Report on “Wikipedia Bungaku (literature) 9 Ozu Yasujiro”

by and , Wikipedian since 2003. Then, since 2020, he has been the administrator of the Japanese version of Wikipedia. He has been involved in Wikimedia outreach and other activities in Japan.
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On April 23, 2023, “Wikipedia Bungaku 9: Yasujiro Ozu” was held. “Wikipedia Bungaku (literature)”, derivative of Wikipedia Town,  is an event in which participants visit an exhibition at the Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature in Yokohama, Japan, and write Wikipedia articles using materials from the Kanagawa Prefectural Library.

This event was supported by the Wikimedia Foundation. We report on the event in this article.

Outline of the event and the grant

The outline of “Wikipedia Bungaku” and the application for the Wikimedia Foundation’s grant are described in this article.

Wikimedia Foundation Grants and Biography Edit-a-thon in Kanagawa, Japan

We applied for a rapid grant to utilize the remaining funds of 46,213 JPY ($358.12 *at the time of application) from the previous two years’ grants. In response to a change in the application process effective April 2022, The application was submitted through the dedicated Fluxx website. The application period is fixed, and the application was processed in January in time for Cycle 7 (January 30 – March 20, 2023) to be held in April for the “wikipedia Bungaku”. Due to a change in the application format, we had to write some new sentences and present some indicators, and it was a bit tricky, but the application was successfully approved in late March.

History of the event

The background of how “Wikipedia Bungaku” was started is described in my contribution to the mail magazine “ACADEMIC RESOURCE GUIDE (ARG)” No. 683.

“Rashinban, “I tried ‘Wikipedia Bungaku'”. ACADEMIC RESOURCE GUIDE (ARG), Issue 683. Archived from the original as of October 26, 2020; viewed October 24, 2020.

Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20201026170908/http://www.arg.ne.jp/node/9258 Japanese only

The reports of the first and second meetings are also published in the LRG Library Resource Guide Library Resource Guide, Volume 25. Japanese only

During the first and second events, participants wrote articles using materials from the collection of Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature and materials brought by themselves. However, there were some difficulties in conducting a bibliographic survey at the museum. Firstly, the reading room was located in a different building from the meeting room where the event was held. Secondly, materials could not be taken out of the reading room but could only be copied. Lastly, the capacity of the reading room was limited. To improve the experience of event, we thought it would be necessary to seek the cooperation of public libraries, and approached the librarian of the Kanagawa Prefectural Library for advice.

After some coordination, it was decided to give it a try, and the third event was held under the auspices of the Kanagawa Prefectural Library.

“Kanagawa Prefectural Library Hosts “Wikipedia Bungaku: Matsumoto Seicho” | Current Awareness Portal”. current.ndl.gov.au. current.ndl.go.jp. viewed 12 October 2019.
Available from: https://current.ndl.go.jp/car/37841

Maho Yamamoto, “Report on the Wikipedia Editing Event at Kanagawa Prefectural Library” (pdf), Bulletin of Kanagawa Prefectural Library, No. 14, Kanagawa Prefectural Library, February 2020, pp. 19-40, ISSN 0911-3681. https://www.klnet.pref.kanagawa.jp/uploads/2020/12/kiyou014_02.pdf Japanese only

It was here that we established a style of viewing special exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Literature in the morning and moving to the Kanagawa Prefectural Library in the afternoon for research and writing.

Although there were some irregularities due to the effects of the COVID-19 disaster and preparations for the opening of the new building of the prefectural library, we were able to hold the 8th meeting. A total of 83 articles were edited during the eight events.

Event Preparation

In principle, “Wikipedia Bungaku” is held in conjunction with special exhibitions held at the Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature in spring and fall, and preparations for the 9th Wikipedia Bungaku began when it became clear that the theme for the spring 2023 exhibition would be Yasujiro Ozu.

For the event, we read articles about Yasujiro Ozu on Wikipedia to check the richness of the content or the room for addition, and to identify people and items that had not yet been covered as articles.

[[:ja:小津安二郎]](Yasujirō Ozu) was selected as Japanese version of “Wikipedia:Good Articles”, and most of the films directed by Ozu were already listed. We decided that it would be better to target related items and selected [[:ja:茅ヶ崎館]](Chigasakikan) and [[:ja:松竹大船撮影所]](Shochiku Ofuna Studio) as candidates for items related to Kanagawa Prefecture.

After a pre-event preview of the exhibition to confirm the contents of the exhibits, we finalized the themes and compiled a list of reference documents. We asked the librarians to research books, magazine articles, newspaper articles, websites, etc. that might be useful for writing, and if the prefectural library had them, we asked them to prepare them at the venue on the day of the event. For newspaper and magazine articles that the library didn’t have, staff members worked in teams to prepare them.

The schedule for the event was decided in late February, after coordination among the museum, the prefectural library, and the event staff, so that the event could be held on a Saturday or Sunday during the Ozu exhibition period. An application for sponsorship was submitted to the museum and an application for co-sponsorship was submitted to the prefectural library, both of which received approval.

