Wikipedia talk:WikiProject West Midlands/Archive 3

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Birmingham Social Media Surgeries

Project members may be interested in the monthly Birmingham Social Media Surgeries, where volunteers (I'm one) teach people from community and voluntary organisations the skills needed to use a number of 'social media' tools, including blogs/ Wordpress, Twitter, Facebook and wikis like OpenStreetMap and Wikipedia. The article on Brandwood End Cemetery was created at the February surgery. The next event is on 9 March. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 21:13, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

West Midlands bus route AfD's

Several bus routes in the West Midlands have been nominated at AfD.

Comments are welcome! Jeni (talk) 23:00, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

And another batch in a single AfD here, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/West Midlands bus route 1 (Birmingham). Jeni (talk) 00:02, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

Elan aqueduct

Anyone fancy plotting the route of the Elan Aqueduct as a series of PoIs? Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 15:11, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Councils vs Places

UK Local Authorities are inherently notable. Yet many council names (e.g. Coventry City Council) are currently redirects to articles about places; which are not the same thing at all. I feel we should do the same for all authorities which don't at the moment have their own articles. For example, I recently split Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council out from Metropolitan Borough of Walsall (please feel free to improve it). I started a discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Politics of the United Kingdom#Councils vs Places; what are your thoughts? Can we start by making articles on the remaining WM councils? Birmingham City Council is a good example. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 11:53, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals/Birmingham

FYI, there is an effort to create a WikiProject for the city in England, under the name "WikiProject Birmingham", see Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals/Birmingham. 76.66.193.224 (talk) 01:53, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Proposed renaming of sub-categories of Category:West Midlands (county)

I have proposed that 48 of the sub-categories of Category:West Midlands (county) should be renamed to use the "(county)" disambiguator.

If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at the category's entry on the Categories for discussion page. Thank you. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 23:09, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

Portal:Cheshire

The Cheshire portal has been nominated for Featured Portal status. To join the discussion, visit Wikipedia:Featured portal candidates/Portal:Cheshire. Espresso Addict (talk) 23:08, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

West Midlands articles have been selected for the Wikipedia 0.8 release

Version 0.8 is a collection of Wikipedia articles selected by the Wikipedia 1.0 team for offline release on USB key, DVD and mobile phone. Articles were selected based on their assessed importance and quality, then article versions (revisionIDs) were chosen for trustworthiness (freedom from vandalism) using an adaptation of the WikiTrust algorithm.

We would like to ask you to review the West Midlands articles and revisionIDs we have chosen. Selected articles are marked with a diamond symbol (♦) to the right of each article, and this symbol links to the selected version of each article. If you believe we have included or excluded articles inappropriately, please contact us at Wikipedia talk:Version 0.8 with the details. You may wish to look at your WikiProject's articles with cleanup tags and try to improve any that need work; if you do, please give us the new revisionID at Wikipedia talk:Version 0.8. We would like to complete this consultation period by midnight UTC on Monday, October 11th.

We have greatly streamlined the process since the Version 0.7 release, so we aim to have the collection ready for distribution by the end of October, 2010. As a result, we are planning to distribute the collection much more widely, while continuing to work with groups such as One Laptop per Child and Wikipedia for Schools to extend the reach of Wikipedia worldwide. Please help us, with your WikiProject's feedback!

For the Wikipedia 1.0 editorial team, SelectionBot 23:50, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Birmingham Airport

The usage of Birmingham Airport is up for discussion, see Talk:Birmingham Airport, West Midlands . 65.94.44.124 (talk) 05:53, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Templates for discussion

The WP:TFD of {{West Midlands railway stations (disused)}} was inconclusive, and it has been relisted. Your comments are invited there. --Redrose64 (talk) 20:23, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

$500m loss

Discussing the losses of Midland Bank would be helpful. Fr example, what was the investment strategy that led to the loss? `98.237.228.176 (talk) 09:10, 25 February 2011 (UTC)Marie

2007 election results for Birmingham

2007 election results for Birmingham have recently been made available via http://birminghamnewsroom.com/2011/04/local-elections-2011-background-briefing-pack/ Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 20:00, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Northfield

The article on Northfield, Birmingham is not as good as some of the other articles about parts of Birmingham. Can anyione improve that article? South Birmingham OK (talk) 18:33, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

There is not much that is easy to find in the Internet about present day Northfield but there should be material in Northfield Libeary and in Birmingham Reference Library. South Birmingham OK (talk) 16:16, 25 May 2011 (UTC)

Meetup

Birmingham 3 on Sunday 12 June 2-4pm. All welcome. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 15:38, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

C'mon folks! That's this Sunday, and very few of you have booked, so far. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 14:52, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

Anyone here?

