constance_chlore
Active Member
Lately I've been starting new Wikipedia articles on Edmonton-related subjects and trying to improve existing ones. Some of the articles I've created:
Why invest time into improving Wikipedia? Well, I think there is something to the slightly romantic notion of Wikipedia as a bulwark against a rising tide of disinformation. Given the breadth of its coverage—which is beyond just about any other reference in the existence of humanity—I find it shocking how well its governance and internal mechanisms have worked in ensuring accuracy. And there's no doubt that it has an influence. For a lot of people, Wikipedia is still the first place they go to when they want to learn about a topic, and there's reasonably strong experimental evidence that even experts in a subject will go to it as a reference.
For me, there’s also this sense that we need to shift how Edmonton is perceived. People come here to buy (relatively) cheap houses rather than because they’re attracted to the culture or history, which to be frank the city and its residents are really quite bad at showcasing. I don't know that our reputation has shifted that much since Mordecai Richler came to town in the 80s. I think this is a detrimental situation. I don’t have any illusions that someone is going to up and move to Edmonton (or stay here, if they were raised here) because of a few things they read online, but I do think people can be nudged towards giving the city a bit more consideration. This idea is a bit dicey, in that Wikipedia does strictly require that articles themselves be written neutrally rather than from a position of advocacy. In this case, I try to write the articles from a strictly factual perspective but choose subjects to showcase things that I think are interesting and distinctive.
For anyone who wants to contribute, the most important things are to get a sense of Wikipedia’s formatting and standards on how to reference information, which you can learn about here. I’m also glad to help with the learning curve. For anyone who wants to contribute but doesn’t want to learn all that, one useful thing you could do is to take photos to accompany Edmonton-related articles that don’t have them already.
- Conor McNally—Métis documentary filmmaker
- Bistro Praha—iconic Czech restaurant
- PIQSIQ—Inuit throat-singing duo (one of its members lives in Edmonton, although I didn't work that into the article)
- Marguerite-A. Primeau—Franco-Albertan novelist
- Carol Bélanger—city architect
- Arlo Maverick—hip-hop artist
- Mouraine—hip-hop artist
- Chubby Cree—hand drum duo
- La fille du facteur—theatrical work by an Edmontonian writer
- 100 Street Funicular—can you believe this didn't have an article yet?
Why invest time into improving Wikipedia? Well, I think there is something to the slightly romantic notion of Wikipedia as a bulwark against a rising tide of disinformation. Given the breadth of its coverage—which is beyond just about any other reference in the existence of humanity—I find it shocking how well its governance and internal mechanisms have worked in ensuring accuracy. And there's no doubt that it has an influence. For a lot of people, Wikipedia is still the first place they go to when they want to learn about a topic, and there's reasonably strong experimental evidence that even experts in a subject will go to it as a reference.
For me, there’s also this sense that we need to shift how Edmonton is perceived. People come here to buy (relatively) cheap houses rather than because they’re attracted to the culture or history, which to be frank the city and its residents are really quite bad at showcasing. I don't know that our reputation has shifted that much since Mordecai Richler came to town in the 80s. I think this is a detrimental situation. I don’t have any illusions that someone is going to up and move to Edmonton (or stay here, if they were raised here) because of a few things they read online, but I do think people can be nudged towards giving the city a bit more consideration. This idea is a bit dicey, in that Wikipedia does strictly require that articles themselves be written neutrally rather than from a position of advocacy. In this case, I try to write the articles from a strictly factual perspective but choose subjects to showcase things that I think are interesting and distinctive.
For anyone who wants to contribute, the most important things are to get a sense of Wikipedia’s formatting and standards on how to reference information, which you can learn about here. I’m also glad to help with the learning curve. For anyone who wants to contribute but doesn’t want to learn all that, one useful thing you could do is to take photos to accompany Edmonton-related articles that don’t have them already.
Experimental Soundscape: "Northern Pulse"
