GLAM/Newsletter/July 2026/Contents/New Zealand report
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Launch of Wikifying a Conference handbook; Wikipedia Workshop at Te Toi Uku
Wikifying a Conference handbook launched at Wikimania
Are you a Wikipedian who sometimes attends conferences, festivals or events? Tamsin Braisher (DrThneed) and Mike Dickison (Giantflightlessbirds) have written a handbook on how to "wikify" events as a Wikimedian in Residence. Containing lots of tips and tricks for engaging with researchers and the general public, Tamsin and Mike hope the book will make this kind of outreach easier for Wikimedians to try. It is based on their experience "wikifying" three events in 2025, supported by a WMF rapid grant, and topics covered include advance planning and liaison with the conference organisers, how to set up a Wikimedian desk and photography station during the event, and the follow-up image uploading and Wikidata cleaning using OpenRefine.
The book was launched in Paris during Wikimania, with a poster, and Tamsin handing out copies of the book and flyers linking to the pdf on Commons. See the book's project page on Meta for more information and to download a copy.
How to Vandalise Wikipedia
As part of the annual Dunedin Science Festival, Giantflightlessbirds gave a public talk called How to Vandalise Wikipedia. Despite the title, this was a light-hearted introduction to the mechanics of Wikipedia, including vandalism patrol, Talk and View History pages, page protection, and some short-lived (and long-lived) Wikipedia hoaxes, including the notorious story of a young New Zealand farmer who became a character in a board game about Japanese monsters, thanks to undetected vandalism. The talk was free, but attendees donated hundreds of dollars to Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand.
Wikipedia Workshop at Te Toi Uku Crown Lynn & Clayworks Museum
On Saturday 18 July, a Wikipedia Workshop was held at Te Toi Uku Crown Lynn & Clayworks Museum. Attendees enjoyed a tour of the museum which covered the early industrial history of West Auckland to the iconic story of Crown Lynn Potteries. They even got to walk inside the newly reopened heritage kiln on site.
The Wikipedia workshop encouraged new and experienced editors to focus on enriching Wikipedia content relating to local West Auckland ceramics history. Edits were made on a variety of pages including Crown Lynn, Dave Jenkin, Frank Carpay, Mirek Smisek, Ernest Shufflebotham, Rice Owen Clark, Tom Clark (industralist), Briar Gardner & Luke Adam Pottery. New articles, Daniel Steenstra and Crum Brick, Tile and Pottery Company were created too!
