New England Wikimedians/Reports

Wikimedians in New England

New England Wikimedians is a Wikimedian user group representing all Wikimedians in New England, recognized on December 30, 2013. This user group provides outreach and assistance to individuals and groups in the New England region who are interested in hosting Wikimedia-related events such as group discussions and edit-a-thons.

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Reports

2014

January – June

Group organized a Art+Feminism Meetup at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston on February 1.
In March, group help multiple Women's History edita-thons:
- Simmons College Women's History Edit-a-thon 2014 on March 3 at Simmons College, Boston
- Seven Sisters Women's History Edit-a-thon 2014 on March 4 at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley
- Seven Sisters Women's History Edit-a-thon 2014 on March 4 at Smith College, Northampton
- Seven Sisters Women's History Edit-a-thon 2014 on March 12 at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Cambridge
- Charles M. Vest Tribute Women in STEM Edit-a-thon on March 18 at MIT, Cambridge

Group hosted a Harvard Law School Legal Editathon on April 16 at Harvard Law School, Cambridge
Group conducted an April meetup on April 19 at Clover Food Lab, Cambridge
Group hosted an edit-a-thon at the Peabody Essex Museum on May 3 at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem
Group conducted special edit-a-thons in memory of Adrianne Wadewitz:
- Wadewitz Memorial on May 21 at Northeastern University, Boston
- Brown Wadewitz Memorial on May 22 at Brown University, Providence
- How to Run an Edit-a-thon/Adrianne Wadewitz Memorial Edit-a-thon on June 25 at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Cambridge

July – December

New England Wikimedians conducted its 3rd Annual General Meeting on July 19 at the Boston Public Library, Boston.
Welcomed Wikimedia Foundation executive director Lila Tretikov in a small-group meeting at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Cambridge.
Organized an informal Talk Wikipedia! meetup with Peteforsyth on 14th October at Golden Temple, Brookline
Group organized multiple events to support Wikipedia Loves Library initiative.
- City Archives edit-a-thon on 21st October at the Boston City Archives, West Roxbury to support Wikipedia Loves Libraries initiative.
- Open Access/Wikipedia Loves Libraries Week edit-a-thon on 22nd October at Northeastern University, Boston
- Open Access Week edit-a-thon on 23rd October at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Group conducted Lowell History Edit-a-thon on 7th December at Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell
Group organized End of 2014 Meeting on 13th December at Northeastern University, Boston

2015

January – June

Conducted a Writing women into Wikipedia IAP workshop at MIT January 12-15.
Group organized An Introduction to Wikipedia and LGBTQ Issues & Rights workshop on January 20 at The Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) office.
Group organized the second round of Lowell History Edit-a-thon on January 25 at Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell.
Wikipedia introcutory workshop at Harvard University
Supported edit-a-thon for Harvard Women's Week on March 2 at Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Yard.
Group conducted a meeting to discuss Wikimedia software development efforts on March 4 at Clover Food Lab.
Supported Indic Language outreach workshop on March 7 at Harvard India Conference.
Group held multiple women's history edit-a-thons in March:
- Art and Feminism Edit-a-thon 2015 on March 7 at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
- Art and Feminism Edit-a-thon 2015 on March 13 at College of the Holy Cross, Worcester.
Supported History of Lowell edit-a-thon on March 28 at UMass Lowell O'Leary Library.
Group organized meet-up during Sue Gardner's Lecture & award presentation at Harvard on April 10.
Group organized April meet-up to discuss Gender gap projects across Wikimedia on April 23 at 5 Cambridge Center.
Group conducted Edit-a-thon at UMass-Boston: Desegregation and Social Justice in Boston on May 19 at the Integrated Sciences Complex, UMass Boston.
Group organized May and June meetups:
- Discussion topic: Conflict of Interest on May 28 at 5 Cambridge Center.
- Discussion topic: Balancing 'the encyclopedia' and living persons on June 25 at 5 Cambridge Center.

July – December

Group hosted Women in Architecture Edit-a-thon on October 16 at KrashPad, Cambridge.
Group conducted BU Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon: Open Access Week 2015 on October 23 at Boston University.
Group conducted Underrepresented Groups in Massachusetts History event on October 28 at Northeastern University.

