Wikipedia:GLAM/National Digital Forum/5 Things

This is a presentation by User:Stuartyeates for Wikipedia:GLAM/National_Digital_Forum on 5 things to think about when starting Wikipedia. This is a talk reflecting my point of view; particularly personal asides are in italics.

Create an account

• Almost all pages can be edited without creating an account (‘as an IP’) but an account gives you greater privacy/confidentiality, allows for better feedback, and allows you to create pages
• When creating an account you need to make a choice: whether to edit under your real name, or under a pseudonym. Wikipedia and other editors draw no distinction between real names and pseudonyms; but editors may form unconscious opinions and off-wiki parties are sure to cast aspersions. You may use a pseudonym that looks like a real name or looks fanciful (User:The Blade of the Northern Lights / User:Why should I have a User Name? / User:Not your siblings' deletionist)
• User names with “WMF” in them or ending in ‘bot’ are reserved for staff members and robots respectively
• User names identify a user and not a role or an organisation, names that imply institutional affiliation or role are prohibited (User:Whanganui Musuem, User:Curator@WhanganuiMusuem, User:WhanganuiMusuemComms).

Talking notes

Having an account constitutes a dialogue, much better feedback, email notification of changes, advanced user settings, etc, etc
Users can use the {{Authority control}} template to associate their on-wiki and off-wiki personae; particularly recommended for research-active editors
Accounts are discardable. If you feel you've made the wrong choice, log out, wait a couple of days and create a new account (or edit as an IP). Using multiple accounts in a manipulative way is prohibited.
If your preferred account name uses a non-latin script (or non-English language terms) you may consider creating it on a wikipedia corresponding to that language (Arabic, Japanese, Māori, etc).
I decided to edit under my real name nine years ago when I moved from the then-wikipedia competitor Everything2, where I had experience editing under a pseudonym. I was looking to build the authority and reliability of wikipedia in ways that Everything2 was clearly never going to achieve.

Edit pages for which you have sources within an arms reach

• Wikipedia is a tertiary source, based on secondary sources; all additions must be referenced to independent reliable sources. If you have easy access to sources about the pages you edit, you’re less likely to get lazy and cut corners. Easy access usually means either online or readily-accessible print copies.
• Both print and digital are equally acceptable for sources, but digital sources are frequently easier for a larger range of people to find
• If you have easy access to rare print sources, using them to expand articles is a contribution that few others can make
• Independence and reliability of sources are big issues:
  • Autobiographies can be used for almost nothing except for religious affiliation and sexual orientation
  • YouTube, Twitter and blogs can be used for almost nothing except when the uploading accounts are the official accounts of reliable institutions or reputable people
  • A wide variety of newspapers without a reputation for fact checking cannot be used for information about living people (or preferably at all)
• Academic monographs, review journals, large-circulation newspapers with a reputation for fact checking, official sources, and other encyclopaedias are the kinds of sources to aim for
• Audio, sign and video sources are also permitted, if they are independent and reliable.

Talking notes

Beware of anything that looks like gossip  

Personally I only use online sources; pulp-of-murdered-trees sources are for burning

Avoid conflicts of interest

• Don’t edit pages you have a direct conflict of interest with (employer, self, family member, etc)
• It is insanely hard to write in an encyclopaedic manner about people or organisation for whom you have strong attachments too

Talking notes

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Focus on the familiar

• Focus on what you are familiar with and have easy access to sources for.

Talking notes

Start with the relatively obscure

• The younger / smaller / less polished the article the more leeway for mistakes, as do historical entities and people.

Talking notes