Human Origins Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon, October 17, 2014

Come join us in an exciting Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon event! We will be gathering to edit Wikipedia content related to the subject of Human Origins and the Smithsonian's research and initiatives in this field. The event will begin with a private, before-hours tour of the Smithsonian's Hall of Human Origins. We will then do a brief tutorial on how to edit and create content on Wikipedia for new editors, before diving into the editing! Lunch will be graciously provided by Wikimedia DC.

Space is restricted to 20 attendees, so sign up today! And follow our event on Twitter with the hashtag #WikiHumanOrigins!

Photos

Edit-a-thon

Sara Snyder of Smithsonian AAM giving editing instructions
Specimens held at the museum
End of editing session
Director of the Human Origins project, Rick Potts

When

Friday, October 17th, 2014

8:45am - 3:00pm

Note: This event begins before the museum is open to the public. You MUST RSVP by October 14th, and you must arrive on time so we can give you a visitor's badge and escort you to the private tour!

Who

Anybody with an interest in Human Origins, editing Wikipedia, or both! We will be doing a tutorial about how to edit Wikipedia if you are a new editor, and we will have resources and Human Origins experts if you are new to the subject.

What to bring

A laptop
An interest in Human Origins!

Where

National Museum of Natural History

10th & Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC

We will be meeting promptly in the lobby at the 10th and Constitution entrance promptly at 8:45am for a private tour of the Hall of Human Origins prior to the editing.

Time	Activity	Location
8:45am	Meet up, distribute visitor badges	Lobby at 10th and Constitution entrance of NMNH
9:00 - 10:00am	Exclusive tour of the Hall	David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins (1st floor)
10:00 - 10:30am	New editor tutorial	Carolyn L. Rose Seminar Room
10:30 - 12:00pm	Edit-a-thon!	Rose Room
12:00 - 12:30pm	Lunch, courtesy of Wikimedia DC	Rose Room
12:30 - 3:00pm	More edit-a-thon!	Rose Room

QUESTIONS? Contact Catherine Denial at denialc (@) si.edu

RSVP

Due to spatial constraints, this event is limited to 20 attendees; all sign-ups after that will be placed on a waitlist. Sign up soon to guarantee your spot! And if you can no longer attend, please let us know so we can give your spot to someone on the waitlist.

Attendees

Ian E. (talk)
jim (talk)
Harej (talk)
Sandra J. (talk)
Neil Q. (talk)
Audrey C. (talk)
Ben G. (talk)
econterms (talk) (unless this is really too late to sign up)
Sarasays
Ann Vroom

Waitlist

Want to join us? Contact denialc (@) si.edu with your first and last name, and your Wikipedia username (Don't have a username? Create your account here!)

You MUST RSVP by October 14th so we have time to make badges to give you access to the private tour and to the seminar room.

List of articles we will be working on

New Articles

Variability Selection
Human Origins Program, or at least expansion of National Museum of Natural History to include information about museum programs other than exhibitions
Richard (Rick) Potts
Homa Peninsula
Nihewan Basin
Yuanmou Prehistoric Site
Soa Basin
Olorgesailie#Olorgesailie Drilling Project
Paleolandscape Excavation
Bose Basin
Paleolake Drilling
Bernard Wood
Alison Brooks
Self replicating molecules

Articles that Require Expansion/Editing

Olorgesailie

Suggested edits: Include new section about Olorgesailie Drilling Project, as well as update existing sections for accuracy and detail. History of excavation at the site, the various prehistoric environmental conditions, information about the fauna (including updating the bit where it says that the animals were likely butchered, which aside from one known butchery site, is not accurate), are all examples of sections that need more information.

Liang Bua

Suggested Edits: Expand article to include more about the 50-plus-year history of excavation at Liang Bua. Change "discovery" date to "first excavated" date, as people living in the area knew that the cave existed before the 1950s. Correct inaccurate information about the dig closing; the article referenced says that he was getting ready to leave for the season, not forever.

NMNH#Hall of Human Origins

Suggested Edits: Include more information about contents of the hall, reviews of the hall, and the companion book, What Does It Mean To Be Human by Rick Potts and Christopher Sloan.

Komodo Dragon

Suggested Edit: Expand "Evolutionary History" section to include information about Varanus komodensis found at Liang Bua.

Theropithecus

Suggested edits: Edit Theropithecus#Phylogeny_and_fossils to include information about Theropithecus at Olorgesailie.

John Gurche

Suggested edits: Include more information about bronze statues and facial reconstructions of early hominins, as well as information about his book, Shaping Humanity: How Science, Art, and Imagination Help Us Understand Our Origins.

Human evolution

Suggested edits: Include more information about climate change during human evolution. In Use of Tools section, include more information about control of fire, and reformat several items erroneously in quotation marks (Oldowan Stone Tools was likely meant to link to another page, and "Homo" and "Paranthropus" should be italicized.

Shanidar

Suggested edits: Include more information about Shanidar III, which is displayed in the Hall of Human Origins. Also include information about Shanidar V through X. Also, in the "See All" section, 'hominina' isn't widely or commonly used in the scientific community.

List of human evolution fossils

Suggested edits: "Incremental dating" is not a term used in paleoanthropology, and many of the techniques listed in the Incremental Dating page are not used in paleoanthropology. Replace this link with more specific types of dating used in the field: Paleomagnetic dating, etc.

Rudolph F. Zallinger

Suggested edits: Include more information in his biography about his involvement with March of Progress, one of the most well-known illustrations of human evolution.

Effects of climate change on humans

Suggested edits: Include information about how climate change affected humans in prehistory.

Smithsonian Institution

Suggested edits: Include information about Smithsonian's Grand Challenges initiatives, especially concerning its involvement with the Anthropocene. Also include the recent Smithsonian Official Climate Change Statement.

Anthropocene

Suggested edits: Include a human evolution perspective on the Anthropocene, as well as the Smithsonian's Anthropocene initiatives.

Homo

Suggested edit: Update with new information about early members of genus Homo published in the following Science paper:

Evolution of early Homo: An integrated biological perspective

Neanderthal Genome Project

Suggested edit: Update for factual accuracy.

3D Images

The Smithsonian has a vibrant 3D imaging program, with many significant artifacts and fossils related to human evolution in our collection. We would love to see links to these images available on their respective Wikipedia pages, as we see on the Liang Bua page.

Human Origins 3D Collection

Research resources

Resources Specific to Human Origins Topics

Smithsonian Institution To-Do List: Click on "expand" next to National Museum of Natural History to view our list of topics, as well as some resources to learn more!

Smithsonian databases and websites

Smithsonian Libraries Tools for the Researcher - links to resources, both free and subscription only
Smithsonian Human Origins Program website

Results / Outcomes

Articles created

Rick Potts
Update this list with Human Origins articles that you've created!
Bose Basin, paleolithic site in southern China -- econterms (talk) with assistance of Smithsonian expert Briana P.
Olorgesailie Drilling Project

Articles improved

Update this list with Human Origins articles that you've improved!
Shanidar Cave - edited lead and added reference
Shanidar Cave - Added more info about Shanidar 3, specifically about the rib wound.
Human - fixed photo caption
National_Museum_of_Natural_History#Hall_of_Human_Origins add newspaper references, edited text
Olorgesailie add infobox
John Gurche - Added bio information
Rick Potts - Added bio information

See Talk

...for this Project Page, to make any suggestions on the development and progress of this meetup.