2016

January – June

New England Wikimedians celebrated Wikipedia Day 15th Birthday Bash at Harvard University.
Group organized several workshops at MIT Libraries -

Hosted Seamless Astronomy Edit-a-thon @ Center for Astrophysics on February 18, 2016
Group conducted Art+Feminism Edit-a-thon 2016 at MIT on March 5, 2016
Group hosted w:Wikipedia:Meetup/Boston/Latino Americans: 500 Years of History Editathon at UMass Lowell on April 9. 2016
On May 12, 2016, group conducted Edit-a-thon on Desegregation and Social Justice in Boston at UMass Boston

July – December

Hosted Wiknic! on July 16, 2016
Group organized Open Access / Wikipedia Loves Libraries! at Northeastern on October 12, 2016
Conducted meet up to upload Images of Science and Technology at MIT Libraries on October 21, 2016
Group organized MIT Rare Books Edit-a-thon on October 28, 2016
Hosted workshop at Phillips Academy 2016 on November 6, 2016
New England Wikimedians organized annual December meet-up

2017

January – June

New England Wikimedians hosted Wikipedia 16th Birthday celebration on January 14, 2017
Organized Women in Politics: Edit-a-thon at MIT Libraries on January 19, 2017
Group organized several workshops at MIT Libraries
- BLT @ BU Arts Initiative #1 – April 21, 2017
- BLT @ BU Arts Initiative #2 – April 22, 2017
Hosted Art + Feminism at MIT on March 11, 2017

Wikimedians of New England enjoying annual Wiknic

July – December

Conducted Women in Architecture: Edit-a-thon at MIT on September 30, 2017
Group organized Open Access Month Edit-a-thon at BU, on October 11, 2017
Conducted meetup at Open Access Week at MIT 2017 on October 27, 2017
Organized Wikipedia introductory workshop for Society of Biblical Literature editathon at Hynes Convention Center on November 19, 2017
Hosted Decolonizing Wikipedia at Northeastern on December 1, 2017

2018

In 2018 institutions throughout New England hosted Wikimedia events, including edit-a-thons and workshops. These included:

edit-a-thons for the public on themes including Art + Feminism events at multiple institutions
#1lib1ref events for library staff and librarians
Two Africa-focused events related to Wikimania 2018, involving involving African languages and African library resources
Educational workshops on WikiData

List of edit-a-thons

Jan 9-11 Wikipedia Data + Editing Workshop, MIT -- 12-4pm each day, MIT Media Lab, E15-359.
Jan 18, Jan 24, Jan 31 2018 #1Lib1Ref Edit-a-thons at Boston College Libraries -- 11-12:30 pm each day, Boston College
Jan 26 Engineering Wikipedia edit-a-thon 2018 -- Jan. 26th, 1-5pm, MIT
Feb 9 New England New Play Alliance and HowlRound Hackathon -- February 9, 1pm-4pm, HowlRound
March 4, 2018 ICA/Boston Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon -- March 4, 2018, 11am-4pm, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, RSVP to wikipedia@icaboston.org to pre-register and receive free museum admission.
March 16, 2018 [1] -- March 16, 2018, 10am-4pm, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, RSVP here
March 30, 2018 Art+Feminism at MIT -- w:Wikipedia:Meetup/Boston/MIT Art+Feminism 2018
July 10, 2018 Summer 2018 Edit-a-thon at BU
Nov 2, 2018 Women in Computing & Engineering at MIT
November 13, 2018 Makwande! Increasing Africa’s Presence on Wikipedia at BU

2019

In 2019, NEW hosted the annual Wikiconference North America (event page). This was a three-day event that spanned Boston and Cambridge, with over 300 attendees and a culture crawl and day-long editathon at the Museum of Fine Arts. Five simultaneous rooms were streamed and recorded, and Commons has an extensive gallery from the event.

At the conference, a meetup for New England Wikimedians was held, and a Slack channel (WikiNewEngland) was developed, which has been used for conversation among event planners and Wikimedians throughout the area about possible events and campaigns.

We also planned the first ever WikiCred grants program, which took shape in 2020.

List of edit-a-thons

Events were held throughout the area at various institutions. We continued the annual tradition of Art + Feminism editathons throughout the Spring.

