Wikipedia:Meetup/Barrytown/1

What's a Wikiblitz?
A Wikiblitz is a type of Edit-a-thon where volunteer Wikipedia editors come together to tackle one particular task: improving a single article, fixing a whole category of pages, or uploading a whole photo collection. They partner with local experts who may not be Wikipedia editors but have knowledge, relevant publications, and photographs they're happy to donate.

Why Barrytown?
Barrytown is a tiny settlement north of Greymouth on the West Coast, nestled on the Barrytown Flats between forested hills and the wild Tasman Sea. The Flats have been the proposed site of controversial ilmenite mining for decades, and in the hills behind the settlement is the only breeding colony of the Westland petrel. Barrytown has a rich Māori and settler history, but is almost non-existent on Wikipedia. Our goal is to change that.

When and where: Wikiblitz

 * Saturday 5 February (Waitangi weekend) 2022, 09:00–17:00 NZDT
 * Online: Whereby online meeting room link
 * Chat: Wikimedia Aotearoa chat room (need to create an account, see https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Chat) (can't figure out how to register for a new account!)

Timetable

 * 09:00 — Introductions and getting started
 * 12:00 — Lunchtime reconvening. Any problems? People work together in breakout rooms to solve them.
 * 16:30 — Wrap-up meeting. Log all that we've achieved, make plans for the next step.

When and where: follow-up

 * Friday and Saturday 3–4 June 2022: Mike visited Barrytown and took photos of Conservation Volunteers, Barrytown buldings, the cemetery, and nearby tracks.
 * Sunday 5 June 2022, 11:30–12:00 NZDT: catchup of Wikipedians Online: Whereby online meeting room link Wikipedians who have been contributing to the Barrytown Wikiblitz are invited to meet before the Aotearoa Wiki Meeting and discuss next steps.

To attend
The Edit-a-thon is free and open to all. There will be two main sorts of attendee:


 * 1) Experienced Wikipedia editors to handle the actual page creation, expansion, and improvement.
 * 2) Anyone with expertise and experience, who can supply published references or scrapbooks (Wikipedia is a summary of already-published sources). Information can be shared via a public Dropbox.

The focus of the event will be on writing better content for the page and backing it up with good references. We will work collaboratively, trying to improve articles as much as we can over the course of the day – researchers, experts, and writers can draft text while Wikipedians publish it, add references, and upload photos.

COVID-19
When the West Coast shifted to a Red traffic light status on 24 January, the event was made online only. We've been working with locals to obtain photo donations, news stories and clippings, and any other resources. As the Omicron wave has receded, we will run a follow-up site visit (though not a full edit-a-thon) and online meetup.

Wikipedians taking part
• Giantflightlessbirds

• Marshelec (talk)

• David Nind

• Ambrosia10

• Oronsay (talk)

• did some editing after the event - Pakoire (talk)

Preparation
We need two sorts of resources on the day: If you want to add photos to Commons so they can be used in Wikipedia, they'll need to be free of any copyright (pre-1945, in NZ) or released under a Creative Commons license that lets anyone use them (if you're not familiar with Creative Commons, see Useful Links below). To apply a Creative Commons licence you need to be the copyright owner: usually, this means you took the photo (not that you own the photo or you're in the photo). If you've taken photos and are happy to donate them, great! Mike (mike.dickison@westlib.co.nz) can help with the Creative Commons licensing. If you know of anyone who has good photos, approach them and ask them if they'd like their work to be seen and used by people all over the world (credited, of course).
 * Photos you've taken that could illustrate articles.
 * Sources that could be cited in Wikipedia: books, newspaper stories, magazine articles, and official publications. Wikipedia is entirely made of summaries of reliable published sources.

Useful links

 * Public Dropbox of Barrytown photos and publications. These publications are made available for research and private study and will be deleted after the event.

Barrytown Flats

 * Park, Geoff (1995). Ngā Uruora: The Groves of Life - Ecology & History in a New Zealand Landscape. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 9780864732910. (Excerpt in Dropbox)
 * (Oct–Nov 1998). Paparoa: the turbulent coast. New Zealand Geographic. 040.
 * (Oct–Nov 1998). Paparoa: the turbulent coast. New Zealand Geographic. 040.

Westland Petrel / Tāiko

 * West Coast Penguin Trust research page – includes sources on Westland Petrel
 * Westland Petrel in NZ Birds Online

General

 * This workshop will be following "friendly space" guidelines; check them out. All attendees are expected to understand and abide by the Draft Universal Code of Conduct for the Wikimedia Movement.
 * The main English Wikipedia Help page is here. It has links on how to edit a page, contributing to Wikipedia, an introductory tutorial, and "getting started".

Articles to improve
It seems likely that with some preparation we could get one or more of these articles to Good Article status; Westland petrel could well get to Featured Article, as there's plenty published on the species.

We'll nominate new or significantly-expanded articles for Did You Know? on the Wikipedia home page.
 * 1) Westland petrel
 * 2) Barrytown
 * 3) Barrytown Flats

Outcomes

 * Barrytown Flats article created
 * Westland petrel article - some significant improvements made on the day, with lots more sources to follow up and include. Extensive further improvements made in the following days
 * Uploaded Maye Dunn photos of Barrytown

To follow up

 * Approach Grey Star about running a story on the history of the Barrytown Hall with Roger Ewer
 * Ask Maye Dunn about 1957 aerial photos copyright
 * Blog Maye Dunn story on Digital Westland, and get her copyright clearance for Cargill photo
 * George Langridge clearance for school fire photo
 * Maher Swamp section in Barrytown Flats, with Marshall news story
 * Conservation Volunteers photos to licence
 * Robyn Langridge clearance for two photos
 * Kate Simister follow up re Westland Petrel photos and refs
 * Waiwhera/Buckley's/Canoe Creek photos from History House
 * Lew Wright West of the Alps – Hokitika Museum
 * Falla 1946 descriotion of Westland Petrel from Records of the Canterbury Museum — uploaded to public dropbox
 * The Merchant of the Zeehaen (Te Papa Press) on Tasman's first sighting of NZ — interloaned
 * Photos required:
 * Barrytown Settlers Hall: front in from outside, inside photos
 * All Nations Barrytown: from the front, and inside as well
 * Barrytown School
 * Barrytown Cemetery
 * All the creeks on Barrytown Flats
 * 17 Mile Bluff and Razorback Point
 * Nikau Reserve and other scenic reserves

Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the people of Barrytown for offering information and support. This Wikiblitz is supported by the Westland District Library, the West Coast Technology Education Trust and the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board.