Wikipedia Edit-a-thons

by: Keri McNamara (SJSU ASIS&T Blog Editor)

I have come to rely on the thoroughness of information found in Wikipedia for some of my more generalized searches. I like that the articles are typically lengthy and cover many aspects about my topic.  I admit it drives me crazy to follow a link and find that, while it may be relevant, it only has a small blurb about my topic. I have always been aware that people just like me are invited to contribute to Wikipedia but I have never done so.

Recently I opened an email announcing the Edit-a- Thon presented by the SJSU ASIS&T student chapter and it made me curious about the history and idea behind an edit-a-thon. I consulted none other than Wikipedia to do my edit-a-thon research and learned a few interesting facts about edit-a-thons.  An edit-a-thon is an outreach event that can bring people together to improve and generate content, usually focusing on one area of interest. Edit-a-thons improve the encyclopedia and can be a great way to help new Wikipedians learn to edit. So far in 2014 there have been 12 edit-a-thons that are listed on Wikipedia: a few from Universities, some history related such as women’s history or Jewish history, and some pertaining to books or the arts. The majority of the edit-a-thons I looked at on the Wikipedia page had participants meet in a physical location and edit together. While this is an excellent way to build the community that hosting an edit-a-thon can provide, I like having the option to edit where and whenever I can throughout the time period, while knowing others are editing with me. This is why I am thrilled to be able to participate virtually! I know if I get stuck or lonely in my editing I can drop by the Google Hangout created for the event.

In 2012 and 2013, Europeana, an organization involved with promoting cultural heritage, collaborated with Wikimedia Sweden to organize a series of edit-a-thons. They then released a case study of their findings with some interesting statistics:

An edit-a-thon on the First World War saw 20 images from Europeana added to 62 Wikipedia articles. These articles were then viewed nearly 2 million times over the next six months. For their fashion edit-a-thon 72 articles in eight different languages were enhanced during the event and viewed 600,000 times in the following four months. What strikes me the most  about their findings are the page views for each of the changes.  It makes me realize that even if I only edit a handful of articles they may be viewed hundreds or thousands of times, making my small contribution seem pretty valuable. It definitely sounds like a win-win for me, as I will learn new skills (editing Wikipedia), be engaged in the SJSU community, and help Wikipedia be a better information source.