Jan 15 Public Domain Day 2019 -- 3-6pm (or later), MIT, 14N-132.
Feb 12 Black History Month at Cambridge College 2019 -- 4-8pm, Cambridge College, Town Commons.
Feb 14 Women Activists edit-a-thon at Simmons University 2019 -- 9:30am-4:30pm, Beatley Library, Simmons University
March 3 ICA Deep Dive: Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon -- 11am – 4pm, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, RSVP to the e-mail provided in the event link to pre-register and receive free museum admission for the day.
Apr 5 Art+Feminism at BU -- Friday, April 5, 2-5pm, Boston University, 775 Commonwealth Avenue, Mugar Library, Room 205, Boston, MA.
Nov 8 WikiConference North America Culture Crawl -- all day, 10 am to 6 pm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – Fenway entrance, Trustees room

2020

In 2020, NEW participated in implementing the first Wikicred grants program, which grew out of Wikiconference North America in 2019. As of Q2, this has overseen distribution of $30k in grants to projects focused on credibility on Wikipedia and Wikidata.

We are continuing the tradition of Art + Feminism editathons online, as well as civil rights and Earth Day events.

List of edit-a-thons

February 1, 2020 A Prince edit-a-thon was hosted at MIT. Attendees edited Wikipedia articles about the music of Prince. All welcome, 1-5pm, 14N-132. ([www.mitprinceopedia.eventbrite.com Event page])
March 1, 2020 Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston Deep Dive: Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon -- 11am to 4pm, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. RSVP to the e-mail provided on the linked event page and receive free museum admission for the day.
March 31, 2020 Women's Suffrage and Civil Rights Activism 2020, Virtual edit-a-thon hosted by Simmons University and Wentworth Institute of Technology
April 23, 2020 Earth Day 50, Virtual Edit-a-thon hosted by Boston University Libraries
August 17-21, 2020 BIPOC Designers in the Built Environment, virtual edit-a-thon hosted by MIT

2021

see also: goings-on

In 2021, we wrapped the first WikiCred microgrants program with a series of public online showcases, and began preparing for a future extension into other languages and geographies. We applied for a grant which was later approved in 2022.

Events were focused on online participation as well due to pandemic. Conferences, workshops, and onling projects included:

January 8, 2021 Community members organized Wikidata and Public Domain Day workshops
January 15, 2021 Wikimedians hosted Public Domain Day 2021 + 20th Anniversary celebration. New England authors and artists, as well as books, photographs, and other creative works associated with the U.S. Northeast were highlighted.
Feb 22-26, 2021 New England Wikimedians conducted BIPOC in the Built, Virtual Editathon. Pages were created/edited for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) who have left their mark on the fields of art, architecture, art history, graphic design, activism, landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design, dance, and more connected to the built environment.
Mar 20, 2021 Harvard Microbial Sciences Initiative x 500WS Wikipedia Editathon was organized by the community members.
April 22, 2021 Environmental Health Editathon in celebration of Earth Day was organized. Edit-a-thon focused on environmental health.
November 14, 2021 Community members hosted a Museum of Work and Culture Editathon

Community members also organized longer-form classes around Wikipedia and editing:

At the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Gabrielle Reed and Ezra Shales ran a class called Fysm: Ink, Caricature, We Spoof[2] – an art history of caricature. The clas built dashboards with WikiEdu in the second half, and focused on Wikipedia editing and adding images of the major artists that were represented. They hope to do something similar in the coming Fall.

Our community also published papers and essays about Wiki work:

Two essays in the Wikipedia @ 20 book, published by MIT Press on PubPub
"The Invisible Citation Commons", in the Commonplace journal

2023

In 2022 and 2023, NEW participated in implementing the next iteration of the Wikicred grants program, which grew out of Wikiconference North America in 2019. This round received a WMF grant and oversaw distribution of $80k in grants to projects focused on credibility on Wikipedia and Wikidata.

We continued the tradition of Art + Feminism and Climate editathons online. In May, Sam Klein and Annie Rauwerda joined Stephen Wolfram's podcast to explain how to get freely licensed material onto Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons

List of edit-a-thons and meetups

January 17, 2023: Wikipedia 22th Anniversary Celebration at MIT 32-144
February 3, 2023: Meetup and editathon about climate change at MIT.
September 8, 2023: Meetup at the Berkman Center's 25th anniversary party at Harvard.
September 30, 2023: Casual Meetup at the MIT campus.
November 30, 2023: Meetup and visit to a Depths of Wikipedia show in Boston.

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