A beginner's tutorial for editing Wikipedia, by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Smithsonian Libraries

1. Co-hosted by SAAM and Smithsonian Libraries
#atSAAM
#ArtandFeminism
#NowEditingAF

2. We all use Wikipedia, but what
do we really know about it?

3. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
• Content freely licensed without restrictions
– Free as in “beer” & free as in “speech”
• All content created & maintained by volunteers
• Non-profit educational project, infrastructure
supported by Wikimedia Foundation
• All edits/versions are recorded indefinitely
• Software = MediaWiki

4. Biggest. Encyclopedia. Ever.
• 5,593,129+ articles in English (see Size
of Wikipedia)
• 44 million+ articles in 295 different
languages

5. “A Wikipedia
article is a
process, not a
product.”
-Clay Shirky
Global community site:
https://meta.wikimedia.org
A Hybrid of Tool & Community

6. Who or what merits an
article in Wikipedia?
If a person or topic has received
significant coverage in reliable
sources that are independent of the
subject, then it is deemed
“notable.”
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability
Or type in search shortcut WP:N

7. Wikipedia Content Standards
• Neutral Point of View
• Verifiability
reliable sources, cited correctly
• No “original research”
i.e. unpublished data, opinions,
speculation
• Assume good faith towards
other editors
• Avoid conflict of interest (i.e.
creating a page about yourself) See Wikipedia: Policies
and guidelines

8. Do I have to register an account?
No, but there are lots of advantages to doing so.
• A record of your work builds credibility & signals
membership in the community
• More privacy, since anonymous contributors’ IP
address is recorded
• More editing privileges: ability to create/rename
articles, upload images, edit preferences
NOTE: Since this is a community built on transparency
and reputation, shared accounts are not allowed

9. Can I edit the Wikipedia article
about my workplace? My boss?
My band? My grandma?
Possibly, but ONLY under the right conditions.
“When advancing outside interests is more important
to an editor than advancing the aims of Wikipedia,
that editor stands in a conflict of interest (CoI).”
Your #1 priority must be: making a
better, more useful encyclopedia article.

10. Avoid Conflict of Interest Editing
• Register a unique user account
• Disclose your affiliations (see sample CoI
Statement)
• Cite authoritative sources
• Don’t remove “controversies”
• Recognize that no one person can
“own” a Wikipedia article or control
its content

11. How can I add an image?
Wikimedia Commons image
commons.wikimedia.org
Example: Teton Range
Non-free image
en.wikipedia.org
Example: Look Mickey

12. ANATOMY OF AN ARTICLE

16. Pro search tip: search within
specific “namespaces” to find
your answers quicker!
Examples
Help:Introduction
WP:COI

17. LETS START EDITING!

18. Step 1 - Register a user account
1. Go to en.wikipedia.org, click “Create
Account”
2. Choose a username and password

19. Step 2 – Check for Visual Editor
1.Go to Preferences (top) and the Editing tab
2.Scroll down to Editor section
3.Uncheck Temporarily disable the visual editor
4.Change Editing mode to Show me both editor tabs
5.Hit the SAVE button

20. Step 3 - Create a user page, and/or a
user sandbox
1. Click the red link at the top with your
Username on it, OR the “Sandbox”
2. Write something on the new page (Hello
world!) and click Show Preview.
3. Leave a comment about what you did in
the “Edit Summary” box, and then click
Save changes.

21. Citing Sources

22. WikimediaDC.org
To stay in touch and attend future
events in the D.C. area, check out:
By Fuzheado (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons