Wikipedian in Residence
From February to December 2020, the University of Alberta Library (UAL) hosted a Wikipedian in Residence program with Erin O'Neil, a University of Alberta Digital Humanities graduate student.
Goals
The program has several aims:
- Improve the visibility and discovery of the University of Alberta Libraries’ unique and rich digital collections through greater integration with the Wikipedia platform
- Create opportunities for rich interactive learning experiences for students and faculty through the new Digital Scholarship Centre
- Improve UAL’s understanding of the role of large collaborative platforms like Wikipedia can play in improving users’ access to our collections
Outcomes
Since February, Wikipedia work at UAL has included:
- Supporting a local in-person Art + Feminism edit-a-thon on March 5, 2020
- Teaching a six-week Wikipedia 101 to UAL staff, Wikipedia 101, in March and April 2020
- Rerunning Wikipedia 101 on Tuesday afternoons from June 16 to July 21.
- Supporting University community in building articles on Wikipedia
- Various improvements to Wikipedia using citations from the UAL collections. Our Projects page lists current and future plans for improving Wikipedia, and interested editors can participate in current projects or add ideas for future article work.
- Weekly Collaborative Editing Hours on Google Meet, Wednesdays between 10:30 a.m. and noon MT, hosted by UAL's Wikipedian in Residence. Join the Meet to share Wikipedia editing work, ask for support, offer your own exp.
Read more about our WIR at