EMI Loves Art

New Name

Howdy! I'm EMI Loves Art, formerly known as EMI from CAM. I was advised by an editor against role accounts on Wikipedia, and have changed my name to better reflect that I'm an independent volunteer. My Conflict of Interest has not changed—please find full details below. EMI Loves Art (talk) 17:43, 10 November 2021 (UTC)

Introduction

Howdy! I'm a Cincinnati Art Museum employee who will be working with the Wikipedia community to improve that article. I look forward to working with you!

--EMI from CAM (talk) 18:38, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

• Hey, it's great that you're looking to improve the article and are in a unique position to do so given your role. Wikipedia has very strong anti-Conflict of Interest rules, including prohibiting people with connections to organizations directly editing the page. It is expected that you post editing suggestions on talk pages and noticeboards instead of directly editing affected articles. Here's a helpful guide to read through on how to avoid violating any of the COI polices.--Cerebral726 (talk) 18:53, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

• Hi & thanks for the welcome, Cerebral! I look forward to familiarizing myself with the guide and following its advice. Thanks for the resource! --EMI from CAM (talk) 18:57, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

Hello EMI. I saw your question at the Teahouse so, just in case you might find it helpful, I wanted to welcome you and say that I am both an administrator here and retired 'Senior Keeper of Natural Sciences' from Derby Museum and Art Gallery in England. At the time I started editing Wikipedia back in 2011 I knew nothing about our 'conflict of interest' policies, yet never had any problem. The main reason was, I think, that I only ever made about three or four edits to the museum page itself, yet used my knowledge, connections and access to take photographs and to either create or facilitate others create new articles about notable topics. See here, here, here, here and here for examples. With the access I had to local specialist knowledge, old publications within the museum, and access to take photographs behind the scenes, I was able to make contributions that perhaps others couldn't - even helping to run an 'Editathon' there. You are perhaps in roughly the same situation at CAM, and this is far more worthy of your time than tweaking general content about the museum itself - which others can do just as easily without being caught out by WP:COI issues.

So, my offer to you is simply to be available if you need any help or advice - be it on Wikipedia's policies, Notability or uploading images. It looks like there is already quite a lot of images on Wikimedia Commons, but you are probably also in a very strong position to liaise with other colleagues to help fill any gaps or add biographical content to articles about artists or details about their work. The one temptation to avoid is using unpublished archival material from the Museum. Our Verification policy means that someone on the other side of the world ought, in theory, to be able to locate a cited source via their own library, bookseller or online in order to verify any statement made in an article. That, unfortunately, rules out single museum archives, unless the contents have been formally published. You might be aware of our Wikipedia collaboration with Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums but, if not, do check out Wikipedia:GLAM to help you see what's already being done, or to identify gaps you might be able to contribute to.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy your own, personal Wikipedia Adventure here. Drop by more talk page if you need any help that you don't think you'd otherwise be able to get from my fellow hosts at the Teahouse. Regards, Nick Moyes (talk) 20:25, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

• Hi Nick, thanks so much for the welcome and the wisdom! I appreciate understanding that there's a lot to get involved with, even beyond the Cincinnati Art Museum's page, and that private archives don't meet the notability requirement. I'm especially excited to plug in at GLAM — I've already read some of the intro info and found my local contacts! Thanks again & looking forward to collaborating, EMI from CAM (talk) 14:59, 21 October 2021 (UTC)

EMI from CAM, you are invited to the Teahouse!

Hi EMI from CAM! Thanks for contributing to Wikipedia. Be our guest at the Teahouse! The Teahouse is a friendly space where new editors can ask questions about contributing to Wikipedia and get help from experienced editors like GreenMeansGo (talk). Visit the Teahouse We hope to see you there! Delivered by HostBot on behalf of the Teahouse hosts 16:01, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

Managing a conflict of interest

Hello, EMI from CAM. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about on Wikipedia, you may have a conflict of interest (COI). Editors with a conflict of interest may be unduly influenced by their connection to the topic. See the conflict of interest guideline and FAQ for organizations for more information. We ask that you:

• avoid editing or creating articles about yourself, your family, friends, colleagues, company, organization or competitors;
• propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (you can use the {{request edit}} template);
• disclose your conflict of interest when discussing affected articles (see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest#How to disclose a COI);
• avoid linking to your organization's website in other articles (see Wikipedia:Spam#External link spamming);
• do your best to comply with Wikipedia's content policies.

In addition, you are required by the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of use to disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution which forms all or part of work for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation. See Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure.

Also, editing for the purpose of advertising, publicising, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. Thank you. 331dot (talk) 19:39, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

In my opinion, second and third bullets are the most important: declaring your paid relationship, and proposing changes on the Talk page versus editing the article directly. For thos changes be specific, i.e., copy to talk what is to be removed, propose the replacement wording, and provide references that confirm the new content. Once you submit an edit request, it can take a few weeks before an edits reviewer decides to incorporate or decline your proposed changes. David notMD (talk) 19:50, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

• Thanks 331dot and David! I have disclosed my COI and will follow Wikipedia's policies. I made my first edits before understanding the policy. I apologize, and I hope they weren't too hard to revert or revise!
• Also, thanks for explaining the process from talk page to public edit, David — That's super helpful to understand! EMI from CAM (talk) 16:18, 21 October 2021 (UTC)

Please stop...

...directly editing the article. I know that can be frustrating, but Wikipedia frowns on paid editors doing any direct editing, even if adequately referenced. David notMD (talk) 19:53, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

• Thanks, David! I made those edits before I understood Wikipedia's policies for conflicts of interest. I've taken steps to disclose my COI and won't make direct edits in the future. EMI from CAM (talk) 16:19, 21 October 2021 (UTC)