Wikipedia talk:Michigan Wikipedians/Archives/2013

Potential Backstage Pass event at the Ford Presidential Library
Would any of the Michigan Wikipedian be interested in a Backstage Pass event at the Ford Presidential Library? This could be a really cool way to get to learn more about the Ford and further develop our club's ties with them as well as the larger university/Ann Arbor community. Scheduling could be an issue, however, as Bettina mentioned they would prefer to host it during the day. She also suggested the possibility of hosting it on a Saturday. Any thoughts? Thanks! Michael Barera (talk) 02:22, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

Plans in the works for our edit-a-thon at the Ford Presidential Library
Alright everyone, I'm working on planning for our edit-a-thon at the Ford Presidential Library. I've essentially secured a 5-7pm block at the Library (in the conference room, no less, where food is allowed), but we haven't yet decided on a date, so I'm hoping I can get some suggestions from you. Anyway, this is starting to take form, but it is still in its nascent stages, so don't get too excited about it yet. Take care! Michael Barera (talk) 16:49, 25 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Quick update: the Library is now looking at the 5-8pm block on Thursday, February 7th. Does this work for the club? Michael Barera (talk) 17:41, 25 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Excellent. That seems like a good time to me, at least.    A rbitrarily 0    ( talk ) 19:09, 26 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Very good. I can't wait for the edit-a-thon! Michael Barera (talk) 20:07, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

Alright, the edit-a-thon is official now! It will be Thursday, February 7 from 5-7pm in the Ford Library (in "Classroom A/B", I believe: it is on the main level to your right when you walk in the front doors). Pizza and soft drinks have been confirmed (and rumor has it in-house GRF cookies will also be served), so now the major question is how many people will show up. I know we've already sent e-mails to the Michigan Wikipedians and School of Information listservs, and I've also applied for a "Geonotice" and dropped a suggestion for a mention in The Signpost. We could use a few things before next Thursday, however, including name tags, print versions of Cheatsheet, and Wikipedia shirts/buttons/something else if we have anything like that left. I'm sure we'll stay in contact about these kinds of preparations over the next few days. Anyway, have a great weekend! Michael Barera (talk) 22:08, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Great! I can print out cheat sheets, and I think I have some old Wikipedia pins that I can bring.    A rbitrarily 0    ( talk ) 19:32, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I have submitted a flier for the Shapiro Screens.   A rbitrarily 0    ( talk ) 19:58, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I'll make sure to bring our extra (extra-large) t-shirts, too! :) Pixor (talk) 21:48, 5 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Great: if you've got the cheatsheats, pins, and t-shirts covered, I'll be sure to bring a bunch of nametags! Michael Barera (talk) 00:10, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

Seemed like it was a great success! Will any photographs of the event make it to Commons?   A rbitrarily 0   ( talk ) 01:05, 8 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Oh, I knew I forgot something! We'll have to ask those who took photos if they'd be willing to release (at least some of) them under a free license. Michael Barera (talk) 02:53, 8 February 2013 (UTC)


 * ✅: check out the category! Michael Barera (talk) 02:30, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

Help U-M School of Information update its entry
UMSI is looking for help from Michigan Wikipedians to update our Wikipedia page, which is woefully out of date/inaccurate. We'd sucker Michael Barera into doing this, as he has intimate knowledge of the school for obvious reasons, but we're a little concerned about conflict of interest. (Otherwise, we'd do it ourselves.) Anyone interested in taking this on as a project? I don't think it would require too many changes, and we could provide citations/source materials/images/etc. as needed. Full disclosure: I head up marketing and PR for the school. Gbits (talk) 18:00, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

AIDS spoken version
CaseyPenk (talk) 18:40, 31 July 2013 (UTC)


 * We recorded that article as a group about a year and a half ago, but I'm not sure what happened to the audio file as I was not coordinating the effort. Sorry I can't be more helpful. Michael Barera (talk) 21:15, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Edit-a-thon for Ramona Park in West Michigan
Hello Michigan Wikipedians-

I am working with the East Grand Rapids MI Public Library as they embark on a GLAM project. We are planning an edit-a-thon for October 19 in the afternoon, to improve Ramona Park.

