Black History Month, 2012

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Black History Month was developed in the UK by Akyaaba Addai Sebbo, working on as a Special projects Officer with the Greater London Council in 1987. While it was modelled on the US Black History Month (where it is also known as African-American History Month), is celebrated in October in the United Kingdom rather than in February as in the U.S.A., Canada and Berlin.

Head of a Mulatto Woman by Joanna Boyce Wells

Basics

• Date: Friday 26 October, 2pm-6pm
• Add to your Google calendar
• Venue: 'Map' Room LG13 (Oxenham Room) on the Lower Ground Floor at 26 Bedford Way, WC1H 0AP, London (UCL Geography Department)
• Cost: Free
• Twitter hashtag: You can communicate with us on @wikimediauk
• Participants: Wikipedia newcomers, anyone with the interest in the topic, anyone from a Black Cultural organisation interested in Wikipedia or Wikimedia UK
• Registration: Now closed but the booking page was here
• Photos from the day: HERE
• Any questions: Daria Cybulska on daria.cybulskawikimedia.org.uk, 0207 065 0994

About the event

To coincide with Black History Month, Wikimedia UK in conjunction with The Equiano Centre, UCL organised an event on 26 October in London. The event explored some of Black Culture histories and work on adding the information to Wikipedia (including biographies on some of the figures of African and Asian heritage living, travelling or working in Britain at this time).

The event was especially aimed at new Wikipedia editors, who might be intimidated by the job of editing the Internet's primary source of basic information. Representatives from Wikimedia UK were on hand to show how the site works and answer questions.

Anyone working for a Black Culture related organisation was also welcome to attend, especially if to discuss cooperation with Wikimedia UK.

The aim of the event was to attract new editors interested in the topic, and network with Black Culture organisations who would be interested in finding out more about what Wikimedia UK does.

Topics for the editathon

Equiano Centre conducts many research projects, some focusing on the Black history in Britain in 20th cent. The presence of Black people in Britain before the Second World War is often neglected in mainstream history. During the interwar period Black people were settled in various places around the country and included a diversity of nationalities and occupations, from dockworkers, domestics, writers, artists, doctors and students. There was also a presence of people of African and Asian heritage based in London during this time who were involved in political activism such as anti-colonial and anti-racism campaigning. These were the topics we were considering for the event, with Equiano Centre staff to help andl provide some resources to support the editing.

A list of articles to work on during the event can be found here.

Participants from Wikimedia UK

• Daria Cybulska (talk) 12:03, 31 May 2012 (UTC)
• Leutha (talk) Keen to take this forward
• Charles Matthews (talk) 13:03, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
• Gordo (talk) 07:03, 19 October 2012 (UTC) - online
• Rexford - online
• Iopensa (talk) 10:35, 13 June 2012 (UTC). With WikiAfrica we can also contribute to the communication of the event.

Venue

• Map Room at the Geography Department at UCL.
• 20 desktop computers included.
• Internet provided - guest code for the wi-fi arranged
• Refreshments provided (3:30pm for tea and biscuits)
• Projector for the room next to the map room which has an wall screen for projectors
• Flip charts and pens
• Reserved extra books from UCL libraries to supplement our collection

Programme

Introductions (hosts)

• 2-2.10pm – Arrival and welcome – Daria and Gemma (room LG15, next to the map room)
• 2.10-2.20 – Introduction to Equiano Centre and brief intro to our Drawing over the Colour Line project – Gemma (in room LG15)

First session (map room)

• 2.20 Introduction to editing: cheatsheet and messaging exercise (Charles)
• 2.50 Community structures (WikiProjects, portals and more) (Leutha)
• 3.20 Upgrading demonstration on live articles (the workshop material will include special attention to researching and referencing, including: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online, which is free access with a UK library card; Google Books) (Charles)

Coffee time (about 3.50pm in room LG15)

Divided session

• More on community (Leutha)
• Drafting and hands-on work (Charles)

Final plenary session (about 5 pm)

• Chance for Q&A.

Further sources

• [1]
• Black British History
• http://www.black-history-month.co.uk/
• http://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/

Coverage/Outcomes

• Promoted on the Equiano Centre website
• BASA Jiscmail list
• Summary of the outcomes can be found on the talk page.