Latest comment: 13 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Hello Parsecboy, and welcome to the Wikimedia Meta-Wiki! This website is for coordinating and discussing all Wikimedia projects. You may find it useful to read our policy page. If you are interested in doing translations, visit Meta:Babylon. You can also leave a note on Meta:Babel or Wikimedia Forum (please read the instructions at the top of the page before posting there). If you would like, feel free to ask me questions on my talk page. Happy editing!
Things have been quiet with our User Group, though that should soon change! Please take a glance at the following updates:
This is the first monthly newsletter of the Ohio Wikimedians User Group. From here on out, each letter will detail the previous month's activities, as well as keep members informed of upcoming events in the Wikimedia community.
We'd like to get monthly virtual meetings up and running soon. If you're interested, please express your interest at the talk page.
Our homepage has been updated with a new banner, information, upcoming events, and more. Members now have markers to mark what organizational parts of the User Group they are involved with. If you'd like to get involved in newsletter drafting (see March's!), social media management, or event coordination, feel free to add a marker next to your name.
We are a new organization and there are plenty of directions for us to pursue. If you have any ideas, thoughts, or suggestions for the organization, don't hesitate to open a discussion on our talk page.
August 9-13, 2017 - Montréal - Wikimania 2017, the annual Wikimedia conference! Scholarships are due very soon on February 20th (submit here). Several Ohio Wikimedians will potentially be carpooling to the event; this will be discussed in more detail closer to the event.
Online
The 50,000 Challenge is an English Wikipedia event organized by WikiProject United States. The aim is to improve or create 50,000 articles related to the United States. There is also a subgoal of 1,000 article improvements for each state - if interested, be sure to sign up to improve articles related to Ohio!
Recent Happenings
This section will typically summarize events and accomplishments within Ohio's Wikimedia community in the last month. Since this is the first newsletter, this section will cover some of the major happenings since October 2016.
October 2016
Three Ohio Wikimedians and Wikipedia Connection members attended and presented at WikiConference North America 2016 in San Diego, October 7 - 10. Kevin Payravi and Maria Rimmel presented on Wikipedia Connection and Wikipedia student organizations at-large (link to presentation), while Addis Wang presented on existing and potential translation efforts on Wikipedia.
Spanish & Portuguese Edit-A-Thon, hosted by the Department of Spanish and Wikipedia Connection at the Ohio State University: This edit-a-thon brought over 60 Spanish and Portuguese students together to translate articles on Latin American women from Spanish and Portguese into English. In doing so, students improved their Spanish and Portuguese skills for class.
Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States has come to a close, as supported and organized in-part by several Ohio Wikimedians. The event resulted in over 11,000 photo uploads, and the winners of the national event can be viewed here. Over 700 photos of historical and cultural sites in Ohio were uploaded, which can be viewed here!
Latest comment: 7 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
General Updates
Organizers throughout Ohio are now hosting at least four Art+Feminism events in the coming weeks! Find an event near you in Columbus, Cincinnati, Oxford, and Oberlin. You are welcome to attend, and if you are an experienced editor, you are encouraged to provide your Wikipedia expertise to new contributors. See the 'Upcoming Events' section below for dates and links.
We're aiming to schedule the Ohio Wikimedians' first online meeting next week - learn more here and provide your availability if interested!
Montréal - Wikimania 2017, the annual Wikimedia conference!
Online events
The 50,000 Challenge is an English Wikipedia event organized by WikiProject United States. The aim is to improve or create 50,000 articles related to the United States. There is also a subgoal of 1,000 article improvements and creations for each of the 50 states - if you're interested, be sure to sign up to improve articles related to Ohio!
Latest comment: 7 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
General Updates
Our first virtual meeting will be on April 20 at 8:30 PM EST! We'll have introductions and discuss preliminary plans for future events. Visit the meeting page for more information, a link to join the meeting, and our agenda. Feel free to contribute to the agenda, and add yourself to the participants list if you plan to attend.
Cleveland native Wizardman was recently featured in the Wikimedia blog post, "The big bear of a mission to chronicle the 1948 Cleveland Indians"! Give it a read here.
August 4th is the annual Ohio Private Academic Libraries Conference in Berea, OH. While not finalized, Kevin Payravi will potentially be attending to present an introduction to Wikidata. If any other Ohio Wikimedians would like to attend the conference and/or help present, contact Kevin (Talk / Email). This will be an exciting event and a great networking opportunity with other librarians.
