WIKIPROJECT COVID-19 AND WIKIPEDIA'S NON-MEDICAL COVERAGE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMICJASON MOORE (USER:ANOTHER BELIEVER)

SYMPOSIUM ON WIKIPEDIA AND COVID-19MAY 9, 2020

INTRODUCTIONUSER:ANOTHER BELIEVER

• Daily editor for 12.5 years• 350,000+ contributions to English Wikipedia• 100,000+ contributions to Wikimedia Commons + other Wikimedia projects• Movement projects: Art+Feminism, Cascadia Wikimedians, Wikimedia LGBT+• WikiProjects: Oregon, Public Art, Sculpture, LGBT studies / Wiki Loves Pride• Help organize meetups/workshops: Central Library, Oregon Jewish Museum, Pacific

Northwest College of Art, Portland Art Museum, Portland State University, etc.

WIKIPROJECT COVID-19IN THE BEGINNING…

• January: Started following initial Wikipedia articles about outbreak (China)

• February: Started following Wikipedia articles about Iran, Italy, and South Korea

• WHO recognized the outbreak as a pandemic on 3/11; WikiProject created 3/15

WIKIPROJECT COVID-19WIKIPROJECT: “A GROUP OF CONTRIBUTORS WHO WANT TO WORK TOGETHER AS A TEAM TO IMPROVE WIKIPEDIA”

• Goal: Create temporary or permanent space for editors to work together

• Opportunity for Wikipedia to inform readers and have (even more) real life impact

• Posted invitations on article talk pages related to COVID; members joined quickly

• Received some pushback for creating new project w/ narrow focus; mostly thanks

WIKIPROJECT COVID-19RAPID GROWTH

• Created by yours truly on March 15, 2020 (English Wikipedia)• Immediately joined by 30 participants• 50+ members within 24 hours• 100+ members by April 1• 150 members by April 20• 164 members, as of today (May 9)

WIKIPROJECT COVID-19STRUCTURE

• No stated goals, but in general, works to create and improve coverage of content related to the virus, disease, and ongoing pandemic at English Wikipedia

• Task forces focused on case counts, equipment, and translating

• Collaborations: Women in Red, WM Joint Support (WMUK + Wiki Project Med)

• 1,000+ articles; 2,250+ content/category/redirect/project pages; 4,400+ w/ talk pages

WIKIPROJECT COVID-19

Members built a framework,hung a barnstar,tagged related pages,assessed content,combatted misinformation,and started talk pagediscussions very quickly.

WIKIPROJECT COVID-19STRUCTURE + COLLABORATION

• Automatically generated reports: • article alerts, current events, traffic, bots, deaths

• Resources for improving content related to COVID

• Active talk page: share updates, ask questions, invite to assist w/ specific tasks

• Editors assess and discuss options, form a consensus, and divide and conquer!

WIKIPROJECT COVID-19OTHER WIKIMEDIA PROJECTS

• 14 similar projects in other languages

• Wikidata: WikiProject COVID-19• WikiProject India/COVID-19 task force

• SWASTHA (Sanskrit word for “health”) project works with experts to reduce misinformation in Indian languages

• Wikimedia Commons: WikiProject COVID-19 Graphics

WIKIPROJECT COVID-19INTERESTED? HELP US MAKE THE INTERNET BETTER!

• Thanks to WikiProject members (and non-members) for such great work!

• Visit WikiProject COVID-19 @ WP:COVID, or find banner on article talk pages

NON-MEDICAL COVERAGE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMICTEMPLATE:COVID-19 PANDEMIC

NON-MEDICAL COVERAGE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMICLOCATIONS

Typical framework for location-based articles:

• Timeline of cases• Government response• Economic and social impacts• entertainment, industries, politics, public

transit, school closures, sports, etc.

NON-MEDICAL COVERAGE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMICIMPACTS

Courtesy of yours truly: cannabis industry, LGBT community, public transport, social media, Wikipedia’s response

NON-MEDICAL COVERAGE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMICWHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

• Wide range of topics related to COVID-19

• Speak to the pandemic’s unprecedented impact across a variety of disciplines

• There are many ways to contribute to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects

• Be bold! And, of course, stay safe.

ATTRIBUTIONATTRIBUTION FOR CONTENT IN SCREENSHOTS AVAILABLE IN HISTORIES OF THE FOLLOWING WIKIMEDIA PAGES:

• Slide 3:• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pageviews_Analysis_2019–20_coronavirus_pandemic_24_March_2020.png

• Slides 5–6:• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_COVID-19

• Slide 6:• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_COVID-19

• Slide 7:• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:WP_1.0_bot/Tables/Project/COVID-19• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikiproject_viewership_march_2020.png• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_COVID-19/Participants

• Slide 8:• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_COVID-19/Hot_articles

• Slide 9:• https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q87748614

• Slide 10:• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COVID-19_barnstar.png• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:COVID-19_Barnstar.png

• Slide 11–13:• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:COVID-19_pandemic

Jason MooreUser:Another Believer