On July 7, 2024, the first Wikipedia Editathon Inazawa was held in Inazawa City, Aichi Prefecture. Participants searched historic sites then edited Wikipedia articles on the memorial Hall of Nakajima County Higher Elementary School, which was built in 18th century then had been used for a variety of purposes, and a poet of the Heian period Akazome-Emon and her husband O-eno Masa-hira.
（Asturio Cantabrio, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, Via Wikimedia Commons）
The initiators of the project were city officials who read my book “Wikipedia Town ～ Let’s build a local encyclopedia together” published in December 2023 and were inspired by the many possibilities of Wikipedia. The event lecturer was a university professor who was actively promoting Wikipedia Town and open data initiatives throughout the Kansai region. They have passion for Wikipedia Town, but they rarely edit Wikipedia themselves. Unfortunately, this is often the case in many editathons and subsequently on Wikipedia, where the community is burdened by the lack of proper advice and follow-up for beginners.
However, in Aichi Prefecture, skilled Wikipedians such as user: 円周率３パーセント and user:Asturio Cantabrio have been actively cooperating with Wikipedia Town for many years. The depth of layers in Wikipedia outreach is one of the best in Japan. So, I introduced them to the organizer and three of us, including me, went to the event/follow-up.
Edit Tango Event perticipation2024 / №７ Aichi Prefecture, Inazawa City Wikipediatown Inazawa
In mid-June 2024, after the first meeting of the organizers, lecturers, and Wikipedians in Zoom, the two Aichi Prefecture-based members immediately made multiple voluntary trips to Inazawa City, respectively, already had careful research on the theme, to create independent articles on editorial subjects and other related items in Inazawa City.
When it comes to editing Wikipedia, inexperienced Wikipedia editors often think that computer skills are the most important thing, but in reality, nothing is more important than the skills of literature research, which involves gathering, analyzing, and correctly understanding information on a subject from various angles, including the surrounding circumstances. In a sense, “local knowledge” is the most important aspect of Wikipedia Town, which is a regional subject. The next important thing is preparation. So, you can put together enough content in the limited time of the editorial event to make it viable as a single article. That means, for example, reading through sources ahead of time that would be difficult to reference on the day of the event, and making copies if necessary, or taking photos on a sunny day if the topic is outdoors. On the day, we were introduced “Wikipedians and others are here to help!”, and we were assigned to each of the three subjects that we had been told about beforehand.
（Asturio Cantabrio, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, Via Wikimedia Commons）
The organizers and lecturers studied the subject matter in advance. The editorial themes presented to the participants were three: “the memorial Hall of Nakajima County Higher Elementary School” (to be newly created), “Akazome-Emon Monument Park” (to be newly created), and “Owari no-kuni” (to be added). However, three of us Wikipedians who had researched in advance, had the point of “Wikipedia:Notability“. So, it was agreed that it would be difficult to create a new article on Akazome-Emon Monument Park. As the facilitator, I decided to manage this problem. I was supposed to be in charge of the “Akazome-Emon Monument Park”. So, at the beginning of the group meeting, I said “The final decision will be considered by you after having done your literature review. However, consider switching, to adding [[Akasome-emon]] instead of creating the new park article. If you have chosen this group to learn how to create a new article, please consider moving to the [[Memorial Hall of Nakajima County Higher Elementary School]] group now.” One person moved the group.
Wikipedia Town is attended by many types of people: to understand Wikipedia, to edit Wikipedia, because they are interested in the subject matter and the community, because they are interested in working with a variety of people, because they want to gain expertise in organizing such events, and so on. There are participants with a variety of purposes. It seems to me that the most important skill for a group facilitator at an event is not to teach Wikipedia editing tools, but to identify the needs of each of these participants early on and guide them appropriately.
（Asturio Cantabrio, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, Via Wikimedia Commons）
The remaining four members of the team then proceeded the literature investigation. However, the documents that the library had prepared for us still had very little description of the monument park. On the other hand, there were many materials about the poet. So, we decided not to create the article on the park, but to edit the article on the poet. The group which had been planned to edit the article on Owari Province was also, shifted their goal to edit O-eno Masa-hira after the results of further investigation.
Being able to consider “where” and “how” to edit/create about what organizer/participants want to edit/create, and to provide guidance, is the second skill for a group facilitator, before narrowing it down to one point at the beginning and “creating what you want to edit/create about”. This is an important perspective if you edit/create an article for Wikipedia, even if it is not an event. However, editathons that include guidance for beginners need to be considered more carefully. Sufficient preliminary research is required before deciding on an editorial theme.
Without the participation of local Wikipedians, user:円周率３パーセント and user:Asturio Cantabrio, who carefully investigated the theme in advance for the event, the event might fail. This would have been unfortunate, not only for the participants and organizers of the event, but also for the Wikipedia community, which always needs new editors for long-term prospects. This is because it would reduce their motivation.
The voluntary spirit and effort of the Wikipedians who prevented such a situation from happening is something that not everyone has. I hope that as many people as possible among those who are now called “Wikipedians” will be Wikipedians like them. Of course, I hope so, too.
（portrait and her poem of the waka poet, Akazome-Emon ／ Chōbunsai Eishi, Public domain, Via Wikimedia Commons）
This time, the event was an event in which I cooperated as a “Wikipedian”. But I actually feel uncomfortable being referred to as a “Wikipedian” outside of Wikipedia. I consider myself a Wikipedian in a favorable way. Even so, when I am introduced to someone else as “Wikipedian –” I feel that the introducer is making a distinction between “Wikipedians” and “non-Wikipedians. Anyone can edit Wikipedia. It’s intended to create a collective knowledge through everyone’s participation. Funny how you make a distinction between Wikipedians and the rest of the world, isn’t it?
The other day, I had a chance to meet with a person who teaches in Library and Information Science at one of the universities for the first time in a long time. S/he asked me, “In my mind, I’ve always wondered what Wikipedians are. What kind of people are actually editing it?” I replied, “We’re normal people with a hobby of editing Wikipedia.”
A wise person is often a cautious and does not want to join the fields of the “unknowable”. My final goal is that all the qualified people would think “I feel I can edit Wikipedia” or “Hmm, I’m gonna do it”. For that, my first step is to let all the people get the view, “People who read Wikipedia edit Wikipedia.” like “If you have a dog, walk it.”
【Summary of Wikipedia Town Inazawa】
- 中日新聞のイベントレポート A traditional newspaper’s article on this event
- 主催者のレポート The organizer’s report
- 参加ウィキペディアン（Asturio Cantabrio）のレポート The user Asturio Cantabrio’s report, Diff英語版「WikipediaTown INAZAWA」
Can you help us translate this article?
In order for this article to reach as many people as possible we would like your help. Can you translate this article to get the message out?
Start translation