Ohio saw at least 4 Art+Feminism in March, with three of them occurring on university campuses; Art+Feminism initiatives are continuing and growing in Ohio!
Latest comment: 7 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
General Updates
A Wiknic will be taking place in Columbus on July 9th; more details to come in the next newsletter.
Wikipedia Takes Columbus took place last month, resulting in over 180 photo contributions of Ohio State University and the greater Columbus area. Check out all the photos on the Commmons here.
August 4th is the annual Ohio Private Academic Libraries Conference in Berea, OH. While not finalized, Kevin Payravi will potentially be attending to present an introduction to Wikidata. If any other Ohio Wikimedians would like to attend the conference and/or help present, contact Kevin (Talk / Email). This will be an exciting event and a great networking opportunity with other librarians.
Latest comment: 7 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
General Updates
The second annual Great Buckeye Wiknic will be taking place in Columbus on the afternoon on Sunday, July 9th! The event will be at the Women's Field House in Lincoln Tower Park at Ohio State University; please see the event details for more information. Travel reimbursements are in the works. If you're interested in attending / want details leading up to the event, please sign up on the event page.
Addis Wang has been featured in the Wikimedia Foundation blog: Building communities to support free knowledge: Addis Wang. Read about how Addis, an Ohio Wikimedian, has engaged and helped bring new editors to Wikipedia through is work in China, Ohio, and Ohio State University.
August 4th is the annual Ohio Private Academic Libraries Conference in Berea, OH. While not finalized, Kevin Payravi will potentially be attending to present an introduction to Wikidata. If any other Ohio Wikimedians would like to attend the conference and/or help present, contact Kevin (Talk / Email). This will be an exciting event and a great networking opportunity with other librarians.
Upcoming and Ongoing Events
Offline events
JUL 9
Great Buckeye Wiknic in Columbus Taking place at the Women's Field House at Ohio State University; if interested, sign up here.
AUG 4
OPAL Conference in Berea, OH Ohio Private Academic Libraries Conference. Contact SuperHamster if you'd like to attend and/or help present on Wikidata.
Latest comment: 6 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
A happy new year to you! It's been a while since an update has been sent out to the Ohio Wikimedians User Group. Below you'll find a recap of what's been going on over the last few months, including annual reports and offline events.
General Updates
Information:
Phase 1 of the Wikimedia Movement strategy has concluded, and so far over 80 organized group have given their endorsement. If interested, please take a look at our User Group's talk page for more information, and to lend your support or opposition to the Ohio Wikimedians User Group endorsing the strategic direction by January 20th.
The Ohio Wikimedians User Group's Annual Report for July 2016 - July 2017 has been released, viewable here. The report provides a summary and list of events, with event pages providing more details respectively.
Wikipedia Connection's annual report for the 2016-17 academic year has also been released, viewable here. The report provides an overall summary, stats, acknowledgements, list and details of events, and more.
The #1Lib1Ref campaign is taking place from January 15 - February 3 this year! The goal of the campaign is to get librarians to add just one reference to Wikipedia. This is a great opportunity to outreach to local librarians you may know. See the event page for more information.
Recap:
Back in July, Ohio hosted its 2017 Wiknic at the Ohio State University. Four Wikipedians from Columbus were in attendance.
Back in October, Wikipedia Connection members Emery and Jon joined an edit-a-thon at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health labs in Cincinnati. It was a great success, with Wikipedians working with NIOSH scientists to improve Wikipedia's coverage of topics such as 3D Printing, Dustiness, and Nanotechnology. A shout-out to Emery and Jon from Wikipedia Connection for attending the event, and a special thanks to John Sadowski and everyone else at NIOSH who made this event possible.
Wiki Loves Monuments 2017 in the United States has come to a close. Over 1,400 individuals uploaded more than 8,000 photos of historic sites to the Wikimedia Commons. Of these photos, over 150 of them were of historic sites in Ohio. You can browse the Ohio photos here. A thank you to all who participated and helped improve coverage of Ohio!
Upcoming and Ongoing Events
Offline events
None currently planned.
Online events
JAN 15
–
FEB 3
#1Lib1Ref The goal of the campaign is to get librarians to add just one reference to Wikipedia. This is a great opportunity to outreach to local librarians you may know.
