Dear Colleagues,
Happy New Year! This is a friendly reminder to join us for the upcoming Wiki Edit-a-thon taking place this week on Friday, January 9, 2026 at 11am ET.
FAIRly Obscure (The Trilogy): An Anthropology Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
Registration via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fairly-obscure-the-trilogy-an-anthropology-wikipedia-edit-a-thon-tickets-1974905470425?aff=oddtdtcreator
Event Page: Click Here
Presented by:
Council for the Preservation of Anthropological Records (CoPAR), Wikimedia DC, the University of Maryland Center for Archival Futures, the Bentley Historical Library and University of Michigan School of Information; and the University of Missouri’s iSchool.
Event description:
Are you interested in the history of anthropology? In archival representation, outreach, and linked data? In FAIR and CARE principles for social science and scientific information? Getting trained up in Wikipedia or Wikidata? Join the third in our series of co-sponsored edit-a-thon events to support the ethical description of anthropological knowledge and anthropological records focused on reworking and expanding related Wikipedia and Wikidata entries.
This edit-a-thon will focus on editing, adding, and checking information on these publicly available and publicly maintained registries (e.g. CoPAR registry version 1 and 2) relating to anthropologists and anthropology. Interested audiences may include community members, anthropologists, graduate students in anthropology, graduate students in information science, linked data nerds, and others!
No Wikipedia editing experience necessary. Wikipedia training will be provided, along with lightning talks, a demo on Wikidata, and an optional open discussion on the new North American Indigenous Wiki Interest Group.
Event preparation:
Laptops are required. Please create a Wikipedia account prior to the event.
Please read or refresh on the following:
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Wiki guide from Australia: https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/Wikimedia_Australia_and_First_Nations_Metadata:_ATSILIRN_Protocols_for_Description_and_Access
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WikiProject, Indigenous Peoples of North America Wikidata Model: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Indigenous_peoples_of_North_America/Data_model
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Living persons guidance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons
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Protocols for Native Archival Materials: https://www2.nau.edu/libnap-p/
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CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance: https://www.gida-global.org/care
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FAIR Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship: https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/
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On editing Wikipedia for history: Roy Rosenzweig, “Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past,” Journal of American History 93, no. 1 (June 2006): 117-146. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/4486062.
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Carlson, B., & Rana, L. (2024). “I really like Wikipedia, but I don’t trust it”: Understanding First Nations peoples’ experiences using Wikipedia as readers and/or editors. Macquarie University. https://doi.org/10.25949/76YK-G627
When:
Wikipedia training will be provided, taking place Friday, January 9, 2026. If you've never edited before, please plan to attend the training session, from 11:30am-12:30pm ET.
Brief Wikidata training will take place at 1:30pm ET.
Open editing time will run from 12:45pm to 3:30pm (Eastern time).
From 3:30pm to 3:45pm ET we will invite an optional open discussion of the North American Indigenous Wiki Interest Group.
Please fill out this quick Google Form to indicate your interest in Wikipedia or Wikidata:
Wikidata & Wikipedia Interest Survey Link: https://forms.gle/X1fHszJfaBssmCSQ6
Where: Online!
To register, use this EventBrite link.
Thanks!
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Ugoma Smoke
Research Assistant in Native and Indigenous Archives and Linked Data
College of Information, University of Maryland
Fayetteville AR
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