Is this project moribund? Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 20:22, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Note

I have nominated List of Aston Villa F.C. seasons for featured list removal here. Please join the discussion on whether this article meets the featured list criteria. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks; editors may declare to "Keep" or "Delist" the article's featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. Strawberry on Vanilla (talk) 14:40, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

Article alerts

Wikipedia:WikiProject West Midlands/Article alerts has been created; generating Article alerts for this WikiProject. Timrollpickering (talk) 20:23, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not proactive to people posting on WikiProject West Midlands.

I have for sometime taken time to post updates on the Swan Shopping Center so trying to support the Birmingham area. I have had postings rendered incorrect by editing by Wikipedia. I have had postings amended and been critisised for not quoting sources. My sources are various and normally from public meetings. I have not been encouraged to post in fact I have been constantly questioned and rebuked by Wikipedia. The last comment by will become correct and the whole Birmingham postings become moribund when contributors are hit by such negativity over their efforts.

This seems to be an end product that Wikipedia are encouraging in their paranoia over control of postings.

(Uksnapper (talk) 11:53, 13 August 2011 (UTC))

Andy was right the WikiProject West Midlands is moribund. Wikipedia has eaten itself. I have had a complete, correct posting removed, previous posts have been condensed so as not to make sense. Wikipedia is a totally controlled and patrolled paranoid car crash. It is not worth supporting in its present form. Wikipedia blames outsiders but their own staff editors, by their cuts and changes make the project inaccurate and useless.Uksnapper (talk) 21:32, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