East Grand Rapids was the home to Ramona Park and to the Jack Rabbit Derby Racer. The Library is home to a local history room - a room filled to the ceiling with memorabilia, photos and artifacts from Ramona Park.

The plan is to upload some of this material via Commons (hopefully before the edit-a-thon - coincidentally during Wikipedia Loves Libraries month).

One problem - there are few locally evident Wikipedia editors to actually show up at the library for an edit-a-thon.

Do you think any of you might want to come over? We can do a back-stage pass, the edit-athon, plus there is a possibility of a cool tee-shirt donated by the library, too!

Also dinner will be provided (at a restaurant of your choosing), and if you need to stay over, I can provide overnight housing and breakfast - the only thing I can't do is drive over to pick you up (*_*)

I might be able to provide you/this project with a preview of the historical materials - it seems to me there might be more than one article to create.

We'd welcome anyone who wants to remote in, too....

Also I've come up with a DYK candidate: Did you know that President Gerald Ford worked at Ramona Park, home to one of three derby racers in the US? (The Ford part is true, not quite sure of the derby racer stat, though!)

Thanks for your consideration, as ever, Bdcousineau (talk) 00:18, 9 September 2013 (UTC)

Monday, September 23 meeting
Our weekly meeting today consisted primarily of outreach efforts, trying to recruit Michigan-affiliated Wikipedians to the Michigan Wikipedians club by substituting this template to their user talk pages. We also discussed strategies for recruiting members at the University of Michigan. Michael Barera (talk) 00:57, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

For next week, we will be conducting a role call of our members in order to ascertain whether or not each individual member is still active and a member of the project. Non-active members will be moved to an "inactive" section of the members list, although the amount of time given for responding to the message has not yet been set. Michael Barera (talk) 01:06, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

Many thanks for the invitation! I will try to get to the September 30 meeting. Kestenbaum (talk) 03:19, 24 September 2013 (UTC)


 * It is good to hear from you, Kestenbaum. We're looking forward to seeing you in person soon, hopefully on September 30! Michael Barera (talk) 03:58, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Seminar series
Opening a discussion for creating an introductory series to the Wikimedia projects. First seminar to be on 2013 October 28, in the regular meeting location. To do: (1) name first seminar, (2) create flier, (3) promote.   A rbitrarily 0   ( talk ) 01:04, 8 October 2013 (UTC)


 * Regarding names, what about something like "Wikipedia Workshop Series" or "Step-by-Step with Wikipedia"? Just thoughts at this point... Michael Barera (talk) 04:12, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia Workshop Series sounds good as an overall series name. I suppose we should also name the first talk.  Perhaps something like "Making your first edit".  Lessons could be creating an account, navigating Wikipedia, why editing is good, making an edit (via visual editor and/or wikitext), and/or anything else.    A rbitrarily 0    ( talk ) 12:35, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

A quick note on archiving
It appears that the MiszaBots are currently down, which means that there isn't (currently) regular bot archiving of talk pages. Hopefully, this is resolved soon, but I just wanted to make sure all the Michigan Wikipedians are aware of this. Michael Barera (talk) 02:26, 10 October 2013 (UTC)

Restoring Patrick Elkins page for Arborwiki?
Hi, I understand that once upon a time there was a page for Patrick Elkins

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Patrick_Elkins

that was deleted by Wikipedia but which is notable enough for Arborwiki. How do I reconstruct the page so I can copy out the good bits? Thanks! Edward Vielmetti (talk) 18:56, 10 October 2013 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure: I don't know how to do it, at least. Is ability to view deleted content an administrator privilege? Michael Barera (talk) 03:14, 11 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi Edward. Sent a revision of the page to the email address connected to your Wikipedia account.  Regards,    A rbitrarily 0    ( talk ) 00:50, 12 October 2013 (UTC)