Wikipedia:Meetup/Dunedin/NZ prehistory

What's it about?
An edit-a-thon is an event where volunteer editors tackle a part of Wikipedia that needs improvement. Complete beginners are welcome; training and troubleshooting is provided. All you need to bring is a laptop!

This edit-a-thon is being hosted by Otago Museum, and run in conjunction with the Zoology Department of the University of Otago. It will focus on improving the coverage of New Zealand prehistory, especially fossil penguins, whales, moa, and the fossil deposits and species of the Saint Bathans Fauna. You don't need to be a zoologist to take part: anyone can help with editing, researching, proofreading, and adding photos.

When and where

 * Sun 28 April 2019, 10:30 am – 4:00 pm NZST
 * Skinner Annex, corner of Great King and Albany St, Otago Museum, Dunedin (map)
 * Wikipedians from anywhere in the world are of course welcome to join in remotely. Please feel free to hashtag edits with #nzprehistory and add yourselves to the participants list below.

Timetable
Introductions, name lanyards, and account creation if needed We'll learn how Wikipedia works and how to improve, create, and reference articles. Experienced editors present will be buddied up with newcomers. Our goal is to improve Wikipedia's coverage of NZ prehistory. You can improve existing articles, add information to Wikidata, or create stub articles for species missing from Wikipedia. A chance to go over any problems or questions you have as a group. Make sure you fill out an evaluation form and add your contributions to the list below.
 * 10.15: Meet and greet
 * 10.30: Wikipedia tutorial
 * 11.00: Editing
 * 12.30: Lunch/coffee break.
 * 14.00: Q&A tutorial
 * 13.30: Editing
 * 16.00: Finishing up

To attend

 * The Edit-a-thon is free and open to all, thanks to the support of Otago Museum and the Wikimedia Foundation.


 * This workshop will be following "friendly space" guidelines; check them out. Harassment and disruption won't be tolerated, online or offline.

Media

 * Use the link  if you want a short, shareable link to this page

In person
• Giantflightlessbirds

• Nic Rawlence

• Kimberley Collins

What to bring

 * Laptop and power cord. Laptops are definitely easier to edit on than iPads. The venue has good wifi. There may be a spare laptop for people to use, but bring your own computer if you can.
 * Any snacks or drink you want. There's a kitchen space in the building, and a light lunch, coffee, and tea are provided.
 * Any resources such as books, journals, magazine or newspaper articles relevant to articles you're interested in.
 * Photos you've taken or art that could illustrate articles; you'll learn how to donate these to Wikimedia Commons so other Wikipedia articles can use them.

Preparation

 * 1) If you're coming, try to create a Wikipedia account beforehand: don't wait until the day to do it! Here's a form you can use if you like. Creating an account makes editing much easier (here's more info on why you should). You'll need to pick a "handle" for your username; you could use your real name, but it's nice to have the option to be a bit anonymous if you want. Here's some advice on picking a username.
 * 2) The more you prepare, the more you'll be able to get done. You may want to read up on avoiding common mistakes, but Wikipedia has a "don't bite the newbies" policy, and we'll be there to troubleshoot.
 * 3) Have a think about topics you'd like to work on; do a little research first so you're prepared. You don't have to be an expert; anyone who can do library research and write clearly can help improve Wikipedia. The best candidates for Wikipedia articles are people, places, or things that are "notable". In Wikipedia terms, "notable" people are those who've been covered in a number of reliable independent sources, such as news, books, authoritative websites, or magazine interviews. If you're proposing to create to Wikipedia article it's important to make sure your subject is "notable"; talk to us if you're not sure – we can help.
 * 4) If you want to bring photos along and add them to Commons and Wikipedia, they need to be free of any copyright or released under a Creative Commons license that lets anyone use them. (What's Creative Commons?) If not, you must be the creator/copyright holder – ask us if you're not certain what's allowed, and we'll help.

Useful

 * How to edit pages using the Visual Editor: for when you click Edit

Resources

 * Hume, Julian P. (2nd. ed, 2017). Extinct Birds. Christopher Helm: London.

To improve

 * Saint Bathans: more on the town itself and its history would be nice; note that the correct name seems to be St Bathans, so we shold change the names of the town, fauna, and Commons categories (and create redirects)
 * Saint Bathans Fauna: photos of the excavation, gallery of species, up-to-date references and info
 * Manuherikia Group: cleanup and full names of palaeontologists, fuller faunal lists, links, photos
 * Lake Manuherikia: more about the palaeoenvironment drawn from the St Bathans excavations
 * Proapteryx: need a photo of bones and a reconstruction: approach palaeoartists?
 * Moa, Dinornis and other genera and each species listing.
 * Updated cladogram
 * Links to latest publications
 * Photos: Dinornis novaezealandiae could use a better photo!
 * References to use: NZ Birds Online, Tennyson NZ's Extinct Birds, Perry et al. 2014, Baker et al. 2104, Worthy and Scofield 2012, Huynen et al 2010, Rawlence et al 2009. There are lots of references to Brands' Taxonomicon, which seems to be a broken link, and to Grzimek (2003) which is now out of date. Better to add refs to NZ's Extinct Birds at least.
 * There's also boilerplate on each species (about flight etc) which doesn't need mentioning.

W: Checked and updated in Wikidata, P: Photo added or updated, NP: Needs photo.

To create

 * Wikipedia has very little about the Oligocene marine transgression of New Zealand. This is a major omission relevant to NZ paleontology. Even modest additions to existing relevant articles would be very valuable.

Outcomes

 * Wikidata items for, , and
 * Improved ,
 * Added references for all moa species to Wikidata
 * Added photo of St Bathans excavation to Commons, and requested OTRS permission for another
 * Improved Saint Bathans Fauna with more references and sections
 * Added photo and gallery to Saint Bathans

Media
We'll be taking photos for the record. If you don't want to be in a photo, just choose a red name lanyard; if you don't mind, pick a green one.

Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Nic Rawlence and Kane Fleury for helping organise this event, and the Wikimedia Foundation for supporting the New Zealand Wikipedian at Large project.