Activity report (Q1 2013–2014)

This report describes the activities of Wikimedia District of Columbia from October 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013.

Content programs

Wikimedia DC held three edit-a-thons, two of which were held in partnership with local cultural institutions. A total of 38 volunteers attended these three edit-a-thons, volunteering approximately 147 hours in total. This volunteering includes editing Wikipedia, learning how to edit Wikipedia, and helping others in their editing. Twenty of these volunteers created their Wikipedia accounts at these events or in the preceding week, constituting approximately 52.6% of the total attendees. None of these newcomers have attended edit-a-thons since, making reaching out to them all the more necessary. Indeed, only three volunteers participated in two or more edit-a-thons. We expect repeat attendance figures to increase as more events are held and more efforts are made to reach out to past attendees.

Smithsonian Libraries Edit-a-Thon

The American Art/Portrait Gallery branch of the Smithsonian Libraries held an edit-a-thon with Wikimedia DC on October 25. The event, focusing on American artists of the World's Columbian Exposition, was made possible by library books, journals, and curatorial files made available by the Smithsonian Libraries. The largest exhibition of American art ever assembled at the time, many of the artists who participated lack adequate coverage on Wikipedia. This edit-a-thon was organized as part of Wikipedia Loves Libraries, a national campaign to encourage Wikipedia outreach in our nation's libraries.

Sara Snyder opened with an introductory presentation on editing Wikipedia for newcomers. Eleven newcomers and eight experienced editors participated in the edit-a-thon that followed. Of the 11 newcomers, eight made edits, contributing 13,577 bytes of content across 82 edits. These new editors created three articles (Walter Launt Palmer, Amanda Brewster Sewell, and Aloys Loeher) and improved five existing articles. The eight experienced editors contributed 23,052 bytes of content across 64 edits, including three new articles (Alice De Wolf Kellogg, Sarah Paxton Ball Dodson, and Mary Lizzie Macomber) and improvements to six existing ones. In total, 36,629 bytes of content were contributed across 146 edits, with six new articles created and 11 existing articles improved.

The event attracted many new editors and resulted in improvements to articles on notable women throughout history, helping to address Wikipedia's gender gap in coverage. We look forward to working with the Smithsonian Institution on improving Wikipedia's coverage of subjects in fine art.

View event page

Watch our video

Laurel History Edit-a-Thon

The Laurel Historical Society Edit-a-Thon was a one-day event held at the Laurel Museum in Laurel, MD, with two major goals: one, to train Laurel Historical Society (LHS) volunteers on editing and contributing to Wikipedia and Wikimedia; and two, to allow LHS and Wikimedia DC members to edit and create Wikipedia articles using the LHS’s library and archival holdings. As a small city museum, the Laurel Museum and the LHS have holdings specific to the city of Laurel, MD and its environs, largely dating from the nineteenth century to the present day.

There were several activities during the Edit-a-Thon. The event started with an introduction to the Laurel Museum by LHS Executive Director Lindsey Baker, including a tour of the museum and of its library and collections storage. After lunch, Dominic McDevitt-Parks and other Wikimedia DC members assisted LHS volunteers with creating Wikipedia accounts and with the basics of article editing, while other Wikimedia DC members were given open access to the LHS library, archives, and collections to work on articles, either on topics of their own interest or identified previously as having relevance to the LHS. The event ran from approximately 10:15 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday, November 16.

The Edit-a-thon was primarily organized by two individuals associated with the LHS: Lindsey Baker, Executive Director, and Abram Fox, member of the Board of Directors. Abram Fox coordinated the LHS grant proposal to Wikimedia DC and organized the list of potential subjects and resources for editing. Lindsey Baker coordinated scheduling and facility usage, access to archival and library material, and food for the event, as well as the attendance of Wikimedia DC’s Dominic McDevitt-Parks. Two other LHS Board Members, President Jhanna Levin and Chairman and Treasurer Jim McCeney, attended the event but did not participate in its organization. In total, there were 13 participants at the edit-a-thon, all associated with either the Laurel Historical Society or Wikimedia DC.

Of the thirteen attendees, twelve participants signed up through the edit-a-thon questionnaire. Five of the registered attendees were newcomers, while the remaining seven were experienced Wikipedians. The three newcomers who made edits contributed 3,288 bytes of content across 34 edits, creating one new article (Edward Phelps (mayor)) and improving four existing articles on topics related to Laurel. The seven experienced attendees contributed 15,959 bytes of content across 45 edits, creating four new articles (Kenilworth Avenue, Patuxent Iron Works, Laurel Sanitarium, Laurel Mill) and improving ten existing ones. In total, 19,247 bytes of content were contributed across 79 edits, with five new articles and 14 existing ones improved.

Two news articles were written about the event, including one in the Baltimore Sun and one in the Gazette.

In their grant report, the Laurel Historical Society noted that this event helped with their outreach to a younger demographic, an audience the LHS is increasingly interested in targeting and with which it has historically had issues doing so. They hope that this event, and its focus on making information freely accessible online, will encourage further efforts to make more of its holdings widely available and accessible to the public.

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International Year of Statistics Edit-a-Thon

Wikimedia DC worked with Justin Fisher of Statistics Without Borders to host an edit-a-thon in honor of the International Year of Statistics. The event, attended by twelve editors, saw the contribution of 20,504 bytes of content across 46 edits, with five new articles created: Lynne Billard, S. N. D. North, Isador Lubin, and Katherine Wallman. An additional 21 articles were improved, including articles related to the American Statistical Association and its past presidents, as well as the article on the Censuses of Egypt.

This was our first event related to statistics. Given our access to statistical resources and volunteer interest in the subject matter, there is an opportunity to hold future events and continue our work in this field.

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Technology programs

• November 16-17 Luce Center Hack-a-thon (we promoted it, but did anyone in our community attend this event?)

Community programs

• October 13 WikiSalon on annual plan; subsequent dinner
• October 23 dinner meetup
• November 9 annual meeting
• December 16 Holiday Happy Hour with Social Media Club DC

Organizational development

• October 5 Board meeting
• October 29 Board meeting
• November 8 Board meeting
• December 7 Board meeting
• Membership stats