A 70-year-old Wikipedian (7) WikiGap at the Swedish Embassy

This is an English translation of my book entitled “A 70-year-old Wikipedian talks about the charm of libraries.” Chapter 1, The Road to Wikipedia. Previously, click here.

WikiGap at the Swedish Embassy (Chapter 1-7)

In addition to attending various events and meeting many Wikipedians in 2019, I also attended the WikiGap Editathon in September. This event is an initiative to increase the number of biographical articles about women on Wikipedia. The word “editathon” is a coined word that combines “edit,” meaning editing, and “marathon”. 

On September 29, I participated in the WikiGap Editathon held at the Embassy of Sweden in Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo. The day started with an opening ceremony at 10:00 a.m. in the auditorium, the first was a speech by Swedish Ambassador to Japan Pereric Högberg. He also mentioned that WikiGap has already held events in 60 countries around the world, and that this would be the first event in Japan, with another one scheduled to be held in Osaka on October 14. A video message from Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, followed. I was deeply moved by the passionate message from Ms. Nakamitsu, who works on the front lines of international organizations, supporting women’s participation and success in society, based on her own experience. 

Next, Wikipedian Racco gave some editing advice, Saebo explained WikiGap, and then special guest IT evangelist Masako Wakamiya appeared. One Wikipedian uploaded the article about Wakamiya to Wikipedia, which everyone applauded! It was a great pleasure to be able to see the dignified figure of Masako Wakamiya up close.

After moving to the venue, participants started editing Wikipedia on the computers set up on their desks around 11:00. Some started writing new articles, some edited and enhanced existing articles, and some tried their hand at translating foreign language versions. About 10 veteran Wikipedians in support roles were on hand to answer questions as soon as someone raised his or her hand.

I prepared a draft of the dancer “Miya Misako” in advance and wrote it in the sandbox, then added to and revised it according to the sources I had brought with me. I have published about 20 articles on Wikipedia so far, and I have experienced that the more I prepare the sources in advance, the more substantial the article will be, so I gathered as many sources as possible. I hope to be able to obtain the actual documents, but there are some that are not available. When I could only find it in the NDL Digital Collection, I browsed it the day before and copied the page (I would paste the URL now, but it was not as easy to use then as it is now). When the text was written and the sources were ready, I asked a veteran Wikipedian to check it, and received advice on how to improve it and revise it. After repeating the process several times, I managed to publish it around 3:30 p.m. I was happy to see that this “Miya Misuko” was later selected as a “new article” on Wikipedia.

In the middle of writing, I was interviewed by a magazine publisher. I was asked about my reasons for participating, what kind of articles I was writing, and so on, so I told them what I thought. It was great that the next day they summarized the main points and wrote an article about it. The following is my statement that appeared there.

 I already had an account and had written about 20 articles, but I wanted to attend the event again and discover things. ……This is in keeping with the professional ethics of a librarian in wanting to hand out correct information. What I would like you to look at is the source. I think the Wikipedia is a text to connect the source and the user. (Yuriko Kadokura, librarian). 

–“Let’s improve male-dominated Wikipedia!: WikiGap held in Tokyo for the first time BY ELLE JAPAN 09/30/2019”

Some of the event participants came from far away, such as Mr. Takashi Ota and Ms. Miyuki Date, and we chatted a lot with them during lunch and at the barbecue in the evening. I learned a lot from their motivations for participating in the event, and it was a very fulfilling day. The support from the Swedish Embassy was excellent in every way, and I felt as if I had caught a glimpse of the direction in which Sweden is heading. I also realized that the world is seamlessly connected. The photo shows a T-shirt and a mug given to me as a commemorative gift. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone involved in the event.