WIKIPROJECT COVID-19 AND WIKIPEDIA'S NON- MEDICAL COVERAGE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC JASON MOORE (USER:ANOTHER BELIEVER) SYMPOSIUM ON WIKIPEDIA AND COVID-19 MAY 9, 2020 INTRODUCTION USER: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-19 IN 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-19 WIKIPROJECT: “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-19 RAPID 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-19 STRUCTURE • 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 Members built a framework, hung a barnstar, tagged related pages, assessed content, combatted misinformation, and started talk page discussions very quickly. WIKIPROJECT COVID-19 WIKIPROJECT COVID-19 STRUCTURE + 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-19 OTHER 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-19 INTERESTED? 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 PANDEMIC TEMPLATE:COVID-19 PANDEMIC NON-MEDICAL COVERAGE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC LOCATIONS 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 PANDEMIC IMPACTS Courtesy of yours truly: cannabis industry, LGBT community, public transport, social media, Wikipedia’s response NON-MEDICAL COVERAGE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC WHAT 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. ATTRIBUTION ATTRIBUTION 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 Jason Moore • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:COVID-19_Barnstar.png • Slide 11–13: User:Another Believer • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:COVID-19_pandemic .