Wikipedia:WikiProject Writing/Summer

Past spotlights • Setting goals • Coordinating collaboration • Combating knowledge inequities • Resources • June workshops & office hours

WikiProject Writing Summer-long Edit-a-thon

This summer, WikiProject Writing is focused on setting goals and coordinating collaborations to expand and improve content related to the fields of rhetoric, composition, technical communication, literacy, and language studies. We aim to work together to address inequities on Wikipedia as we contribute to a wide range of vital, general interest, and field-specific Wikipedia articles.

Please join us to . . .

1. Set summer writing goals: Create achievable goals for individual and collaborative contributions to a wide range of vital, general interest, and field specific Wikipedia articles.

2. Coordinate collaboration: Form writing groups of WikiProject Writing participants interested in improving the same article or a related set of articles.

3. Combat knowledge inequities: Address content gaps by adding relevant citations, cleaning up article content, and contributing new content with attention to the research and scholarship of marginalized writing studies teacher-scholars.

Past spotlights

March 2021: Centering BIPOC Women in Writing Studies
April 2021: Spotlight on Rhetorics of Climate Change & Environmental Activism

Setting goals

Find an article you are interested in working on OR select an article already being worked on from the sign up list below. If you need help finding articles, you can find crowdsourced article lists here:

Create achievable goals for a summer-long writing project. Here are a few writing recommendations based on weekly time segments:

If you have fifteen minutes each week . . .

Add a few citations to an article
Suggest revisions and point to sources on the talk page

If you have thirty minutes each week . . .

Expand a stub article
Revise an article that needs to be cleaned up

If you have an hour or more each week . . .

Draft an article in need of creation
Prepare and nominate an article for 'good' or 'featured' status

Coordinating collaboration

Sign up here

Add your username, summer goals, and any specific articles you'll be working on below, alongside your name and a goal or goals you aim to achieve by the end of the summer. Additionally, if you plan to collaborate on an article with another participant or participants you may opt to list collaborators and/or invite others to join you.

Copy and paste this format and only change what is within the (parentheses). Add this with a new bullet point below the other participants sign ups:

~~~ (This summer I plan to ...) ~~~~~

Drkill (talk) This summer I plan to edit for 10 minutes each weekday to contribute something I learned that day. I'll use whatever I'm reading, writing, and thinking about that day as my guide. 13:18, 4 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
DrMiria (talk) (This summer I plan to spend an hour each week to draft an article in need of creation such as the one on global rhetorical studies and revise an article that needs to be improved such as the one on rhetoric.) 02:31, 2 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Dcomi (talk) (This summer I plan to practice making edits on rhetorical studies articles once a week for thirty minutes.) 23:26, 30 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Interacting with other participants

We encourage you to consider working with another WikiProject Writing participant or participants to improve an article or articles. To aid in discussions with other participants, you can use the WikiProject Writing talk page or reach out to participants directly through their User talk page. You can find a list of WikiProject Writing participants under the 'Participants' tab and click directly on their user page to get started. For more information on how to interact with talk pages, check out the CCCCWI advice manual on ''Getting Input From the Community.' However, if you find this format too unfamiliar or difficult, use whatever format suits your needs best whether that be starting a private email thread, a shared google document, etc.

Get started!

If you are working with other participants, develop a plan for collaboration and communication throughout the summer (See 'Interacting with other participants'). If you would like an online space to work either individually or with your cohort, consider coming to our biweekly drop-in coffeehouse to work on your article over video chat. You can find a list of our upcoming workshops, office hours, and coffeehouse dates under 'Events'.

Combating knowledge inequities

Writing studies' scholars and concepts continue to be misrepresented by a lack of clear, reliable, well-rounded sourcing. The marginalized histories and identities critical to understanding the full scope and impact of these topics often remain undeveloped or missing altogether from Wikipedia. To better address issues of inequity within our fields, it is crucial to address these issues and more in our edits. Here are a few recommendations for both topic selection & editing practices to get you thinking:

Find and add citations to a stub article on a notable BIPOC writing scholar.
Search our list of vital and general interest articles for inequities. Consider adding or revising a section of the article for clarity and due & undue weight with respect to the topic or field. Suggest your additions on the article talk page or the WikiProject Writing talk page to enlist further comment and support.
Search for a notable BIPOC scholar or their works within your field of interest and add a citation, sentence, or paragraph to the article.

Find out more about Wikipedia’s history of knowledge inequities and their campaign for a more equitable future.

Resources

August workshops & office hours

The CCCC Wikipedia Initiative hosts monthly workshops & office hours. If you need some help getting started, have specific questions, or would like to find space to work on your article alongside your collaborators, these are great spaces to do so:

CCCCWI Coffeehouse (Now Streaming on Twitch)

Friday 8/13 & 8/27 @ 1:00pm-3:00PM EST

Join here

Drop-in whenever you'd like on Friday, August 13th & 27th from 1:00pm-3:00pm EST for an informal virtual writing group. Savannah Cragin, the CCCC Wikipedian-in-Residence, will live edit Wikipedia via Twitch on a different topic focus each week. Although we cannot meet physically, we wish to create a online space where scholars can get together and chat about our work. Whether you are working on a project, plan on adding a few sources to an article, or just want to chat with other scholars, this is a great space to do so.

Wikipedia as Public Scholarship

Friday 8/6 @ 12:00pm-1:30pm EST

Register (limited to 10 participants)

This introductory workshop covers editing basics with particular attention to some of the specific concerns experts face on Wikipedia and discussion of how academics can use their expertise to advance knowledge equity online. Topics include navigating privacy issues, concerns around conflict of interest, and strategies for getting started with articles that need a lot of work.

Getting Started with WikiProject Writing

Friday 7/20 @ 1:30pm-3:00pm EST

Register (limited to 10 participants)

This intermediate workshop introduces WikiProject Writing as a collaborative space for coordinating efforts to improve Wikipedia articles related to our areas of expertise. Topics include defining the scope of WikiProject Writing by tagging articles, directing the priorities of WikiProject Writing by assessing articles, and adding to and working from our list of articles in need of work and creation.

CCCCWI Office Hours

Mondays & Tuesdays OR by appointment

Register

If you would like to discuss something Wikipedia-related one-on-one or get help with a Wikipedia article you’re working on, please feel free to sign up for my office hours on Mondays and Tuesdays or email me to suggest another time (savannahcragin@berkeley.edu).