I have offered to help the above user [1].  Chzz  ►  14:14, 16 August 2011 (UTC)
Chzz did offer help but the help was to indicate unless I could back up my entry with some relevant quote from the local slow sources I could not use wikipedia. I was told that I could use a local paper to reference my entry but as they are not always correct and only report when they think it newsworthy! If this is the case the WikiProject West Midlands will never be up to date. I am amazed that in the digital age Wikipedia is prepared to stick to the old Encyclopedia rules and that the new section will always be an history. Even the old encyclopedia's tried to update their records with a yearbook. Perhaps wikipedia can drag themselves into the digital age and have a weekly update where it is clear the entries will need verification.
The Swan Center article has a request for an update by Wikipedia but from my experience they do not want to be up-todate unless the old guard, press government or someone has published the fact so we can refer to it. Most of the news I give is from Yardley Forum but they do not publish the minutes of the public meeting. I cannot remember the local journalists even attending this meeting.
Basically if Wikipedia wants to be taken seriously in the fast moving digital age it has to give highly up to date articles not past news. Until this happens the previous comment that WikiProject West Midlands is moribund is correct. The project can only be a dusty history.
I will try again but I may set up my own webpage. I can then refer to my own quotes and may get my updates agreed.
Chzz was helpful but paranoid over the voracity of entries. What a shame that Wikipedia is Globally known for its inaccuracy and most people advise a check with other sources. {Source Open University course books M150 (now discontinued)}.
(Uksnapper (talk) 21:54, 3 September 2011 (UTC))
Chzz is one of the most helpful Wikipedia editors that I know of. Amongst other things, he was stating Wikipedia policy, which hangs on the three core principles of verifiability, No original research and Neutral point of view. If Yardley Forum are unwilling to publish these minutes, I am afraid that such minutes are inadmissible as sources. --Redrose64 (talk) 22:57, 3 September 2011 (UTC)
Hi Red Rose
I am aware that Chzz is as helpful as he can be. I have read the post you made but cannot see how your kind help moves us forward. My suggestion that there should be an area where possible temporary postings can be made to keep the Encyclopedia open to new postings. The limits of the printed word are no longer valid and the constant updating possible opens new horizons for an encyclopedia.
The quote from the Wikipedia definition of an Encyclopedia follows:-
Indeed, the purpose of an encyclopedia is to collect knowledge disseminated around the globe; to set forth its general system to the men with whom we live, and transmit it to those who will come after us, so that the work of preceding centuries will not become useless to the centuries to come; and so that our offspring, becoming better instructed, will at the same time become more virtuous and happy, and that we should not die without having rendered a service to the human race in the future years to come.[11]
— Diderot
No mention of verifiability but allowing the free interchange of Knowledge so that future generations can benefit from the "instruction" given. The knowledge given will make people virtuous and happy with contributors also pleased to have given a service.
I have no intention of critising any individual which your defence of Chzz implied Red Rose. I do however ask for wikipedia to drag the idea of an encyclopedia back to its roots and open it up to new horizons freed from the restrictions the printed world imposed. You are entitled to your opinion Red Rose but at least consider alternatives.
(Uksnapper (talk) 15:44, 4 September 2011 (UTC))
The Wikipedia article Encyclopedia does not mention Wikipedia policies because it does not, and is not intended to, define what Wikipedia does. I suggest that you read WP:ABOUT and WP:5P, also some (if not all) of the pages linked from the bog box at the top of your talk page. These documents, and not the thoughts of a Frenchman who died over two hundred years ago, govern how we edit. If you want to change the philosophy of Wikipedia, this is not the place to discuss it - you are perhaps best asking at the Policies Village Pump. --Redrose64 (talk) 17:29, 4 September 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for your time and input Redrose. I am new to wikipedia and its often weird rules and many constraints. I am learning and interaction helps. I have not looked into the articles you have mentioned yet but will. I would like to refer you to one of the five pillars which states "Find consensus, avoid edit wars, and remember that there are 3,733,064 articles on the English Wikipedia to work on and discuss. Act in good faith, never disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point, and assume good faith on the part of others. Be open and welcoming. When conflict arises, discuss details on the talk page, and follow dispute resolution."
I am trying not to annoy or misuse the encyclopedia but do find it irritating when I try to be proactive and my efforts can be just put down. I will get there with the help, openess and welcome the above pillar requests. I should again like to thank you for your advice Redrose and look forward to getting things a little more correct. All knowledge is a trip of questioning and not just accepting blindly the mistakes often made. If a 200 year old quote is a way of questioning then I will not baulk from using it. Our past is the key to our future and we should always be prepared to acknowledge the past as a signpost if not the end product.
I am posting an article on the recent decision over the grant of a licence for a new local pub. I hope the references I cite will be acceptable.
(Uksnapper (talk) 16:02, 8 September 2011 (UTC))


Herbert Art Gallery and Museum Backstage Pass

Herbert Art Gallery and Museum Backstage Pass! - You are invited!
The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum is hosting its first Backstage Pass on Saturday 1 October 2011. Attendees will experience behind-the-scenes tours of areas including the on- and off-site stores, archives and galleries (which include local history, geology and paintings by Old Masters). After a complimentary lunch, we will settle down for talks, more tours and an editing session, in which participants will work closely with curators on topics they're interested in. For more information and to sign up, see the event page. We hope you'll join us! The Cavalry (Message me) 18:28, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Black Country Living Museum Backstage pass event, 18 Feb 2012

I have been asked to pass on this info:

Saturday 18 February, 10.00am to 3.30pm

On the 18th February 2012, Black Country Living Museum will be opening up its object stores and site to volunteer Wikipedia editors. Volunteers will go “behind the scenes” at the museum, in search of inspiration for new Wikipedia articles.

The day will include:

  • A curator led tour of the Black Country Living Museum’s hidden collections.
  • The opportunity to explore collections from other local groups and museums including: Smethwick Heritage Trust, Black Country Society, Pen Room and Assay Office.
  • There will be space to write articles on your chosen objects of interest.
  • An experienced Wikipedian and Museum curators on hand to offer practical advice and support.
  • Complimentary fish and chip lunch included as a reward for your hard work and support.

Places are limited therefore you will need to pre-book your place by contacting the msueum Requirements: Attendees will need to have some knowledge of using Wikipedia, they will be required to bring their own laptop with power cable & also a digital camera should you wish to add your own images to articles.

