GLAM/Newsletter/June 2025/Contents/New Zealand report

This Month in GLAM – Volume XV, Issue VI, June 2025

Normal version • Single page version

New Zealand report

Wikifying the International Congress of History of Science and Technology; Librarians and Wikipedia; NZ species edit-a-thons

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Wikifying the International Congress of History of Science and Technology

At the beginning of July, Tamsin Braisher and Mike Dickison spent a week as official Wikimedians in Residence at the International Congress of History of Science and Technology, a hybrid in-person and virtual event with more than 450 in-person attendees.

Using a basic photo booth setup with a small LED light on a tripod reflected off the back of a conference banner, they photographed participants for Wikimedia Commons, attaching those photos to people's entries in Wikidata and Wikipedia pages. One or both Wikimedians staffed a table, where they walked people through creating or improving their ORCID profiles, checked Wikipedia articles about researchers or their areas of interest, and explained how Wikipedia worked. There were excellent conversations with researchers wanting to know about students editing Wikipedia as a classroom assignment, how they can improve inaccurate or out-of-date Wikipedia articles, and different ways they could use Wikidata to enhance their research projects. The Wikimedians also attended some of the presentations, which identified several topics that could be the basis for Wikipedia collaborations between researchers and the editing communities in their own countries.

The Wikimedians interviewed Barbara Hof (User:STANDPROFILE), a historian who has also been an editor since 2009, about her project improving the Wikipedia article science diplomacy, a great example of a Wikipedia editor and subject experts working together. During the event Mike took sketchnotes on an atrium whiteboard to let attendees see what the Wikimedians were up to; for a detailed log of everything achieved, see Wikifying the ICHST. This was the third event in Tamsin and Mike's Wikifying a conference series, and they now look forward to writing a guide to wikifying conferences for other Wikimedians.

Headshots from the ICHST
Erika Milam
Penelope Hardy
Johannes Mattes
Ruth Barton
Malcolm Rutherford
Adam Sundberg
Edwin Rose
Pascal Marichalar

Librarians and Wikipedia: An Ideal Information Partnership

Auckland Museum Librarians Madison Pine and Bethany Gwynne have been learning about how they can use their library expertise to contribute to the Wikimedia movement. Read more about their experiences as new editors in the June issue of Te Rau Ora Library Life magazine (page 25).

Next month Auckland Museum will be hosting Women in Wartime, an event supporting the international Women in Red movement, spotlighting those who shaped Aotearoa New Zealand’s wartime history.

New Zealand Species Edit-a-thons

Over two Saturdays in August, experienced editors in Wellington will be running Wikipedia edit-a-thons to create and improve articles focused on Aotearoa New Zealand's unique native flora and fauna. All are welcome to contribute to this effort. For those that wish to attend in person bookings are required with a koha of $5 each day attended. The events will be held on Saturday the 2nd & Saturday the 9th of August 2025 at Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush, Wellington.
Book at events.humanitix.com/nz-species-editathon-wellington

The organisers would like to encourage anyone interested in expanding New Zealand species articles in any language Wikipedia to contribute.

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