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Hidden Sheet

Guidelines for Workshop Trainers

  • This presentation is part of the beginners course introducing Wikipedia to new editors.
  • These working sheets lay the groundwork but should be adapted to suit the participant’s or trainer’s needs and knowledge.
  • Sheets that require personalised editing or deleting prior to the training will be highlighted through a red text box.
  • Important information on how to perform the training as well as methodical-didactic suggestions can be found in the accompanying procedure notes (Ablaufskript - in German only).
  • Hands-on exercises are marked with symbols. You will find further detailed information in the procedure notes.
  • The lecture notes in this presentation provide content information as well as photo credits and references.
  • Before presenting the training it’s advisable to print the procedure notes.
  • Basic information regarding the concept of the training and all supporting documents (preparation checklist, handouts, evaluation forms. etc.) can be found in the procedure notes and here: WP:TrainingsKit.

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Beginner course Editing Wikipedia – the basics

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Trainer

Name

User Name

Name

User Name

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Here you can add photos and descriptions of yourselves (you don’t have to mention your real name)

[delete this box afterwards]

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Agenda

XX – XX o’clock: What is Wikipedia?

XX – XX o’clock: Joining Wikipedia

XX – XX o’clock: Pause

XX – XX o’clock: Practice!

XX o’clock: End of workshop

Course contents:

  • How Wikipedia works
  • Most important rules for participating
  • How to create an account
  • How to edit articles
  • Where to find help

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By Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68632688

Please edit the time frames

[delete this box afterwards]

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Introductions

Please introduce yourselves briefly.

What do you hope to learn from this workshop?

Why are you here?

Have you got any experience editing Wikipedia?

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What is Wikipedia?

  • Online encyclopedia
  • Founded in 2001
  • One of the 10 most visited web pages in the world
  • Over 2.4 Million articles in German speaking Wikipedia, over 6 Million in the English Wikipedia

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What is the meaning of “encyclopedia”?

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Wikipedia is created and written by volunteers

  • Ca. 56.000 people do 800.000 edits per month.
  • But only ca. 8.500 volunteers are regularly and extensively active, showing a negative trend.
  • http://listen.hatnote.com/

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By Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62313305

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This is how Free Knowledge works in Germany

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Free Knowledge

Wikipedia

Wikimedia Commons

Wikivoyage

Wikidata

etc.

and

Wikimedia Deutschland – Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e. V.

supports

create

Volunteers

access

donate to support Free Knowledge

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What does Free Knowledge mean?

Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia, all content must stand under free license.

This means that the free use and redistribution of textual and media content is allowed without legal, social or technological restriction.

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So what does this mean for our editors?

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3 Ground rules

  • Always specify your references.
  • Don’t just copy a text structurally, re-write it in your own format
  • Identify direct quotations clearly.

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Doesn’t Wikipedia already contain everything?

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Von Poulpy - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19533017

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No, there’s still a lot to do!

  • Over 1 million types of insects
  • 700.000 asteroids
  • 10.000+ pages in need of revision and editing

… and of course there’s 2.3 Million articles that require regular updates.

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By Villy Fink Isaksen - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57718187

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Our To Do List

Women in Red

Bridge project of Kontor Hamburg

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Von Enter - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50901388

Here you can add pictures and descriptions to your most important projects, don’t forget the license notes [delete this box afterwards]

If not applicable, delete this sheet, if applicable, delete previous sheet.

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Porzellanmanufaktur Fürstenberg

Topic Industrial History & Culture - Glass and Porcelain

What we do today:

  • Digitalisation
  • Article workshop

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Here you can add a sheet that fits your class (e.g. women, GLAM, etc.) [delete this box afterwards]

If not applicable, delete sheet

Von Statuette Jean Desoche; Picture taken by Marcus Cyron - Picture taken by Marcus Cyron, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25733042

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Wikipedia’s surface: an article page

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Exercise for article page

Exercise 1 - Page History

Look at the page history of today's featured article

  • What information do you get?
  • Compare two versions. Write down your questions.

Exercise 2 - Talk page

Look at the respective talk page of article “Berlin” or “Merkel-Raute”.

  • Which topics are being discussed?
  • What function or purpose does the talk page have?

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Possibly alter article in exercise 1

[delete this box afterwards]

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Namespaces

Main Namespace / Articles

User namespace

User:

Help namespace

Help:

Wikipedia namespace

Wikipedia:

Talk namespaces

Talk:

and many more

File:

Template:

Category:

Portal:

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The unknown part of WIkipedia

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Search exercise

Search within the respective Namespace:

  • the user page of your trainer,
  • the help page of the page history,
  • the Wikipedia Mentorship program,
  • the Portal of your or some other city

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This exercise can be amended, e.g. to the place, the specific group or some other relevant topic

[delete this box afterwards]

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Let’s get started: Create an account

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Your User Account

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Break

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Editing an article - What does that mean?

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By Villy Fink Isaksen - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57718187

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To edit in Wikipedia can mean many things:

  • Correcting spelling and grammar
  • Correcting content related errors
  • Adding footnotes and references
  • Adding any missing information
  • Improving readability and flow
  • Adding pictures
  • Adding links
  • Further developing and extending existing articles
  • Creating new articles
  • And many more!

