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British Library Calls In Wikipedia Editors to Help Improve Online Information About Writers and Poets
• ‘Editathon’ event to be held on Saturday 4th June 2011
• Curators, Wikipedians and the public will address inaccuracies, update and add entries on famous writers and poets
• Attendees to make ‘live’ edits and submissions to Wikipedia throughout the day.
3rd June 2011, London: Wikimedia UK, the local affiliate operation behind Wikipedia, today announces its second ‘editathon’ on 4th June 2011 at British Library to help curators and members of the public edit, submit information and upload visual assets to Wikipedia. The event will focus on improving Wikipedia’s coverage of literary individuals, poets and material from major collections such as Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde.
During the event there will be opportunities to view, up close, items from the English and Drama collections. There is also exclusive access to a forthcoming science fiction exhibition, Out of this World. Attendees to use free Wi-Fi and their laptops to make edits and submit new articles to Wikipedia throughout the day.
The event is open to people with varying degrees of Wikipedia experience. It is an opportunity for beginners to discover how to construct entries for the encyclopaedia and to share their subject knowledge with the wider world, while experienced Wikipedians have the chance to contribute their know-how and expertise.
Xxx from British Library says: “People often visit Wikipedia first to learn about a writer or poet, and our website second. We recognize this and are keen to work with Wikipedians to improve Wikipedia pages relating to collections at the British library. We are keen to address inaccuracies, make better use of modern sources such as our recent audio archive of interviews with authors and help promote the less known living poets that have recently won the British Library literary award.”
Roger Bamkin, chair of Wikimedia UK says: “Wikipedia is the fifth most visited website in the world and has over four hundred million visitors a month. Ensuring Wikipedia entries are accurate and up-to-date will help the British Library paint an accurate picture of its poets and writers as well as help broaden the scope of the information available on Wikipedia. It is a win win situation.”
This ‘edit party’ is part of a wider Wikipedia initiative to bring together the cultural sector and Wikipedians to help broaden the scope of information available via Wikipedia. Throughout 2011 Wikipedia representatives will be working with Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums to run various types of events that will see information and assets being submitted to Wikipedia and other projects such as Wikimedia Commons. For further information about Wikimedia UK events in different parts of the UK, please see here.
-ENDS-
About British Library: The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's leading research libraries. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation and includes books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, photographs, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages.
About Wikimedia: Wikimedia is an umbrella term for the projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation and for the movement of volunteers that contribute and maintain them. These projects are: Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikiversity, Wikispecies, Wikinews, Wikisource, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Mediawiki and Wikitionary. These projects make up one of the top five websites in the world.
About Wikimedia UK: Wikimedia UK is the local Wikimedia chapter covering the United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is an independent organisation that supports free and open knowledge throughout the United Kingdom, including promoting and supporting the projects of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation.
About the Wikimedia Foundation: The Wikimedia Foundation Inc. is the US-based non-profit organisation that operates some of the largest collaboratively-edited reference projects in the world. These include Wikipedia, one of the world’s 10 most visited websites, and Wikimedia Commons.
For further information contact: Michael Peel Secretary, Wikimedia UK 07988 013646 Michael.peel@wikimedia.org.uk
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