Hope to see you there. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:29, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Historic Coventry edit-a-thon at Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry

Historic Coventry Edit-a-thon - You are invited!
The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum is hosting an edit-a-thon on Saturday 31 March 2012. 15 Wikimedians will have to learn more about "historic Coventry". The day will centre upon editing, however and we aim to improve the coverage of Coventry's illustrious history on Wikimedia projects. For more information and to sign up, see the event page. We hope you'll join us! Rock drum Ba-dumCrash 17:19, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

Could we please expand this project to the West Midlands region?

I just tried to add Stoke on Trent to this project but it was removed and I was told 'it's not part of the WM conurbation.' However Coventry is not part of the conurbation either (although it is part of the defunct country) but it is included in the project. I think it's a bit sad that a lot of what I know and love as the West Midlands is not included in this project. There is no corresponding project for Staffordshire, neither do i think there should be. Stoke and Burton are in the West Midlands and should be included int his project. I think it would be much more worthwhile to expand the project to include the whole Region. What do people think? Kaleeyed (talk) 13:45, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

  • Oppose when it comes to geogprahical projects the rest of England is organised by county and this should be no exception. That there is no WikiProject:Staffordshire is beside the point (the proposal was raised - by me - but didn't get enough support, if there was enough support then it could be resubmitted). Very few people who live in the East or North of Staffordshire would, when asked where they came from, say the West Midlands - I'm one of them, and to impose an artificial construct doesn't give any benefit. Suggest merging the wikiprojects for Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire into WikiProject:East Midlands and see what the reaction is. There is a strong regional affinity but not to the extent of subsuming one identity into another. NtheP (talk) 14:38, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
Hmm, well, maybe we should push again to get a wikiproject Staffordshire organised. I'd second you on that. Any idea how we go about setting it up? While it's fair enough I can see your point that projects should be organised by county, this project isn't strictly about the county, is it? The definition of its aims and objectives make this clear. It seems to be an amalgamation of several definitions of the West Midlands. The inclusions of Telford, Tamworth and Redditch (all of which fall into the West Midlands (region) but none of which are in the West Midlands (county) nor are mentioned in the West Midlands conurbation aticle) seem especially problematic. The terms that are defining this project seem to be getting looser all the time. Are the terms by which a place is said to be in the West Midlands project solely down to whether people from there 'self-identify' as West Midlanders? Seems a bit arbitary. Well if this is truly about the county I think this project should be trimmed back and some places should be excluded that are currently included. Kaleeyed (talk) 13:14, 29 March 2012 (UTC)
See Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals. BTW Not all county WikiProjects are for a single county - some counties are grouped together - Wikipedia:WikiProject Lancashire and Cumbria for instance, and Wikipedia:WikiProject North East England - each of these covers formal counties plus the adjoining unitary authorities. --Redrose64 (talk) 14:43, 29 March 2012 (UTC)
True, but there is the wider issue and it's a bit chicken and egg. If you look at the talk pages of most of these projects there is a very low level of participation especially after the initial euphoria/enthusiasm has worn off; this one appears to be a good example of this effect. Establishing a new project may suffer the same but of course conversely it could stimulate other editors to participate. My concerns are two fold, 1) add Staffordshire (and why not Shropshire, Warwickshire, Herefordshire & Worcestershire if you want this to be a West Midlands regional project?) into this project and it doesn't have a rejuvenating effect,and 2) which I freely admit is predjudice is that I don't want anything to do with Birmingham. I've spent my life having to deal with people who when told I'm from Staffordshire say to me "oh you're from Birmingham then?" Don't take me wrong, I've nothing against Birmingham or people from there but I don't want to be a West Midland wikipedian. NtheP (talk) 15:35, 29 March 2012 (UTC)
(ec) Well you can a project up two ways, one is to put the proposal before Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals and see if you garner enough support to see if it's a likely concern. The other way is just to do it but that carries much greater risk that it becomes moribund very quickly. Apart from the graphics I have most of a project page set up at User:Nthep/WikiProject Staffordshire (I borrowed it from WP:LANCS). If you're keen then best bet is to try and find some more people who will support the proposal when it gets put forward.
I can't comment on how this project agreed it's scope as I've never been a member of it and not seen any talk about how it got to where it is. NtheP (talk) 14:56, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Birmingham

Someone recently started WikiProject Birmingham. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 09:29, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Active/Inactive Members

Hello All

Today i have made some slight changes to the list of active members and divided it into two, one for active and the other for inactive editors who have not edited within the last 12 months. I have also messaged all of the inactive members saying as such with a note saying if they wish to swap back they may.Gavbadger (talk) 18:02, 2 November 2012 (UTC)