Latest comment: 6 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
General Updates
WikiConference North America 2018 is coming to Columbus, Ohio! Organized by the WikiConference North America user group and hosted by the Ohio State University Libraries, this conference will take place from October 18 - 21, and will feature exciting activities such as tech demos, a Culture Crawl, edit-a-thons, presentations, discussions, and more.
It would be fantastic to have Ohio Wikimedians User Group members help out with the conference as it nears. The conference is in the early planning stages as the conference works to secure grant funds and partnerships. Ohio Wikimedians User Group organizer SuperHamster (Kevin Payravi) is one of the organizers of the event; if you would like to help out with the conference, or have any ideas for the conference (partnerships, sponsorship opportunities, etc.), please feel free to reach out to him! As the event nears, the conference will need more hands as well as volunteers to help out at the event itself - stay tuned for more information on that.
March is the month for Art+Feminism! There is currently one Art+Feminism event scheduled in Cincinnati, hosted by LOOK on Saturday, March 17. See more details and RSVP on the Facebook event page.
Latest comment: 6 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Hi there! A proposal has been made for the Ohio Wikimedians User Group to release a statement in support of net neutrality, amid similar statements of support from the Wikimedia Foundation and other U.S. affiliates. If you're interested and have thoughts on the matter, please comment here (within the day if possible; if there's support we'd like to make our stance known as soon as possible). Thank you! ~SuperHamsterTalkContribs05:59, 24 April 2018 (UTC)Reply
On a related note, a proposal on the Village Pump has been created about having a banner in support of Net Neutrality displayed for Wikipedia users in the United States. If you have thoughts on this proposal, you may add your comments here.
The Art+Feminism campaign took place in March and April, and Ohio saw two Art+Feminism edit-a-thons take place! A Cincinatti edit-a-thon was hosted by LOOK, and a Columbus edit-a-thon was hosted by Wikipedia Connection at the Ohio State University. Great job to all attendees and organizers!
The 50,000 Challenge is currently 5.74% complete, with the goal of writing 50,000 articles on U.S. topics. If you're interested in writing Ohio-related articles, consider contributing as part of this event and recording your articles under Ohio!
Latest comment: 6 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Hi there - apologies for the late notice, but I wanted to make sure Ohio Wikimedians are aware. Proposal submissions and scholarship applications for WikiConference North America 2018 (Oct 18-21 in Columbus) are due today (August 15). If you have any projects or ideas to share through a presentation, roundtable, etc., I encourage you to make a submission. If you would be traveling from out of Columbus to attend the conference and need funding for a hotel + transportation, $500 scholarships are being offered (apply here).
We have also started an accommodations and transportation guide for visitors here - if you have information and recommendations to add, I encourage you to edit the page.
I know some folks have expressed interest in helping out with the event. We'll have public information very soon for opportunities to help with logistics and sponsorship, as well as a sign-up form for volunteering to help out at the conference itself. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to me. Thank you! ~SuperHamsterTalkContribs18:09, 15 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 6 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Hello! Kevin from the Ohio Wikimedians and WikiConference North America here. As a quick reminder, WikiConference NA is happening Oct 18-21 at the Ohio State University Libraries. The schedule has been posted (more to come), and registration is open as well. If you'd like to attend, I encourage you to register as soon as possible - especially if you're interested in the pre-conference events, as they're filling up rather quickly. If you're on Facebook, we also have an attendees group for folks to coordinate travel, logistics, and ask questions. We also have a new volunteer coordinator, who is working on creating the on-boarding process for volunteers to help out at the event - you'll hear from me again when that's ready, if volunteering interests you. Any questions, feel free to reach me on my talk page. Thanks and hope to see you later this month! ~SuperHamsterTalkContribs08:17, 1 October 2018 (UTC)Reply
Ohio Wikimedians User Group: April 2019 newsletter
Latest comment: 5 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
General Updates
To facilitate casual conversations between members, we now have a Facebook group! If you're on Facebook, feel free to request to join.
Kevin has prepared a 2019 Activities Rapid Grant to support our user group's activities through the end of the year. This includes funding for edit-a-thons, Wikipedia Connection activities at Ohio State, and other potential events. Please give it a review, and provide endorsements at the bottom and/or comments on the talk page. If you would like to plan an activity or can think of something that could be funded that isn't already included, please bring it up! The goal is to have the grant submitted for review early in the week.
