This document provides information about editing Wikipedia. It discusses how Wikipedia works as a free, community-created online encyclopedia. It notes that Wikipedia has over 4 million articles in 285 languages, far surpassing other encyclopedias. The document then outlines best practices for editing Wikipedia, such as using reliable sources, avoiding original research, and assuming good faith in discussions with other editors. It provides guidance on creating user accounts and pages, editing article structure and markup, adding references and images appropriately, and resolving conflicts of interest. The overall purpose is to introduce new editors to Wikipedia and encourage contributions that improve coverage of topics.

1. Women in the Arts
Meetup &
Wikipedia
Edit-a-thon
#wia13
March 29, 2013 - Archives of American Art

2. PART 1: HOW WIKIPEDIA WORKS, AND
WHY LIBRARIES, ARCHIVES, &
MUSEUMS SHOULD CARE

3. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
 Free as in beer & free as in speech; no
advertising
 Created and maintained by volunteers
 Supported by the Wikimedia
Foundation
 “A hybrid of tool and community”
 All edits/versions are recorded
indefinitely
 4 million+ articles, 285 languages

4. Biggest. Encyclopedia. Ever.
Encyclopedia Number of Articles
English Wikipedia 4,168,694
Encyclopedia Britannica (online) 120,000
Encyclopedia Britannica (print, 2002) 65,000
Size of English Wikipedia (August 2010) if it were printed and bound

5. Monthly Visitors to Smithsonian
Websites vs. Wikipedia.org
500,000,000
450,000,000
400,000,000
350,000,000
300,000,000
250,000,000 visitors to all si.edu
sites
200,000,000
visitors to
150,000,000
wikipedia.org
100,000,000
50,000,000
0
Oct. Dec.
Feb. Apr.
11 11 Jun.
12 12
12

6. What or who merits an article
on Wikipedia?
If a person or topic has received
significant coverage in reliable sources
that are independent of the
subject, then it is deemed “notable,”
and may merit its own Wikipedia
article.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability

7. Core Wikipedia Policies
 Neutral Point of View
 Verifiability
reliable sources, cited correctly
 No “original research”
i.e. unpublished
data, opinions, speculation
 Assume good faith towards
other editors
 Avoid conflict of interest (i.e.
editing page about self, boss) See Wikipedia: Policies
and guidelines

8. WikiProjects
WikiProjects = venues on Wikipedia where editors
coordinate coverage around a particular field or topic
Real examples:
WikiProject Architecture
WikiProject Fungi
WikiProject Visual Arts
WikiProject Martial Arts
WikiProject Feminism
WikiProject District of Columbia
Lactarius indigo, Dan Molter [CC-BY-SA-3.0]

9. GLAM-Wiki Project:
A Global Network and Community

10. Wikipedia & GLAMs: a relationship
of mutual benefit
Wikipedia benefits from GLAM resources and
people, resulting in better articles and higher
quality of sources cited
GLAMs benefit from having information about
their collections available to a much larger
audience

11. The research process in action:
GLAM
Google Wikipedia
website
Wikipedia is frequently a
midpoint, not an endpoint

12. Benefits to the public too!
Online researchers & students benefit from
consulting better quality, authoritative
Wikipedia articles
Editors benefit from the learning experience of
researching, writing and collaborating on articles

13. PART 2: ANATOMY OF AN ARTICLE

14. 3 Standard Parts of a Typical Article
Lead section
 Summary paragraphs—should read like an
abstract, summarizing the article as a whole
 Table of Contents
 Infobox, an image (maybe)
Main body
 Up to 4 levels of sub-sections (think h2, h3, etc.)
Closing sections
 See also, References, Notes
 Bibliography, Further reading, External links
 Categories, interwiki links

16. Template: Infobox Artist
{{Infobox artist
| name = Louise Nevelson
| image = Louise and Neith Nevelson.jpg
| imagesize = 250px
| caption = Louise Nevelson and granddaughter [[Neith Nevelson]]
| birth_name = Leah Berliawsky
| birth_date = {{birth date |1899|9|23|}}
| birth_place =[[Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi|Perislav]], [[Poltava
Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date = {{death date and age |1988|4|17|1899|9|23|}}
| death_place = New York City
| nationality = American
| field = Sculpture
}}