Staffordshire

Would there be any interest in starting Wikipedia:WikiProject Staffordshire? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 10:13, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes, i would join. Gavbadger (talk) 12:55, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

Cheshire portal

I have nominated the Cheshire portal for featured portal status. Please join the discussion here. Espresso Addict (talk) 21:34, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedian in Residence at The New Art Gallery Walsall

I am pleased to announce that I have just been appointed Wikipedian in Residence at The New Art Gallery Walsall. We'll be running a series of public events, to which all are invited. Details on the project page Wikipedia:GLAM/NAGW. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 10:06, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

Please help get the West Midlands ready for the start of the Wiki Loves Monuments competition on 1st September

This September the UK is taking part for the first time in the international photography competition Wiki Loves Monuments. Participants will be invited to submit pictures of listed buildings of significant importance (grades I or grade II*), as recorded by English Heritage. The main external website for competitors can be found here, and you can leave a message there if you have queries about competing. Do please join in, and let people in your local area know of this excellent way in which both existing and new Wiki users can help improve the encyclopaedia by contributing photographs of local listed structures. What about organizing a local Wikimeet to attract new people?

In preparation for the start of the competition on 1st September there is still quite a lot of work to do, and we would like to ask for the help of members of this wikiproject. Your local and expert knowledge will be invaluable in ensuring that the lists of eligible buildings are up to date and correctly formatted. If you look at Listed buildings in the United Kingdom you will see how many structures are included. If you then follow the link to Listed buildings in England, you can get to the detailed lists for your area. Alternatively have a look at the WLM planning table. Can you help to ensure that the lists for your area are up to date and well presented?

Some of the lists have been semi-automatically generated from data provided by English Heritage. These use pre formatted templates (eg EH header) which will make it much easier for competition participants to upload their photographs to Commons as an automated process. Please don't change the template structure, as we need to ensure that the templates are properly compatible with the WLM standards that are in use worldwide. The format will allow a bot automatically to collect the information and to put it into the international Monuments Database.

The data still needs the attention of local editors:

  • The "title" may need wikilinking to a suitable article name (whether we currently have that article or not). If there are several buildings in one street all of the wikilinks point at an article about the street; however each entry has a separate line in the list.
  • The "location" column looks and sorts better if just the parish or town is included (& wikilinked).
  • The "date completed" column sometimes has eg "C19" for 19th century, and "C1850" for c. 1850 when the date is uncertain - these need to be corrected manually.
  • The "grid ref & lat & long" (which is occasionally missing) may be given to 8 characters — only 6 (grid ref) or 5 (lat & long) are really needed.
  • Clicking on the "list entry number" should take you to the data sheet for that entry on the English Heritage database which can be checked if needed for details.
  • The image column should have a picture added if we already have a suitable image on Commons. (N.B. if you are going to be taking photos yourself for inclusion in the competition don't upload them until September)
  • References may be added according to normal WP practice.

For further information, please see Commons:Wiki Loves Monuments 2013 in the United Kingdom.

If you have any queries, please post them not below but on the Organizers' help page on Commons.

Anything you can do to help improve these lists will be much appreciated. The final deadline for cleaning up is 31st August.

--MichaelMaggs (talk) 15:00, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Why is this grade I & II* listed only? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 19:54, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Updating Birmingham Business School page

I am working on the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Business_School page to update the content.

I do have a connection with the School but am trying to not write this as an advertisement, just as a factual page about the Business School.

I would like some assistance on how to remove the warnings at the top of the page. If anyone can offer help it would be much appreciated.

