Aldinga Wiki workshop improves local history on Wikipedia
As part of Wikimedia Australia's regional outreach, a Wikipedia workshop was held in Aldinga, South Australia (45 kilometres South of Adelaide), focusing on enhancing Wikipedia articles about the local people and history of the area.
The event grew out of the determination of a local historian, who was frustrated by the absence of Wikipedia articles about significant women artists from South Australia. Motivated to take action, he drove a return trip of nearly 2,500 kilometres to Canberra to attend a Know My Name edit-a-thon at the National Gallery of Australia, to learn how to contribute to Wikipedia. On returning to Adelaide, he continued editing and has since liaised with WMAU staff to facilitate the Alginga workshop aimed at documenting the cultural heritage of regional South Australia.
History writing for Wikipedia
Participants learned editing skills and worked together to improve articles. Using the Aldinga Library’s local history resources, the group collaboratively reviewed articles with errors, poor citations, and unclear writing. Through discussion and hands-on editing, participants improved several entries, ensuring more accurate, better-sourced, and locally informed content on Wikipedia. There is great interest in another workshop in the near future to learn how to upload images to Wiki Commons.
This event is part of ongoing efforts by Wikimedia Australia to grow Wikipedia’s coverage of regional Australia while building digital literacy and research skills in local communities.
Images
- Willunga, February 2023 by No Swan So Fine, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Willunga, February 2023 by No Swan So Fine, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aldinga, February 2023 by No Swan So Fine, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
