Wiki Competitions and Events

There are many ways that you, as an individual, can get involved with Wikipedia, Wikidata or any other Wikimedia project. 

1Lib1Ref

1Lib1Ref, abbreviated for one librarian, one reference, is a Wikipedia campaign that invites every librarian to improve articles by adding citations. It is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation and supported by the Wikipedia Library Team and Wikimedia affiliates around the world. It is important that information on Wikipedia is maintained, kept up-to-date and has reliable citations and references.

The goal is to add at least one citation to Wikipedia and any reference to a reliable source benefits Wikipedia and readers of Wikipedia across the globe. When adding a citation, make sure that in the edit summary you include the hashtag #1Lib1Ref. 

It runs every January 15th to February 5th and every May 15th to June 5th.

Wiki Loves Monuments

Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photo competition which takes part throughout the month of September every year and is supported by the Wikimedia Foundation. The aim is to crowdsource as many high quality, openly licensed photos as possible of scheduled monuments and listed buildings throughout the world.

In the UK, there will be prizes for the best photos of a site in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales as well as prizes for the best UK photos overall. The latter will then be put forward for international prizes.

We’ve got a great tool for you to use to upload your photos which includes an interactive map.

Blue pins on the map indicate monuments which already have a photo on Wikimedia Commons, whereas red pins indicate where they are missing. Select your town or city then wander around your local area and look for buildings or monuments with red pins. You can take photos on smartphones, tablets or cameras and then upload them by selecting the appropriate pin on the map and clicking upload. Make sure that you are logged into your Wikimedia Commons account and follow the basic instructions. Every photo uploaded via the interactive map will be entered into the Wiki Loves Monuments.

Art+Feminism

Art+Feminism is an intersectional feminist non-profit organization that directly addresses the information gap about gender, feminism, and the arts on the internet. Our work is centered on building an equitable global community striving to close the gaps in content and editorial representation on Wikipedia, ensuring that the histories of our lives and work are accessible and accurate. - Art+Feminism website.

Wikipedia has an issue with knowledge gaps and systemic bias. This is one of many organisations that seeks to address this issue and improve Wikipedia through a collective effort. 

They have run edit-a-thons and supported events at institutions such as the Tate, London and Afroleadership, Yaoundé. Everyone is welcome regardless of experience, gender and background.

Use your own expertise

As a student you are continually learning and assessing sources for reliability. This learning and access to resources can be put to good use when editing, adding to or maintaining information on Wikipedia. It is also is a way to have writing about your subject published and made available for others. Wikipedia is also a good way for you to write about or share reliable information on a topic, area or person you are passionate about. 

Lecturers also can use their access to resources, information and expertise to add to areas of Wikipedia and Wikidata that are lacking information. For example, Dr Chris Langley is working on mapping the Scottish reformation and he has been uploading the information he has found from manuscripts and other resources to Wikidata thus making this information accessible to everyone.

Contribute from home

For many of us, our usual work and hobbies have been disrupted by the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic. Wikipedia, among others, is a place to find something rewarding that you can do from home. There are lots of things to do, whether you're completely new to Wiki or an experienced editor.

Why do this? The great thing about doing some Wiki editing is that you're both gaining skills and putting something positive and helpful out into the world. In March 2020, 22,644,797,893 people viewed Wikipedia articles, so there's a huge audience with an appetite to learn!

© Ewan McAndrew and Hannah Rothmann, University of Edinburgh, 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0, unless otherwise indicated.