The warnings in question include:

"A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page. (December 2013)"

"This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2012)"

"This article appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing any inappropriate external links. (March 2012)"

147.188.164.235 (talk) 10:12, 14 January 2014 (UTC)

West Midlands Police Museum editathon

Wikipedians are invited to an editathon at the West Midlands Police Museum, Birmingham, on Saturday, 15 March 2014. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 14:12, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

A reminder: the event is this coming Saturday, and a few places remain. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:47, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Birmingham City Council meeting videos

Birmingham City Council have accepted my suggestion, and placed the videos of their meetings under open licence. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 14:55, 3 June 2014 (UTC)

A photo of a bus

If anyone's planning to go to The Transport Museum, Wythall, do please attempt to take a photo of one particular bus (this one): it's significant in 1970s British photography. More about this at Talk:Daniel Meadows (which will remain on my watchlist). Thank you for considering this request. -- Hoary (talk) 14:20, 6 June 2014 (UTC)

Operation Trojan Horse

Is there anyone who could assist with expanding the scope of the above article? I was asked to take a look myself, and will do that, but feel I'm not familiar enough with the topic. This seems like a good place to mention it, so hopefully someone can help improve it. Thanks, This is Paul (talk) 19:53, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

Evolution of Worcestershire county boundaries

Hi there...just wondering if someone can classify and rate in importance the following page Evolution of Worcestershire county boundaries please? Thanks in advance! Bellow558 (talk) 15:39, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Comment on the WikiProject X proposal

Hello there! As you may already know, most WikiProjects here on Wikipedia struggle to stay active after they've been founded. I believe there is a lot of potential for WikiProjects to facilitate collaboration across subject areas, so I have submitted a grant proposal with the Wikimedia Foundation for the "WikiProject X" project. WikiProject X will study what makes WikiProjects succeed in retaining editors and then design a prototype WikiProject system that will recruit contributors to WikiProjects and help them run effectively. Please review the proposal here and leave feedback. If you have any questions, you can ask on the proposal page or leave a message on my talk page. Thank you for your time! (Also, sorry about the posting mistake earlier. If someone already moved my message to the talk page, feel free to remove this posting.) Harej (talk) 22:47, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Old maps and views of the West Midlands

As you might have seen in the Signpost last week, there's currently a drive to go through the million 19th century images released by the British Library last year, and identify all the maps, with a view to their being georeferenced by BL volunteers, and then uploaded to Commons early next year. After the first week, over eight thousand new maps have been identified, with 40% of the target books looked at -- see the status page for the latest figures, and more information.

A part that may specifically interest this project is

c:Commons:British Library/Mechanical Curator collection/Synoptic index/England - West Midlands

which currently shows pink templated links for 134 Flickr book pages still to be looked at. (Though there are lots of other parts of England, and indeed of the world, still to be looked through as well).

Any help looking through these would be very much appreciated -- as well as the maps (and ground plans) for tagging, you may well also find other interesting or useful non-map views that may be worth considering or uploading for articles on places in the West Midlands. (If uploading, please use the ingestion template described here, which sets up some appropriate image templates and categories).

Thanks, Jheald (talk) 21:32, 8 November 2014 (UTC)

Talk:Paradise Circus, Birmingham

Pending DYK. Could somebody rate this article? Please. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 17:41, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Blue plaques in Smethwick

I've been provided with a list of blue plaques erected by Smethwick Local History Society (an additional plaque on the Oldbury Road, to mark the Ruskin Pottery works was stolen a few years ago).

-- Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:05, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

WikiProject X is live!

Hello everyone!

You may have received a message from me earlier asking you to comment on my WikiProject X proposal. The good news is that WikiProject X is now live! In our first phase, we are focusing on research. At this time, we are looking for people to share their experiences with WikiProjects: good, bad, or neutral. We are also looking for WikiProjects that may be interested in trying out new tools and layouts that will make participating easier and projects easier to maintain. If you or your WikiProject are interested, check us out! Note that this is an opt-in program; no WikiProject will be required to change anything against its wishes. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!

Note: To receive additional notifications about WikiProject X on this talk page, please add this page to Wikipedia:WikiProject X/Newsletter. Otherwise, this will be the last notification sent about WikiProject X.

Harej (talk) 16:58, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Invitation: Editathon at Thinktank, Birmingham, on 7 March 2015

You are invited to an editathon at Thinktank, Birmingham, on 7 March 2015.

The focus will be on the museum's science and industry collection. We will have an exclusive preview of (and be able to photograph) exhibits recently acquired for the forthcoming new Spitfire Gallery, plus talks, and the opportunity to work with curators. Assistance will be available for new editors.

A light lunch and refreshments will be provided. Booking required. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:33, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Proposed move of Aston Science Park to Birmingham Science Park, Aston

Proposed move of Aston Science Park to "Birmingham Science Park, Aston", see Talk:Aston Science Park -- PBS (talk) 16:26, 13 April 2015 (UTC)


Invitation: Editathon at Birmingham Museum Collection Centre, on 28 May 2015

You are invited to an editathon in a 'backstage' event at Birmingham Museum Collection Centre, on 7 March 2015.