Once the date and venue were set, publicity began: an event page was created on Facebook to solicit participants. Event flyers were only posted on the Facebook event page, not printed, distributed, or posted.

Facebook event page：https://www.facebook.com/events/181243867964890

Regarding the venue, the previous 8th event was the first event held after the new opening of the main building of the prefectural library on 9/1/2022. At that time, the event was held in a rented discussion room for group study on the 4th floor (capacity of 8 people*3 rooms), with three rooms connected by movable wall surfaces. However, it was a bit cramped for participants to work in groups on each writing theme and to arrange and spread out the materials they had collected. We decided to use the “Learning ⇄ Communication Area”, which is a larger open space. After a preliminary inspection of the exhibition, a meeting was held at the prefectural library to confirm the layout of the venue.

Day of the event

In the morning session, we gathered at the Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature to listen to a gallery talk by the curator and view the exhibition. In the afternoon, the group moved to the Kanagawa Prefectural Library and wrote articles using the library’s collection. There were 15 participants.

The morning session began at 10:00. The museum of literature opens at 9:30, so  staff and participants could enter only after this time. The conference room was used only for the event briefing and gallery talk, and for regrouping after viewing the exhibition, it did not take much time to set up the room. The room will be ready for use once the names and name tags are placed at the reception desk and the PCs are connected to the monitors for slide projection.

When it was time for the event to start, the lecturer gave an overview of the event, and greetings from the organizer. Themes to be written today were presented in advance so that the participants would be aware of them when viewing the exhibition.

  • Yasujiro Ozu
    • Ozu and Gourmet
  • Chigasakikan（Chigasaki Pavilion）
  • Shochiku Ofuna Studio

The gallery talk began at 10:05, with the curator in charge of this exhibition giving a 30-minute explanation of the exhibition’s highlights. She introduced what could be read from the letters and diaries, shared newly discovered materials  from the research, and guided us how to read and understand the storyboards. Although staff members had seen the entire exhibition during our preliminary visit, the explanation helped us understand the points of interest and made us want to take a closer look at it again.

File:Wikipediaブンガク9小津安二郎01.jpg on commons.wikimedia.org / Photo by Mayonaka no osanpo / CC-BY-SA-4.0

We started viewing the exhibition at 10:35. Although time was limited to about one hour, participants were free to look around the exhibition until the meeting time.

At 11:45,  we reassembled at the conference room. After explaining the upcoming schedule, staff members led the group to the library. Although it was only one bus ride away, everyone had to eat lunch on the way. Since there was a street performance event in Noge that day and it was expected to be crowded, we split into small groups and ate as needed.

The afternoon session started at 13:30. After being seated, we first introduced ourselves. We asked them to briefly tell us their names, what they had for lunch, why they attended the event, and their experience participating in the event. Then the lecturer explained what Wikipedia is and how to mark up a page,and the librarian of the prefectural library explained about the materials and how to use the library.

After that, the participants were divided into groups and asked to choose which of the three themes presented beforehand they would like to write articles on.

  • <Number of Participants with each theme>
  • Yasujiro Ozu:5
  • Chigasaki Kan (Chigasaki Museum): 3
  • Shochiku Ofuna Studio:5

Coffee break

Every time we start working, we are so concentrated that we forget to take a break. Since “only drinks with lids are allowed in the Learning ⇄ Communication Area”, we decided to buy drinks at the coffee shop on the first floor of the library and carry them to the fourth floor. The cost of the drinks was paid for by a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, and we had prepared for the drinks to arrive around 15:00, but due to various circumstances, they did not arrive in time, so the final review time became the coffee break time. Also, we forgot to bring out the snacks we had prepared for the participants, which we realized when we were cleaning up and had to rush to distribute to the participants.

At around 16:05, we finished our work. First, the group members discussed what kind of work they had done, what materials they had used, and their impressions. Then, everyone shared the results of the day’s work. Results from remote participants were also reported here. Finally, a group photo was taken with the “materials used today” in their hands. We always use a phrase ending in “i” as a watchword to bring a good smile, but “OZU Yasujiro” ends in “u”,so  we chose “unagi(eel)” from today’s keywords.

The following items were written or added during the event hours

Reflection

There was only one participant who had not edited Wikipedia before. There were several experienced Wikipedia editors in the group, so we were able to support him as needed. We were able to have him edit for the first time successfully.

We had enough materials and subject matter, but many items remained that we did not get around to on the day. “‘Won’t end even if we get home’ is the Wikipedia Edit-a-thon” (by Arai, the lecturer). We would like to continue to add to it, little by little.

  • Additions after the event
  • Japanese Wikipedia main page “New article”
    • [[蓬莱屋 (とんかつ店)]] (Houraiya (tonkatsu restaurant))　4/25
  • Japanese Wikipedia main page “Enhanced Article Award”
    • [[松竹大船撮影所]] (Shochiki Ofuna Studio)　5/8

Event Participation Report

How to edit a Wikipedia article about a film director you are unfamiliar with in a dignified manner : 9th Wikipedia Bungaku Experience

よく知らない映画監督に関するウィキペディア記事を堂々と編集する方法 : 第9回ウィキペディアブンガク体験記

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