An introduction to editing Wikipedia, presented at the Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, "Wikifying America’s Legislative Process: Congressional Committees and Hearings Wikipedia Edit-a-thon" on April 7, 2017.

1. We all use Wikipedia, but what
do we really know about it?

2. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
• Freely licensed without restrictions
• All content created & maintained by
volunteers
• Non-profit educational project,
supported by Wikimedia Foundation
• All edits/versions are recorded
indefinitely
• Software: MediaWiki

3. Biggest. Encyclopedia. Ever.
5,377,555+ articles in English alone
44 million+ articles in 295 different
languages

4. “A Wikipedia
article is a
process, not a
product.”
-Clay Shirky
Global community site:
https://meta.wikimedia.org
A Hybrid of Tool & Community

5. CC BY-SA 4.0 Jason Krüger for Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.

6. Serves Libraries’ & Archives’
Outreach and Access Mission
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
90000
100000
Views on SIA Website Views on Flickr Commons Views on Wikipedia

7. More web
visits
=
Meeting
our
outreach
mission

8. 6th most visited website in the USA & globally
60+ million unique devices per day!

9. Who or what merits an
article in Wikipedia?
If a person or topic has received
significant coverage in reliable
sources that are independent of the
subject, then it is deemed
“notable.”
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability
Or type in search shortcut WP:N

10. Wikipedia Content Standards
• 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i.e. unpublished data, opinions,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.
creating a page about yourself) See Wikipedia: Policies
and guidelines

11. Do I have to register an account?
No, but there are lots of advantages to doing so.
• A record of your work builds credibility & signals
membership in the community
• More privacy, since anonymous contributors’ IP
address is recorded
• More editing privileges: ability to create/rename
articles, upload images, edit preferences
NOTE: There should be a 1:1 ratio between editors
and accounts on Wikipedia. Shared accounts are not
allowed.

12. Can I edit the Wikipedia article
about my workplace? My boss?
My grandma?
Possibly, but ONLY under the right conditions.
“When advancing outside interests is more important
to an editor than advancing the aims of Wikipedia,
that editor stands in a conflict of interest (CoI).”
Your #1 priority must be: making a
better, more useful encyclopedia article.

13. Avoid Conflict of Interest Editing
• Register a unique user account
• Disclose your affiliations (see sample CoI
Statement)
• Cite authoritative sources
• Don’t remove “controversies”
• Recognize that no one person can
“own” a Wikipedia article or control
its content

14. ANATOMY OF AN ARTICLE

17. Pro search tip: search within
specific “namespaces” to find
your answers quicker!
Examples
Help:Introduction
WP:COI

18. LETS START EDITING!

19. Step 1 - Register a user account
1. Go to en.wikipedia.org, click “Create
Account”
2. Choose a username and password

20. Step 2 – Check for Visual Editor
1.Go to Preferences (top) and the Editing tab
2.Scroll down to Editor section
3.Uncheck Temporarily disable the visual editor
4.Change Editing mode to Show me both editor tabs
5.Hit the SAVE button

21. Step 3 - Create a user page, and/or a
user sandbox
1. Click the red link at the top with your
Username on it, OR the “Sandbox”
2. Write something on the new page (Hello
world!) and click Show Preview.
3. Leave a comment about what you did in
the “Edit Summary” box, and then click
Save changes.

22. Citing Sources

23. Images: Wikimedia Commons vs.
“Non-free Use” rationale
Wikimedia Commons image
commons.wikimedia.org
Example: Teton Range
Non-free image
en.wikipedia.org
Example: Look Mickey