17. Direct
data from
Wikipedia

20. PART 3: LETS START EDITING!

21. Creating a user account
 Sharing an account is not allowed, so you should not
create an account for your organization
 You can edit without an account, but your IP address is
recorded (less privacy, in the end)
 User name: real name or pseudonym up to you
 Other advantages of an account:
• A record of your work builds credibility
• Ability to create/rename articles, upload images
• More likely to receive help from others

22. Creating a user page
 Can be as personal or impersonal as you want
 Can state which WikiProjects you belong to, show
awards (Barnstars) that you have received from the
community
 Good place to put a conflict of interest statement for
GLAM employees

23. Conflict of interest statement for
GLAM employee user page
Conflict of Interest Statement
I, User: [username here], am an employee of [your
institution], and a cultural institution per
Wikiproject:GLAM. I accept the editing conditions
specified at that page. I will not make any edits that
would not be beneficial to the goals of Wikipedia.
My main edits will tend to consist of the following
activities:
– Example1
– Example2
I will modify my editing behavior based on problems cited
by other editors or if my editing conflicts with other
Wikipedia guidelines. I ask that other editors do not
hesitate to contact me, via my user talk page, if I
appear to be going against this declaration. [sign here]

24. Creating a user sandbox
A sandbox is a place to experiment. If your sandbox link is
red, click on it to create the page.
You can make multiple sub-sandboxes by adding another
/ after sandbox and adding a new directory name
Keep search engines at bay with {{Userspace draft}}

25. User Talk pages
 New posts go at the bottom
 Users may reply either on your talk page, or on the
page where you posted
 When you post something, always sign your name by
clicking or typing ~~~~
 You can choose to be notified by email when
someone posts to your talk page
 See Help: Using talk pages

26. Article Talk pages
 Work very much the same way as user talk pages
 A place for editors to discuss the topic
 Give you a good feel about whether or not the article
has issues, controversies
 If you feel that part of an article has problems or
errors, this is a place where you can make suggestions
instead of editing it yourself

27. Watchlist & Contributions
My watchlist - see the latest changes in your
watched articles (Tip: Atom feed link left
nav column, get updates instantly in your feed
reader or email client)
My contributions – a record of your edits

28. Editing Wiki Markup
• What you see is not what you get
• Use the buttons or type in the markup by hand
• Find the “cheat sheet” by typing WP:CHEAT into the
search box, or save this PDF to your computer

29. Creating or Editing an Article
NEW:
Search (unsuccessfully) then click on the
resulting redlink to create the page
“Submit for review” is not required for
registered editors
EXISTING:
“Edit this page” tab edits the whole article
“*edit+” links appear in major section headings
See also: Wikipedia:Creating an article

30. Adding sources (cite templates)
1st mention of source
<ref name=aaa>{{cite web|title=A Finding Aid to the Macbeth Gallery
records, 1838-1968|url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/macbeth-
gallery-records-9703/more|publisher=Archives of American
Art, Smithsonian Institution|accessdate=15 February 2013}}</ref>
2nd mention of source
<ref name=aaa />
References
1. "A Finding Aid to the Macbeth Gallery records, 1838-1968". Archives of
American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 15 February 2013.

31. Action!
1. Try adding a reference to your
sandbox
2. Preview & save – don’t forget the
edit summary

32. Images: Wikimedia Commons vs.
“Non-free Use” rationale
• Wikimedia Commons image
– commons.wikimedia.org
– Example: Teton Range (Ansel Adams photo)
• Non-free image
– en.wikipedia.org
– Example: Look Mickey

33. Share the WikiLove!

34. Don’t be scared, & don’t doubt the value of your
contributions.
You can’t break it (all edits can be reverted).
The more you edit, the more you learn.