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Be bold!

  • You can’t break anything.
  • All changes can be reversed – this happens frequently and is nothing to worry about.

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By Isiwal/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70085393

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How do you edit an article?

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1. Identify possible edits

3. Preview and Summary

4. Publish

2. Edit

  • Is the edit adequate?
  • Is it necessary?
  • Check the talk page!
  • Follow the basic rules
  • „Show Preview“
  • Everything correct?
  • Always write a short summary: What changes did you make and why?
  • “Publish changes”
  • Or: “Cancel”

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Basic rules for Edits

No self researching

✅ Articles summarise what others have already published

✅ Always indicate your information with the correct source references

❌ Don’t jump to your own conclusions

Neutrality

✅ Consider all relevant perspectives

❌ No subjective opinions

Style

✅ Encyclopedic style (formal)

✅ Easy to understand

✅ Short and sweet

❌ No slang

❌ Unbiased and neutral

❌ No emotional descriptions

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Culture of Discussions

Sometimes the tone is a bit rough…

Sometimes edits by newbies are being deleted without a comment…

Don’t take it personally!

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Von Manfred Werner / Tsui - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4609132

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Practical Module I:

Editing an article

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Practical exercise a

Correct the spelling and grammar mistakes.

Revise the writing style, does it match an Encyclopedia?

Add Headings and Subheadings.

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Depending on the chosen articles (see procedure notes) you’ll have to adjust the exercise.

[delete this text field afterwards]

Delete this page if you don’t work with fictitious articles!

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Practical Exercise b

Read the article and think about what changes you would make. Make some notes.

Discuss in teams of two. (10 Min.)

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Possibly adjust this exercise.

[delete this box afterwards]

Delete this page in case you’re not working with a prior chosen article (option b)!

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Wikipedia: Reviewing pending changes

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Practical Module II:

Creating an article workshop

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Creating subpages within your user namespace

  • Click on the user name in the upper menu
  • Put „/Artikelwerkstatt“ into the URL bar of your browser and press Enter
  • Click „create“

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Practical excercise

Create a short, random text and try the following format options:

  • Bold, italic, underlined
  • Add different captions
  • Add links to Wiki pages
  • Add Footnotes

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Practical Module III:

Adding References

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Task a

Put the references from the text into footnotes.

Research relevant references and add them.

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Depending on the chosen articles (see procedural notes) you‘ll have to adjust the task.

[delete this box afterwards]

Delete this page in case you are not using ficticious articles!

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Task b

Add the given footnotes from the following references:

[Add references here]

(10 Min.)

Add. task for advanced users:

Research relevant references and add them.

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Possibly adjust the task and add sources.

[delete this box afterwards]

Delete this page in case you’re not working with a prior chosen article (option b)!

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Practical Module IV:

Communicating and discussing with Wikitext

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Where and how can I contact other editors?

Publicly visible:

Content related: article’s talk page

e.g. Talk:London

Other topics: user talk page

Not publicly visible:

Wikimail

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→ Important: Sign every post with

--~~~~

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Talk pages require Source Code

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''italics''

italics

'''bold'''

bold

[[Link to a different Wikipage]]

[[Link|different title]]

Add link to a different Wikipage

* Apples

* Pears

Create a list

--~~~~

User name plus date/time

:

Indent text

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Exercise

  • Write welcome messages on each other’s user talk pages. Try different formats. Reply to the messages.
  • Write a message onto your trainer’s user talk page or send a Wikimail.
  • Send a Wikimail to each other.

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Exercise:

Signing event pages

Open the following link and sign up by adding your signature to the list of attendees:

INSERT LINK

Sign up for the next Editing Meetup!

INSERT LINK

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Add the Link to the event page and possibly OE

[delete this box afterwards]

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Where to from here?

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Finding help

[Contact your trainer]

E-Mail address

Name

User Name

Asking questions

Wikipedia:Teahouse

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Teahouse

Help pages

Help:Contents

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents

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You can add your contact details here

[delete this box afterwards]

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Open Editing Meetups

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Join our Editing Meetups!

Every [4. Thursday of a month]

Von [17-20 Uhr]

Von Die Geduldige (Urheber_in) - Eigenes Werk (Originaltext: Selbst erstellt), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66033591

Add your event dates here

[delete this box afterwards]

Delete slide if not applicable

Add a picture of your event or community space here, don’t forget the license information [delete this box afterwards]

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More of our Events

[You can inform about regular meetups or future events here, f.e. Wikipedia:Treffen. Otherwise delete this slide.]

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You can add further events and meetings here - [delete this box afterwards]

Delete slide if not applicable

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Participate Online:

Find articles, that you can edit (German only):

https://tools.wmflabs.org/mitmachen/

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Learn more

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Questions?

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Feedback round

How did you like this course?

What is your take-away?

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💡

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Evaluation

Please take three minutes and fill in our evaluation form.

This will help us to improve our Introduction courses. Thank you!

[INSERT LINK TO THE FORM HERE]

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Important: Create your own copy of the evaluation form and replace the link here, otherwise you won’t have direct access to the result.

[delete this box afterwards]

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THANK YOU!

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E-Mail adress

Name

User Name

You can add your contact details here [delete this box afterwards]