ToFF Loves Wikipedia

American Libraries, Tue, 11/01/2011

Libraries Tap into Crowd Power

The notion that a group of people with varying opinions, when aggregated, can result in better information than a specific expert could come up with—aka “crowdsourcing”—has been around for some time. It’s one of the ideas on which the 10-year-old Wikipedia is based. So it seemed only natural when one of the most-consulted websites in the world recently posted a ubiquitous banner stating WIKIPEDIA LOVES LIBRARIES. What has resulted is nationwide “editathons”—editing marathons organized by active Wikipedia users to expand and add depth to the website’s content on a wide range of cultural and historical topics.

Charles Stewart imparting at ToFF wiki workshop.

At the Tom of Finland Foundation Library in Los Angeles on October 30, the “Queering Wikipedia Editathon” drew community activists, library school students, and members of the Foundation to create and update LGBT-related articles. Katie Herzog, director of the Molesworth Institute, helped put the event together and told AL that the meeting inspired dialogue about Gay history and generated an increased interest in activism for citizen-created content. “Everyone left feeling like it was the first of many to come,” she said.

By Sanhita SinhaRoy, Asscoiate Editor

COMPLETE ARTICLE

ToFF thanks Katie, Charles and Toni for making the wiki world – our world – a better place.

TOM OF FINLAND in Wikipedia

Published: 1st November 2011

Categorised in: For the Record, Friends of Tom