Wikipedia:GLAM/WestCoastWPAL/Final Report

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From 5 September to 26 October 2020 I (Mike Dickison, User:Giantflightlessbirds) was the West Coast Wikipedian at Large. In September I was based in Hokitika, Greymouth, and Westport and in October in Ōkārito, Franz Josef, Fox Glacier, Reefton, and Arthur's Pass, aiming to do the following:

  1. Work with heritage organisations such as museums and libraries to organise uploads of public-domain photos into Wikimedia Commons.
  2. Improve articles on iconic West Coast features, places, and people using the resources of non-profits, tourism agencies, and individual tourism operators.
  3. Run a public Wikipedia event in each location, where people could learn the basics of editing Wikipedia and donating photos to Commons.
  4. Run 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.
  5. Give 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.

Top contributors[edit]

Seventeen volunteers signed up to assist with the project. Most were working remotely, from Australia, Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, and Christchurch, and reported their achievements each day. Book prizes (donated by Development West Coast and Friends of Waiuta) were given out for the most and best contributions in different areas. The prizewinners were:

  • @Schwede66: for article creation and large amounts of work behind the scenes, including photo categorisation and article cleanup
  • @Paora: for numerous articles on West Coast churches, and supplying photos in the nick of time
  • @DrThneed: for all her articles on West Coast women, libraries, and historic buildings
  • @MurielMary: for helping redress the gender gap
  • @Canley: for generating to-do checklists and maps in Wikidata
  • @Pakoire: for adding much-needed Māori content

Photo uploads[edit]

Acting as a Wikipedian in Residence I uploaded several photo collections on behalf of copyright holders, with their full consent; the benefits and consequences of an irrevocable open licence were explained to them. Contact them with any further enquiries about copyright status and licensing.

Collection Date Photographer Copyright holder Licence
Category:John Charlton (New Zealand) 9–10 Sep, 5 Oct 2020 John Charlton (Q99000064) Grey District Library (Q99264604) (contact) CC BY-SA
Category:History House Museum 13 Sep, 3 Oct 2020 Various History House Museum (Q98668650) (contact) CC BY-SA
Category:Photos by Stewart Nimmo 8 Aug, 17 & 23 Sep, 1 & 6 Oct 2020 Stewart Nimmo (Q99399749) Development West Coast (Q98520199) (contact) CC BY-SA
Category:Photos by Jase Blair 2, 5 Oct 2020 Jase Blair (Q99826234) Jase Blair (contact) CC BY-SA
Category:Photos by Okarito Kayaks 8 Oct 2020 Okarito Kayaks (Q100156245) Okarito Kayaks (contact) CC BY-SA
Category:West Coast Wildlife Centre 13 Oct 2020 West Coast Wildlife Centre (Q99767675) West Coast Wildlife Centre (contact) CC BY-SA
Category:Fox Glacier (FGG photos) 19, 22 Oct 2020 Fox Glacier Guiding (Q100585117) Fox Glacier Guiding (contact) CC BY
Category:Reefton Distilling Co. (some) 23 Oct 2020 Reefton Distilling Co. (Q100710230) Reefton Distilling Co. (contact) CC BY-SA

New Wikipedia articles[edit]

The following lists are based on self-reporting by volunteers, so will not be 100% complete, but give a good idea of the range of topics covered.

  • Seddon statue
    Seddon statue
  • Pakihi
    Pakihi
  • West Coast Wildlife Centre
    West Coast Wildlife Centre
  • Denniston Plateau
    Denniston Plateau
  • St Canice's Church, Westport
    St Canice's Church, Westport
  • Lake Gault
    Lake Gault

    • Improved Wikipedia articles[edit]

    New Wikidata items[edit]

    • Dixon Park
      Dixon Park
    • Rapahoe Range Scenic Reserve
      Rapahoe Range Scenic Reserve
    • Red Books
      Red Books
    • EPIC Westport
      EPIC Westport
    • Lawrence Inkster
      Lawrence Inkster
    • Lake Wombat
      Lake Wombat

    User:Canley also did some Wikidata work to help organise our efforts:

    Commons categories sorted out[edit]

    Commons uploads[edit]

    There are over 1000 photos in the category Uploads by West Coast Wikipedian at Large, added in the course of the project. Here are a selection:

    • Walking trails
    • Cockayne Nature Walk
      Cockayne Nature Walk
    • Lake Gault track
      Lake Gault track
    • Lake Matheson Walk
      Lake Matheson Walk
    • Point Elizabeth Walkway
      Point Elizabeth Walkway
    • Canoe Cove Walk
      Canoe Cove Walk
    • Stewart Nimmo photos for Tourism West Coast
    • Reefton
      Reefton
    • Lake Brunner
      Lake Brunner
    • Hokitika Gorge
      Hokitika Gorge
    • Tuatara at West Coast Wildlife Centre
      Tuatara at West Coast Wildlife Centre
    • Historic Buildings of Greymouth
    • Clock Tower
      Clock Tower
    • Grey Country Chambers
      Grey Country Chambers
    • Dispatch & Garlick
      Dispatch & Garlick
    • High Street Barber
      High Street Barber
    • Waitaiki House
      Waitaiki House
    • High Street Auto Centre
      High Street Auto Centre
    • Photos by John Charlton
    • Colleen Charlton
      Colleen Charlton
    • Dredge crane, 1968
      Dredge crane, 1968
    • Dredge bucket
      Dredge bucket
    • Boat in Lagoon, 1968
      Boat in Lagoon, 1968
    • Outside his work
      Outside his work
    • Images from History House Museum
    • Amalgamated Association of Reliable Drivers, 1925
      Amalgamated Association of Reliable Drivers, 1925
    • Greymouth Opera House, 1958
      Greymouth Opera House, 1958
    • The Opera House burning down 9 Feb 1958
      The Opera House burning down 9 Feb 1958
    • Union Hotel flooded, c. 1900
      Union Hotel flooded, c. 1900
    • Miscellaneous
    • An afghan from the Broadway Tearooms, Reefton
      An afghan from the Broadway Tearooms, Reefton
    • Wawe, a five-day-old rowi
      Wawe, a five-day-old rowi
    • Crown fern (Lomaria discolor)
      Crown fern (Lomaria discolor)
    • Sunset from Chancellor Hut, Fox Glacier
      Sunset from Chancellor Hut, Fox Glacier
    • Whitebaiting on the Grey River
      Whitebaiting on the Grey River
    • Lake Matheson from the air, 1960
      Lake Matheson from the air, 1960

    Workshops and talks[edit]

    Participants at Westland District Library workshop, Hokitika
    • All-day Wikipedia training sessions for locals, including some coverage of Commons, Wikivoyage, and WikiShootMe, in Hokitika, Greymouth, and Westport . The Greymouth meeting was so popular it spawned two follow-up meetups. The goal was to recruit volunteer editors on the Coast who can keep doing this sort of work.
    • Presentations to Westport Rotary and the Buller Camera Club, Heritage Hokitika, heritage enthusiasts in Arthur's Pass, and a drop-in-and-chat session for Ōkārito residents in Donovan's Store.
    • Presentations to tourism operators in Franz Josef, Hokitika, Greymouth, and Westport. In these I explained what Wikipedia can and can't do (it's an encyclopaedia, not a marketing website), and outlined a range of practical options, such as open licences for photography, keeping an accurately-sourced print media archive, and working with Wikipedia groups.
    • Presentations to heritage institutions in Hokitika, Westport, and Greymouth (twice), going over copyright and licensing, strategies for opening up image collections, and the possibilities of posting out-of-copyright texts to Wikisource for volunteers to transcribe. I spent a day working with Hokitika Museum to talk about a Wikipedia strategy, resulting in a WikiProject Hokitika Museum Google doc.
    • I also tweeted a little WikiShootMe! tutorial to encourage people to upload pics of their neighbourhood, and documented the workflow I follow when photographing a new place or thing and creating a Commons category and Wikidata item.

    Media coverage[edit]

    • Development West Coast (2 September 2020). "'Wikipedian At Large' Coming To The West Coast". Scoop News. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
    • Jesse Mulligan interview (4 September 2020). "The West Coast is next on the Wikipedian's mission". RNZ Afternoons (audio, 8′07″).
    • McBride, Paul (11 September 2020). "Wikipedia workshops on West Coast". Greymouth Star. p2
    • 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.
    • Joseph, Raquel (22 September 2020). "Wikipedian at Large in Westport." Westport News. p3
    • Anh, Truc (26 September 2020). "Biên vài dòng Wiki, du lịch thu tiền tỉ." Tuổi Trẻ Cuối Tuần. (In Vietnamese.) Quotes "…Mike Dickison, một người tâm huyết với du lịch New Zealand." (translation: “... Mike Dickison, a person dedicated to New Zealand tourism.”)
    • 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.
    • "Town clock featured on Wikipedia home page" (16 October 2020). Hokitika Guardian. p3
    • Mills, Laura (11 November 2020). "50 new Coast pages added to Wikipedia." Otago Daily Times.

    Acknowledgements[edit]

    The West Coast Wikipedian at Large project was largely funded by Development West Coast, with additional support or accommodation by Westland District Library, Grey District Library, and Glacier Country Tourism. I'd also like to thank the hard work by volunteers all over New Zealand and Australia, and the generosity of photographers like Jase Blair and Stewart Nimmo agreeing to release their work under an open licence.

    —Mike Dickison (User:Giantflightlessbirds), 17 November 2020

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