikipedia] on my [http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/ UK Web Focus blog].

HeadingFormatted text (italicised)

Sub-heading

Link to Web site

Formatted text (bold)

Basic Wikipedia Edit Syntax

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ukwebfocus

NB: There is also a WYSIWYG interface for editing

Link to Wikipedia article

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Userbox {{userboxtop|}}{{Template:User time zone|UTC+1|watch}}{{User United Kingdom}}{{User Wikipedian For|year=2013|month=11|day=06}}{{userboxbottom}}

==Brief Intro==I am the '''Innovation Advocate''' at [[CETIS]], the ''Centre for Educational Technology, Interoperability and Standards'' based at the [[University of Bolton]]. I started this new role on 28 October 2013.

===About The UKWebFocus Username===From 1996-July 2013 I worked at UKOLN and my job title was '''UK Web Focus'''. I have used that name for a number of social media accounts.

User’s timezone

User’s country

Date joined Wikipedia

Further Wikipedia Edit Syntax

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ukwebfocus 16

Ukwebfocus profile Page

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Improving Pages (1 of 2)

For novice users:• Go to

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:GettingStarted

• Select option to fix typos or improve clarity

B: Novice users

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Improving pages

Click here to edit page

Improving Pages (2 of 2)

B: Novice users

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Creating (Stub) Articles

C: Experiencedusers

First ensure page doesn’t existThen:

• Make at least 10 edits to pages• Create it (live or in sandbox)• Provide links to it• See if it persists• See if it develops

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Life of the Microattributions Article

I created after the SOLO 2011 conference

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Life of the Microattributions Article

The article on 6 Nov 2013 22

Life of the Microattribution Article

The article:• Created after

Microattribution panel session at SOLO 2011 in Sept 2011

• Mike Peel encouraged creation of article and gave some suggestions

• Initial page created on 6 Sept

• Has changed significantly since launch

• ~10 contributors• 460 views in past 90 days 23

Further Information

You should now have a Wikipedia account and user profile pageFeel free to continue editingSome optional topics which can be addressed:

• Strategies for creating a new article • Key principles for content• The five pillars of Wikipedia• About Wikipedia• About the Wikimedia Foundation• About Wikimedia Projects• References in Wikipedia Articles

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Strategies for Creating New Articles (1)

When creating or editing Wikipedia articles you can:

• Engage with this new community with care • Check proposed changes carefully with

your peers & Wikipedia experts

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Strategies for Creating New Articles (2)

Alternatively when creating or editing Wikipedia articles you can:

• Be bold!• Make changes – and see if they stick• Engage in discussions with others, but be

prepared to argue your corner (though in a graceful and non-confrontational manner)

Such approaches are welcomed by the Wikipedia community

Key Principles for Content (1)

No original researchAll research must come from published sources e.g.

• Peer-reviewed journals • Peer-reviewed books• University-level textbooks• Magazines, journals and books published by

respected publishing houses• Mainstream newspapers

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Key Principles for Content (2)Neutral Point of ViewContent should be provided from a neutral point of view:

• If your viewpoint is in the majority, then it should be easy to substantiate it with reference to commonly accepted reference texts;

• If your viewpoint is held by a significant minority, then it should be easy to name prominent adherents;

• If your viewpoint is held by an extremely small minority, then — whether it's true or not, whether you can prove it or not — it doesn't belong in Wikipedia, except perhaps in some ancillary article.

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The Five Pillars

Fundamental principles by which the Wikimedia community operates...Wikipedia:

1. is an encyclopedia2. is written from a neutral point of view3. is free content that anyone can

edit / use/ modify / share4. editors should respect each other5. does not have any firm rules

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About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation:• Is a nonprofit charitable organization

dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual, educational content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge.

• Operates some of the largest collaboratively edited reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia, a top-ten internet property.

See http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Main_Page

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About Wikipedia

Wikipedia is:• Available in 140 languages.• Attracting 470 million unique visitors monthly

as of February 2012.• Based on five pillars which describe its

fundamental principles.

Wikipedia had (on 21 April 2014):• A total of 4,497,538 content articles and

2,714,227 pages.• Seen 711,415,506 edits by 21,187,675

registered users.

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About Wikimedia Projects (1)

Wikimedia projects include:• Wikipedia, a project to build free

encyclopedias in all languages. • Wiktionary, a project to create a multilingual

free content dictionary in every language.• Wikiquote, a repository of quotations from

famous people, books, speeches, films, …• Wikibooks, which aims to build a collection of

free e-book resources, including textbooks, language courses, manuals, …

• Wikisource, a multilingual project to archive a collection of free and open content texts.  

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About Wikimedia Projects (2)Wikimedia projects include:

• Wikinews project has the mission to report the news on a wide variety of subjects. 

• Wikiversity is a project dedicated to learning materials and learning communities, as well as research.

• Wikimedia Commons provides a central repository for free photographs, diagrams, maps, videos, animations, music, sounds, spoken texts, and other free media. It serves as a central repository for all Wikimedia projects.

• MediaWiki is an open source community which maintains several software projects including the  MediWiki engine used by all Wikimedia projects.

• … 33

References in Wikipedia Articles

References for the Microattribution Article

<ref>{{cite web|title=On microattribution| url=http://blogs.plos.org/mfenner/2011/08/28/on-microattribution/ |publisher=[[Gobbledygook]]|accessdate=3 October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=What is the Human Variome Project?| url=http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v39/n4/full/ng0407-423.html| publisher=[[Nature Genetics]]|accessdate=26 October 2011}}</ref>

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references

Questions

Any questions, comments, …?

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This presentation, “Getting to grips with Wikipedia: a practical session” was facilitated by Brian Kelly, Cetis at the LILAC 2014 conference.The presentation is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

Note the licence covers most of the text in this presentation. Images may have other licence conditions. Where possible links are provided to the source of images so that licence conditions can be found.

Slides and further information available athttp://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/events/lilac-2014-getting-to-grips-with-wikipedia/

Licence and Additional Resources