Wikipedia:Contribution Month in Canada 2018

Contribution Month in Canada

Meet local Wikipedians!

During the month of October 2018, Wikimedia Canada will host its National Contribution Month where contribution events are organised in different locations across Canada. The goal is to initiate visitors in contributing to Wikipedia or other Wikimedia projects and bring existing editors together.

Contribution days are activities where Wikimedia's contributors, students, or anybody interested in contributing to Wikimedia projects meet up to collectively improve a predetermined theme. These meetings generally take place in a library where references are easy to access, but can be organised in any public community space. We hope you will join us in bringing the Canadian Wikimedia community together!

Dates & locations

Please join us on the talk page to see if anybody else is already discussing organizing one in your region, or volunteer to organize your own event (experienced Wikipedians can help you with that).

Province	City	Location	Date	Thematic	Contact	Link to the event page
British Columbia	Victoria	University of Victoria Libraries, Digital Scholarship Commons	October 30, 10:30 am -12 pm	Initiation to Wikipedia	User:Jmhuculak	Wikipedia Editing Workshop (University of Victoria)
Ontario	Ottawa	Ottawa Public Library, Nepean Centrepointe	September 29, 10 am	Initiation to Wikipedia	User:Loopy30	Wikipedia Editing Workshop (Ottawa Public Library)
Québec	Manawan	Otapi kiskinohamatokamok	Date to be confirmed	Free thematic	Contact to be confirmed	Wikipetcia Atikamekw
Québec	Montréal	Grande Bibliothèque	October 2, 6:30 pm	Free thematic	User:Benoit Rochon	Wikipedia:BAnQ/Wiki Tuesday
Québec	Quebec City	BAnQ Québec of Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Louis-Jacques-Casault Hall, Université Laval	October 11, 18:30	Free thematic	BeatrixBelibaste	Jeudi, c'est Wiki à Québec!
Québec	Montréal	Cinémathèque québécoise	October 24, 6:00 pm	Cinema	fr:User:Krina	fr:Wikipédia:Cinémathèque québécoise
Québec	Montréal	Université du Québec à Montréal, Bibliothèque centrale, 400, rue Sainte-Catherine Est, salle A-R110	October 25, 12:30 pm	Free thematic	fr:User:Benjamenta	[1]
Québec	Montréal	Centre communautaire LGBTQ+, 2075, rue Plessis #110	October 25, 6:30 pm	LGBTQ+	User:BiblioQC	fr:Wikipédia:Café des savoirs libres/LGBTQ
Québec	Rimouski	Université du Québec à Rimouski, Auriculaire, room E-030	October 2nd, 6:00 pm	Science	Gene.arboit
Saskatchewan	Saskatoon	University of Saskatchewan or Saskatoon Public Library	Date to be confirmed	Free thematic	User:Zervim
Newfoundland and Labrador	Baie Verte	Town of Baie Verte	October 30, 2018	Free thematic	User:Arnab Brahma

FAQ

Why is my city not in the list? For a city to be in the list, there must first be a person who shows interest to organize an event in his or her hometown. It's very simple! Simply find a room for people to meet. A library, a community hall, meeting room, etc. How do I start an event in my city? Start a discussion on the talk page in English and / or French, there you can find help and potential participants. Find a room with free Wi-Fi. Libraries are good choices because they are freely available to people for working purposes, and are places where Wi-Fi and documentation is accessible. Find a topic or theme that participants can choose articles to create or improve. See an example. Add your event to the list of locations above. From the end of September, the organizers will launch a national advertising campaign that will invite contributors to join one of the events (or start a new one). How do I find people in my area to participate? First, add your date and place in the table above. There is a good chance that people join in. You must take the first step and declare the location where you are, otherwise it is unlikely that you will find people! The organizers will start a communication campaign in early September: social networks, network education and libraries, banners (CentralNotice) on the pages of Wikipedia and sister projects, etc. Another effective way is to communicate with an organization related to your theme. For example, you live in Caraquet your theme is Acadia, contact The Acadian Museum of Caraquet or francophone association, etc. These organizations have many contacts and will be delighted to support your Contribution day. Does the event space have to be a library? No, an event can be organized anywhere, it is at the discretion of the organizer. We suggest that the event take place in a library because references and documentation are easily accessible and free Wi-Fi is typically available. In addition, the library can make available to its members small workplaces for free. However, an event can be organized anywhere, in any space large enough to accommodate a group, such as in a university, a community hall, cafe, etc. The important thing is that the room is suitable for group work and has Wi-Fi. Should we meet on the spot to participate? It is not mandatory. Although one of the objectives is to physically meet other local Wikipedians, a contributor may participate to an event remotely, either because they live too far or they are otherwise unable to attend. In this case, if the planned topic is of interest, the participant can join a virtual event remotely via the Wikimedia Canada chat room. Can I organize a private event? Yes. You are a group of friends, if you want to gather in a café or at home, no problem. But please still add your event to the table and write "private" in the column Location. This will allow people to know about your topic / date and possibly help online. This will also enable national organizers be aware of your work group and evaluate the number of participants across the country. I'm not a Wikipedia editor, can I join an event? Yes. There will be on-site experienced Wikipedians who can guide you through your first steps. One of the objectives of contributory days is to introduce new contributors to the edition of the encyclopedia. Can I choose an article myself? Yes. To avoid edit conflicts, it is recommended that participants do not all work on the same article, although it is possible to work on different sections. This is why the event organizers chose a theme containing several possible articles. But a participant may choose to work an article of their choice out of the main theme if they prefer. Are image contributions accepted? Yes. During your research, you may find an image (acceptable on Commons) that relates directly or indirectly to your theme, do not hesitate to scan and upload it. Most libraries and universities have scanners that you can use. There are also numerous online resources such as the National Archives website, directories of images such as Flickr, Picasa, etc.. Make sure, however, that these images are freely licensed. Can I contribute to a sister project of Wikipedia? Yes. Wikipedia is best known, but if the theme of your group is related to a sister project, you can also help with images on Commons, write a news article on Wikinews, Wikisource transcribing manuscripts, etc.

See also

• Create a WikiClub in your region