Editathon, British Library/January 2011

Please note that the details of this event are still being organised, and are subject to change.

Cultural partnerships
Content partnerships — Digital image restorations — Joint events

The entrance to the British Library.

"Editathon" at the British Library - In a nutshell Where?: British Library When?: Friday 14th and Saturday 15th January 2011 Who can attend?: Any Wikimedian!

What is it?

Meet by this statue at 09:30.

This Edit-athon is an event aimed at sharing the expertise of real-world cultural institutions with our wiki-expertise. We'll be able to access the resources of the British Library, guided by the expertise of its curators, with the joint aim of improving the content on Wikipedia that is relevant to the British Library's collections.

We've chosen to run the event on Wikipedia's 10th birthday deliberately - this is an opportunity to celebrate Wikipedia's birthday with other Wikipedians, and to spend the day improving Wikipedia's content. We'll also be celebrating in the pub in the evenings.

The event will span two days - 14-15 January 2011 - and will run between 09:30 and 17:00 each day. Curators will be available on the Friday, but not the Saturday. On both days, we have a room booked that will hold around 20 people. We're hoping to have some Wikipedia goodies to hand out during the event (provided by the Wikimedia Foundation).

An hour-long tour of the Evolving English exhibition will be given on Friday by one of the curators, Jonnie Robinson, who is an expert in accents and dialects. A behind-the-scenes tour of the Library will be given on Saturday. The timing of these tours is still being confirmed, but will probably be 11am each day.

The event is being organised by Mike Peel on behalf of Wikimedia UK. If you have any questions, please ask him, or add them below.

For general background on this event, take a look at the Backstage Pass and Hoxne Challenge events - these were similar events that were run at the British Museum last year as part of the Wikipedian in Residence project.

Preparation

Passes and requesting material

British Library staff may be able to provide some research material on the day, but in order to enter any of the Reading Rooms, and to access eJournals, books, magazines, etc. you'll need to obtain a Reader Pass from the British Library. You can pre-register for one of these on the British Library's website. Note that you will need to provide identification and proof of address, plus details of the items you want to see, both when you register for a reader pass and also on the day. You can still participate in the event without a reader pass, as Library experts will be available to help, but you'll get the most of out of it if you have one.

Subject material

If you're interested in coming to this event, then please take a look at the British Library's website (and wikipedia:Category:British Library collections) and identify the subject areas that are of most interest to you - we can then hopefully match you up to a curator on the day.

If you want access to books that are not held on the British Library's St Pancras site, then you'll need to request the books in advance (via your Reader Pass application).

If there are specific articles that you'd like to work on during the event, then add them below, or add your name alongside if you can help out:

• Magna Carta - User:A.N.Example

• Authorized King James Version - Andrew Davidson - BL website entry

On the day

See the Library's instructions for getting to the library. Meet at 09:30 each day at the statue of Newton in the entrance area, or if you arrive later phone Mike on 07988 013 646 or ask for directions from the information desk.

Don't forget to bring your own laptop so that you can use it to do some editing!

Sign Up

First come, first served! Registration for this event is mandatory, as we need to arrange for visitor passes. The deadline for signing up is 12:00 midday on the 12th January. If you do not want to list your name publicly, please contact me privately.

Please make sure that we can contact you if needs be - enable "email user" in your user settings if you are logged in. If you're only coming for one of the two days, please say so when you sign up. Please also indicate the topics you are interested in so that we can check the availability of the appropriate curators.

The room we have booked can hold up to 20 people, although we can overflow a little into the readers rooms. In the event that there is an over-subscription, members of Wikimedia UK will be given preference.

Attending:

1. Mike Peel (both days) - interested specifically in astronomy, but generally in everything.
2. Fæ (both days) - wide interests but lean towards the ancient world, happy to help with templates and other gnomic support.
3. Johnbod - both days; Illuminated manuscripts; maybe early printed material. Actually articles on Islamic/Indian miniatures really need improving
4. Andrew Davidson (both days) - especially interested in education and London. Would like to have a go at the King James Bible as this is a FFA and getting a lot of attention currently.
5. Jan-Bart Friday till lunch
6. Vernon39 Friday 14:00 - 16:30 19th C Biography, Cornwall
7. Seddon - Tropical Storms and geology

Interested (but not confirmed yet):

1. Rock drum (Saturday only) - I have general interests, but would lean towards medieval history and am more than willing to do gnome-y stuff.
2. LoopZilla 20:52, 30 December 2010 (UTC)
3. Tom Morris 04:14, 1 January 2011 (UTC)
4. BrainyBabe (possibly both days) - already have a Reader's Pass
5. Greg Block, Google engineering is my day job. Will attempt to do both days, but may only be able to do saturday; have yet to apply for reader's pass. &mdash 16:20 5 January 2011 (GMT)
6. Alex Muller, don’t have a Reader Pass yet —19:38, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Questions?

1. Do I have to register to attend, or can I just arrive on the day?

   You do not have to register, but preference will be given to those who do by signing up on this page.

2. Is there a minimum number of Wikipedia edits I have to have made to be allowed to attend?

   Of course not. All are welcome - even if you've never edited Wikipedia before. Being "a Wikipedian" is a self-defined thing, so if you call yourself a Wikipedian (or would like to become one) then come along.

3. Do I have to be a member of Wikimedia UK?

   No, this is open to all - but priority will be given to Wikimedia UK members if we're oversubscribed. However if you would like to join Wikimedia UK and get involved in other projects like this or start your own, you can do so here

4. Can I bring my camera?

   Yes, but you cannot take photographs in the exhibition areas. If images of any of the objects in the exhibitions would be useful for specific Wikipedia articles, please let User:Mike Peel know - the British Library may be able to provide some images of them.

5. What about lunch?

   Sandwiches and tea/coffee will be provided, courtesy of the Library. (There is a canteen on-site, and cafes inside and in the courtyard. The library also has a members' room, where it is OK to bring food you've brought yourself.)

6. Do you have to own/bring a laptop?

   If you want to edit Wikipedia on the day, then you'll need one - the British Library will be providing wireless internet access, but not computers.

7. Are there any age limits?

   Not for the main event, but there will be for the pub trip on Friday evening.

Results

Please add the results from the event (or from preparation for the event) below.

• Creation of articles:
  • ...

• Contribution to existing articles:
  • ...

• Creation of categories:
  • Category:Britsh Library templates
  • Category:British Library-related stubs

• Creation of templates:
  • {{British-Library-stub}}
  • {{User:Rock drum/BL stub button}} - For a random British Library stub.
  • {{User:Rock drum/BL button}} - For a random article about an item in the British Library's collection.