Our membership list has been revamped and supports the addition of new details (such as name, picture, location, and titles). Members are welcome to update their entry if they wish (all details are optional).
Movement Strategy
Sam (PonyToast) and Maria (Rimmel.Edits) have signed up to serve as our Organized Groups Strategy Liaisons; through December, Strategy Liaisons will act as a conduit for ideas, questions, and updates between the Movement Strategy and organized groups such as our own. Thank you to both members for taking this on!
The Wikimedia Summit 2019 just came to a conclusion. Maria Rimmel (Rimmel.Edits) served as our representative this year, following her work at the Ohio State University and WikiConference North America. This year's event had a heavy focus on the Movement Strategy Process and its Working Groups. Maria will be providing updates and outcomes of the conference on the user group talkpage soon - keep an eye out!
Upcoming and Ongoing Events
This May is the election for two Affiliate-Selected Board Seats for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. The Ohio Wikimedians User Group will be eligible to cast one vote. Be on the lookout for updates on how we will decide our vote.
Two edit-a-thons are being hosted for Ohio State Department of Spanish and Portuguese students this month. One edit-a-thon is focusing on improving Wikipedia's coverage of female and under-representated language scientists, and the other on Latinx studies.
Recent Events
WikiConference North America 2018 (Oct 18-21) at the Ohio State University was a great success! Over 200 attendees (including those representing over 15 Wikimedia affiliates and 25 academic institutions) attended the 70+ sessions we had. A big thanks goes to all the event's organizers, volunteers (including those from Ohio Wikimedians), sponsors, and session hosts. View the full report (work in progress) for more details and outcomes. You can also check out the photos on the Commons.
"By doing an event like this, we can show people that you can edit; your contributions are valid; your contributions are valued. Beyond valued: necessary," Dalesio said.
Alden Library at Ohio University also independently hosted an Art+Feminism edit-a-thon on March 22. Check out the event page for more details. Outcomes included editing 27 articles, including the creation of a new one.
"We will be encouraging participants to use our collections to create and strengthen articles, and Library volunteers will be available help them do this effectively. In doing so, we hope to encourage participants to move beyond the role of information consumer, and to consider how they can enrich the information landscape—and maybe leave the internet a better place than they found it," Jennings stated.
Have something for the next newsletter? Add it to our May 2019 draft.
Latest comment: 5 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
General Updates
WikiProject Cleveland Museum of Art — Kevin (SuperHamster) and Maria (Rimmel.Edits) have been collaborating with Neal Stimler and the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) to launch WikiProject Cleveland Museum of Art on the English Wikipedia! Back in January, the CMA announced its conversion into an Open Access institution—and part of this initiative included the upload of thousands of photos and Wikidata items on CMA artworks. This WikiProject has been created to improve Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to the CMA, such as artworks and artists featured in the Museum's collections, while being able to leverage the great resources that have been released into the public domain. If you'd like to join in, please sign up to be a member here. We have an expanding list of articles to create here.
Mailing list live! — We now have admin access to the previously-deprecated Wikimedia-US-OH mailing list. All members are encouraged to subscribe here. Anyone who would like to communicate to subscribed members can email wikimedia-us-oh@lists.wikimedia.org.
Membership List — Reminder that our membership list has been revamped and supports the addition of new details (such as name, picture, location, and titles). Members are welcome to update their entry if they wish (all details are optional).
Movement Strategy
The Movement Strategy Working Groups have created their recommendations, located here. Community input will be accepted until September 15, so if you would like to provide feedback, be sure to do so in the next couple weeks.
Upcoming and Ongoing Events
Wiki Loves Monuments is back in the United States for 2019. Through the end of September, upload your photos of registered historical sites to the Commons to help document our history and illustrate Wikipedia - and have a shot at winning the national contest. If you're interested in participating, a guide to finding historic sites in Ohio is available here.
In April, two edit-a-thons were hosted at the Ohio State University:
The Female and Under-represented Language Scientists edit-a-thon, hosted by the Hispanic Linguistic Colloquium in collaboration with the Buckeye Language Network (BLN) Student Association. The goal of the event was to improve articles on under-represented language scientists. 11 editors contributed 50+ edits that consisted of 1.54k words across 24 articles, including one new article.
