wikipedia basics
DESCRIPTION
Presentation given by Paul Wilkinson at CIPR HQ in London on 21 June 2012 (part of CIPR 'social summer' season). Paul defines Wikis, looks at other Wiki projects before focusing on Wikipedia. He covers the Five Pillars, and core content policies before briefly describing the CIPR Wikipedia guidance and then looking at the editing interface.TRANSCRIPT
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CIPR Social Summer #ciprsm, 21 June 2012
Wikipedia 101: The basics
by Paul Wilkinson (@EEPaul)BA PhD, DipPR, FCIPR
CIPR Approved Trainer
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Welcome and introductions
Wikis and Wikimedia projects
What is Wikipedia?
The Five Pillars of Wikipedia
The Core Content Policies
The CIPR Wikipedia best practice guidelines
Editing Wikipedia
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Introductions
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Wiki
… a website which allows its users to add, modify, or delete its content via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a rich-text editor
First Wiki created in 1994 by Ward Cunningham
Wiki = Hawaiian for "fast" or "quick"
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Wikiprojects
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What is Wikipedia?
a free, collaboratively edited and multilingual Internet encyclopedia
supported by the Wikimedia Foundation 22 million articles c. 100,000 regularly active contributors launched in January 2001 by Jimmy
Wales and Larry Sanger runs on free, open source software
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Wikipedia in numbers
How many Wikipedias? 285
Global ranking on internet? 6th
Estimated number of readers? 365m
Total pageviews per month? 12bn
Articles in English edition 3.98m
Pageviews in USA per month? 2.8bn
Pageviews in UK per month? 632m
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Wikipedia in numbers
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The Five Pillars of Wikipedia
1. Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia
It is not a soapbox, an advertising platform, a vanity press, an experiment in anarchy or democracy, an indiscriminate collection of information, or a web directory.
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The Five Pillars of Wikipedia
2. Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view
… explain the major points in a balanced and impartial manner... strive for verifiable accuracy... cite verifiable, authoritative sources ...
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The Five Pillars of Wikipedia
3. Wikipedia is free content that anyone can edit, use, modify, and distribute
Respect copyright laws ... do not plagiarize sources … no editor owns any article ... all contributions can and will be mercilessly edited and redistributed.
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The Five Pillars of Wikipedia
4. Editors should interact with each other in a respectful and civil manner
Respect and be polite ... Apply Wikipedia etiquette, avoid personal attacks and edit wars... Be open and welcoming, and assume good faith on the part of others.
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The Five Pillars of Wikipedia
5. Wikipedia does not have firm rules
Rules … are not carved in stone ... wording and interpretation are likely to change over time. Be bold (but not reckless) in updating articles ... do not worry about making mistakes.
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The Core Content Policies
Three principal core policies: neutral point of view verifiability no original research
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The Core Content Policies
1. neutral point of view
All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing significant views fairly, proportionately and without bias.
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The Core Content Policies
2. verifiability
Material challenged or likely to be challenged, and all quotations, must be attributed to a reliable, published source.
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The Core Content Policies
3. no original research
Wikipedia does not publish original thought: all material in Wikipedia must be attributable to a reliable, published source.
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Another important guideline
Notability
… a test used by editors to decide whether a topic can have its own article. Information on Wikipedia must be verifiable; if no reliable third-party sources can be found on a topic, then it should not have a separate article.
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The CIPR Wikipedia best practice guidelines
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The CIPR Wikipedia best practice guidelines
Augment: FSA, ABPI, etc CIPR code of conduct CIPR social media
guidance
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The CIPR Wikipedia best practice guidelines
Material in Wikipedia articles should be reference-quality information. Nothing else.
Besides the skills needed to write in that fashion, what is needed to participate successfully in the site is a set of social and collaborative talents.
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The CIPR Wikipedia best practice guidelines
Ask for help Operate within the system Be honest and open at all times. Understand the complaints system Be patient and reasonable Use good judgement Handle conflict of interest
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Guide to Conflict of Interest on Wikipedia
Subjects require significant coverage in independent reliable sources.
Your role is to inform and reference, not promote or sell. Write without bias, as if you don't work for the company or personally
know the subject. State facts and statistics, don't be vague or general. Take time to get sources and policy right and your content will last. Be transparent about your conflict of interest Get neutral, uninvolved, disinterested editors to review your content Work with the community and we'll work with you. Communicate, communicate, communicate.
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The CIPR Wikipedia best practice guidelines
Includes: A Step-by-Step Guide: How to improve
articles Dos Don'ts
To be published c. 27 June 2012
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Editing Wikipedia
Create user account (username policy)
Add some detail to your user page
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Editing Wikipedia
Create user account (username policy)
Add some detail to your user page
Each user also has a talk page
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Editing Wikipedia
Create user account (username policy)
Add some detail to your user page
Each user also has ...
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Practice drafting, editing here
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Set how you wantWikipedia interfaceto work
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Editing Wikipedia
Even a long watchlistdoesn't alwayshighlight lots of edits
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Your user contributionsare all viewable by otherWikipedia users
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Example article
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Editing example article
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Summariseyour editsbefore saving
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Revision historyalso gives accessto other useful data
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Contributors,User edits,No. of watchers- all helpful in identifying editors
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Number of views ofrecently createdexample article
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Editing
CIPR guide User Edit/save Discuss
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CIPR Social Summer #ciprsm, 21 June 2012
Thank you
Contact: Paul WilkinsonWebsite: www.pwcom.co.uk
Blog: www.blog.pwcom.co.ukEmail: [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0)20 8858 1104mob: 07788 445920Twitter: @EEPaulWikipedia: Paul W