Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2020-11-29/GLAM plus
West Coast New Zealand's Wikipedian at Large
- After winding up the project described here, Mike will start work at the Westland District Library as a digital librarian. He'll be continuing the work he began as a Wikipedian, including recruiting editors and supporting meetup groups and edit-a-thons. The role will involve digitisation of museum collections, a Wikisource project with an early explorer's notebooks, Wikicite work with library collections, and improving the coverage of threatened species. He'll also help organise the New Zealand user group's first Wikimedia conference in Hokitika in March. This article was first published in the GLAM Newsletter this month.
From 5 September to 26 October 2020 I was a Wikipedian at Large on the remote West Coast region of New Zealand. In September I was based in Hokitika, Greymouth, and Westport, and in October in Ōkārito, Franz Josef, Fox Glacier, Reefton, and Arthur's Pass. The project was largely funded by Development West Coast, with additional support or accommodation supplied by Westland District Library, Grey District Library, and Glacier Country Tourism. The brief was to do the following:
- Working with heritage organisations such as museums and libraries to organise uploads of public-domain photos into Wikimedia Commons.
- Improving articles on iconic West Coast features, places, and people using the resources of non-profits, tourism agencies, and individual tourism operators.
- Running a public Wikipedia event in each location, where people could learn the basics of editing Wikipedia and donating photos to Commons.
- Running training for gallery, library, museum, and archives (GLAM) staff in each location – introducing them to Wikipedia, Commons, and Wikidata, and helping each develop a Wikimedia strategy for their collections.
- Giving presentations to tourism organisations and operators in each area on improving Wikivoyage, making print media coverage available to Wikipedians, and donating high-quality photos to Commons.
Achievements
I ran over a dozen talks, workshops, and meetups over the six weeks; the Grey District Library has organised two edit-a-thons as a follow-up to these. Seventeen volunteers signed up to assist with the project. Most were working remotely; both from Australia, and from Wellington, Dunedin, and Christchurch in New Zealand. They reported their achievements each day. Prizes were donated by Development West Coast and Friends of Waiuta and given out for the most and best contributions in different areas. Dozens of articles and Wikidata items were created, dozens of articles improved, and numerous Commons categories were cleaned up. For more on the participants and what they achieved, see the final report on the project.
Over 1,000 photos were added to the category Uploads by West Coast Wikipedian at Large in the course of the project. Here are a selection:
- Walking trails
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Cockayne Nature Walk -
Lake Gault track -
Lake Matheson Walk -
Point Elizabeth Walkway -
Canoe Cove Walk
- Stewart Nimmo photos for Tourism West Coast
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Reefton -
Lake Brunner -
Hokitika Gorge -
Tuatara at West Coast Wildlife Centre
- Historic Buildings of Greymouth
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Clock Tower -
Grey Country Chambers -
Dispatch & Garlick -
High Street Barber -
Waitaiki House -
High Street Auto Centre
.JPG)
- Images from History House Museum
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Amalgamated Association of Reliable Drivers, 1925 -
Greymouth Opera House, 1958 -
The Opera House burning down 9 Feb 1958 -
Union Hotel flooded, c. 1900
Media coverage
In an interview with the Christchurch Press, I mentioned that the Wikipedia coverage of some towns and localities on the West Coast was so incomplete that tourists would be dissuaded from visiting. This led to a TV interview, and my comments were quoted in international reporting of the Hinnosaar et al. 2019 study on the effect of Wikipedia article improvement on visitor numbers. I've subsequently been approached by two NZ tourist organisations wanting to know what they can do to work with Wikipedia.
- Jesse Mulligan interview (4 September 2020). "The West Coast is next on the Wikipedian's mission". RNZ Afternoons (audio, 8:07).
- Carroll, Joanne (12 September 2020). "NZ tourism's Wikipedia problem: Fox Glacier page dominated by deaths, rural NZ non-existent". Stuff.
- Seven Sharp interview (16 September 2020). " Why does Wikipedia paint such a bad picture of New Zealand’s top towns?". (TV, 4:03). Best line: "Surely there's more to East Cape than the bridge upgrade of 2017."
- Johnstone, Charlotte (18 September 2020). "How sprucing up your town's Wikipedia page can boost tourism." The Telegraph.
- Sherman, Janna (30 September 2020). "Wikipedia focuses on West Coast articles". Hokitika Guardian. p1–2
- Ledsom, Alex (3 October 2020). "Improving Wikipedia Pages Can Wildly Increase Revenue For Cities". Forbes.
- Mills, Laura (11 November 2020). "50 new Coast pages added to Wikipedia." Otago Daily Times.
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