The Spanish & Portuguese Edit-A-Thon, hosted by students from the Spanish and Portuguese department (Dona pipoca and Caesarologia, with support from SuperHamster). The edit-a-thon focused on expanding coverage of Spanish and Portuguese topics on the English Wikipedia, primarily by translating articles from Spanish/Portuguese to English. In doing so, attendees sharpened their Spanish/Portuguese skills, gained experience editing Wikipedia, and learned about new topics. 23 editors contributed 180+ edits that consisted of 15.8k words across 70 articles, including four new articles.
Wikimania 2019 took place in Stockholm this year, with several Ohio Wikimedians attending. If you're interested in some of the sessions, many of them were recorded and are available on the Commons here.
Have something for the next newsletter? Add it to our October 2019 draft.
Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Upcoming and Ongoing Events
Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access Anniversary Campaign — January 23rd (today!) is the one-year anniversary of the Cleveland Museum of Art's Open Access program. To celebrate, we are hosting an editing campaign (with postcard souvenirs!) from now through February 9. Help expand and create articles related to the Cleveland Museum of Art (including artists and artworks featured in their collection), and receive a postcard from the Museum. If you'd like to participate, check out the task list and sign up on the event page.
Recent Events
In December, the Cincinnati Art Museum hosted an Art+Feminism edit-a-thon. The museum was an excellent place to have an edit-a-thon, with a café and staff who were helpful in setting up and ensuring there were enough tables, outlets, and plenty of resource materials available. There was a related exhibit, Women Breaking Boundaries, that was of interest to attendees. In total, 9 people attended.
Movement Strategy
The Movement Strategy document, with 13 recommendations, has been released and is located here. You may utilize each recommendation's respective talk page to leave any feedback you might have.
Between February and March 2020, the recommendations will be finalized, incorporating final feedback. By the end of March 2020, the recommendations are slated to be approved by the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees.
Kevin (SuperHamster) will be attending Wikimedia Summit 2020 on behalf of the Ohio Wikimedians. This year's Summit will be focusing on discussing the implementation of the finalized Movement Strategy recommendations. Please get in touch with Kevin if you have ideas and suggestions that you would like conveyed.
Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
General Updates
I hope this message finds you well and in good health during these trying times. Below is a list of some online activities that you may be interested in participating in.
The Wiki Global Check In has started! This initiative is gathering check-ins from Wikimedians all around the world, and asks for a photo that captures something related to life in your context or part of the world during the pandemic.
WALRUS (Wikimedians Active in Local Regions of the United States) is now hosting virtual meetings twice a month on Monday evenings. This is a place to discuss anything Wikimedia, as well as a place for Wikimedians to come together and mutually support each other. The next virtual meeting should be on Memorial Day, May 25th. You can sign up for the Wikimediaus-l mailing list to stay up to date on all WALRUS happenings and to receive meeting invites.
Wikipedians have been busy documenting the pandemic. In Ohio, we have articles on the pandemic in Ohio and in Columbus (the latter of which was written by our newest Ohio Wikimedians member, Ɱ!). If interested, you're encouraged to help update and expand these articles, or even consider creating articles documenting the pandemic in other Ohio metro areas.
If you miss visiting your local museums, don't forget that the Cleveland Museum of Art's entire collection is available online and in the public domain (when permissible). Our WikiProject Cleveland Museum of Art is currently tracking 44 English Wikipedia articles and 40,322 images, which are now acquiring over 2,000,000 views a month. If you're interested in contributing, there is still plenty of work to be done to expand and create new articles!
Movement Strategy
The finalized Movement Strategy Recommendations have been published! This is a clarified and refined version of the recommendations that were released in January.
The Wikimedia Summit 2020 that was to occur in April was canceled, and Wikimedia Deutschland will not be hosting a virtual replacement. In its stead, Ryan Merkley, members of the movement strategy core team, and external consultants are exploring options to move the contents of the conference into a series of virtual events.
Have something for the next newsletter? Add it to our June 2020 draft.
Editors at Ohio State's A+F event.
Editors at Oberlin's A+F event._-_Group_2.jpg)
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Facebook group! If you're on Facebook, feel free to request to join.
Columbus Metropolitan Library tour
Thursday group photo at the Thompson Memorial Library
Friday group photo at the Thompson Memorial Library
Wiki Education Foundation group photo