The focus will be chiefly on the museum's science and industry collection. We will enjoy exclusive acces to items that are not normally on display, plus talks, a tour, and the opportunity to work with curators. Assistance will be available for new editors.

A light lunch and refreshments will be provided. Booking required. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 18:19, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

Meetup in Birmingham

Members of this WikiProject may be interested to know there is a meetup in in Birmingham on Sunday the 15th of November. See meta:Meetup/Birmingham 4.

Yaris678 (talk) 13:14, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

Separate article for WMPTE as an historical organisation has been (re-)created

Per earlier discussions on the TfWM page, I have re-established West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive as separate article, so that it can be properly covered as an historical entity, leaving the TfWM article free to cover public transport in the West Midlands as it is today and into the future. This seems very much to be the right approach, as there are such clear distinctions between the two bodies (see talk page at TfWM).

I have put the page at West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, rather than Centro, because:

  • This was the organisation's legal name for the whole of its existence
  • 'Centro' requires the aticle title to be disambiguated

I have changed the redirects for WMPTE, Centro, WMPTA and WMITA from the TfWM page back to West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive. There may be some others that would better point to there rather than TfWM, but I couldn't see anything else obvious in the list of redirects to TfWM.

I will shortly go through and remove anything historical from the TfWM article that pertains only to the PTE to avoid any unnecessary duplication between the two articles.

The WMPTE article is more or less the same as the TfWM article was up until the creation of TfWM, other than I have made the necessary changes to the language and phrasing so that it is purely historical. There is however plenty of room for expansion of the article, as there are lots of things it does not currently cover that I think it should, for example:

  • Vehicles operated 1969-86, liveries, etc.
  • Development of community transport, Ring & Ride, etc.
  • Rationalisation of routes in the 1970s, development of a West-Midlands-wide network
  • Ticketing. The 'n' tickets that were in use in Centro's final years are covered but there's nothing for the period 1969-2005. If I'm not mistaken, the original early 1970s Travelcard was a first for the country?
  • Infrastructure - bus garages, bus stations, railway stations, tracline guided busway
  • Etc.

P M C 12:09, 28 June 2016 (UTC)

Comment

The Summerfield (Edgbaston) entry seems a bit short and lacks any information on the park besides the link in the footer. I took 2 pictures of the old bandstand when I was there. Taken on my phone so the quality won't be perfect but not bad. I presently live in that area. I could add some info maybe based on paraphrased research but I'm not completely familiar with the formatting on Wikipedia.

David (talk) 23:08, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

@Dragon38gv: Your additions would be welcome; they can always be reformatted, and you'll be able to see how, for future reference. The most important thing, though, is that you cite your sources. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:29, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

HomeServe

Moved content edit request to Talk:Homeserve#Requested edits. Eyes there would be very much appreciated. Woody (talk) 17:08, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

Disambiguation links on pages tagged by this wikiproject

Wikipedia has many thousands of wikilinks which point to disambiguation pages. It would be useful to readers if these links directed them to the specific pages of interest, rather than making them search through a list. Members of WikiProject Disambiguation have been working on this and the total number is now below 20,000 for the first time. Some of these links require specialist knowledge of the topics concerned and therefore it would be great if you could help in your area of expertise.

A list of the relevant links on pages which fall within the remit of this wikiproject can be found at http://69.142.160.183/~dispenser/cgi-bin/topic_points.py?banner=WikiProject_West_Midlands

Please take a few minutes to help make these more useful to our readers.— Rod talk 20:00, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

West Midlands Serious Crime Squad

Hi there, I would really like some feedback on this page, West Midlands Serious Crime Squad: eg whether it is at a B class level, etc. I'd like to progress it to GA or FA status because of its importance, but some basic pointers and thoughts would be a good start for now. Jim Killock (talk) 12:33, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Featured article review/Connie Talbot/archive1

I have nominated Connie Talbot, an article in the scope of this project, for featured article review. Feel free to contribute at Wikipedia:Featured article review/Connie Talbot/archive1. Josh Milburn (talk) 14:16, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

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