Mike Dickison: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 21:06, 25 November 2018
Mike Dickison | |
|---|---|
 Dickison in the Auckland Museum in 2018 | |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Occupation(s) | Entomologist, museum curator |
Mike Dickison is an entomologist, museum curator, and New Zealand Wikipedia editor. He was New Zealand's first "Wikipedian-at-large" after he received a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation.
Early life
Dickison grew up in Christchurch. His father was an apprentice boilermaker, and his mother was a homemaker.[1] His father encouraged his interest in curating and collecting.[1]
Dickison has a PhD from Duke University in zoology, which looked at giant flightless birds.[2][3]
Career
He was curator of natural history at the Whanganui Regional Museum, after moving there in 2013.[4][5]
He became interested in Wikipedia in 2009.[4] In 2012, he created a community group "Whanganui Wiki Wednesday" which met once a month to edit local pages on Wikipedia. He then began to run Wikipedia workshops around New Zealand.[2]
He has advocated for museums to engage with Wikipedia to get their collections accessible to the public.[6] He argues that Wikipedia can also be a powerful tool for governments to share information and doing public outreach, citing the example of kauri dieback.[6]
Wikipedian-at-large 2018
In 2018, he received a $61,000 grant from the Wikimedia Foundation to become New Zealand's first "Wikipedian-at-large".[2] The grant will pay his salary, travel costs and conference registration fees.[5] He aims to address the gaps in New Zealand-related content on Wikipedia, such as the lack of articles on Māori and women.[4] He is also hoping to attract more women editors to Wikipedia to address the gender bias of article topics.[3] He is currently travelling around New Zealand in his 4WD, which acts as a mobile office and entomology field station.[2]
In July 2018, his first stop was Auckland Museum.[4]
In October 2018 he was in Northland, hosted by Heritage New Zealand in Kerikeri. He recorded Maori-language pronunciations to add to Wikipedia articles,[3] and called for locals to share their stories.[7]
Critter of the Week
Mike presented about the Critter of the Week radio program in Bali, Indonesia at ESEAP 2018, [8] An updated presentation was given at the Wikimedia Australia Melbourne meetup in November 2018.[9] Critter of the Week was discussed as an example of a museum outreach at the 2018 SPNHC conference in Dunedin.[10]
Personal life
His favourite dinosaur is the styracosaurus.[3]
See also
References
- ^ a b Graham-McLay, Charlotte (16 November 2018). "From Encyclopedic Collector to 'Wikipedian-at-Large'". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
- ^ a b c d Easther, Elizabeth (18 September 2018). "Mr Wiki: Mike Dickison is NZ's first Wikipedian at large". Noted. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ a b c d Macdonald, Nikki (20 October 2018). "National Portrait: Mike Dickison, conservationist and Wikipedian". Stuff. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ a b c d "Wikipedian in Residence: Mike Dickison". Auckland Museum. 25 July 2018.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ a b Wilson, Zaryd (2018-05-22). "Mike Dickison gets grant to become travelling Wikipedian". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
- ^ a b Hancock, Farah (2018-02-16). "New Zealand's own Wikipedian-at-large". Newsroom. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
- ^ "Wikipedia wants to hear your Northland stories". NZ Herald. 2018-10-02. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
- ^ "Wikipedia in Science". ESEAP Conference 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ "Melbourne Meetup 37". Wikipedia: Melbourne Meetup. 11 November 2018.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ Dickison, Mike (15 June 2018). ""Critter of the Week": Wikipedia as a Museum Outreach Tool". Biodiversity Information Science and Standards. 2: e25798. doi:10.3897/biss.2.25798.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
External links
| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
