Wikipedia:GLAM/Wellcome/Events and Workshops/Beyond the Asylum

About the event

This event was followed by another Beyond the Asylum Wikithon

The "pleasure grounds and aviary" of Ticehurst Asylum - one of the various places/organisations/people from the history of psychiatry and mental health which doesn't yet have a Wikipedia Page.

Beyond the Asylum will showcase some of the fascinating research on the history of psychiatry and mental health, and then give participants the opportunity to make some of that history available to an even wider audience by improving Wikipedia content.

We'll begin with a morning of talks on various aspects of the history of psychiatry and mental health, to provide some inspiration for the editing to come! Topics will include the displacement of asylum patients during World War I, the deinstitutionalisation process whereby asylums were replaced by community care, and the uses of psychiatry in colonial rule (amongst others!). We'll also feature a talk from one of the team who created Bedlam: The Asylum and Beyond about the process of creating the exhibition and the content that did not make it into the final version.

After a break for lunch, we'll dive into some wiki-training from Alice White, Wikimedian in Residence at the Wellcome Library, which will cover everything from the Five Pillars of Wikipedia to creating an account and how to edit. After learning your way around and getting comfortable with editing, you will have the opportunity to develop articles on the history of psychiatry: there are lots of pages on institutions, groups and individuals (particularly women) that are missing or very brief, so there’s lots of scope for making some exciting improvements!

Full training will be provided, and no previous experience is necessary, though a little digital skill is needed – but if you can use Microsoft Word, you can edit Wikipedia. Participants should bring a laptop or tablet – editing is much easier with a keyboard. If you’ve spotted an article that needs improving, bring along your queries and we’ll see what we can do to help!

How do I prepare?

• Sign up for the event!
• Bring a laptop (wifi will be provided), some laptops may be available - let me know in advance via email if you'll need to borrow one.
• Learn about editing if you like: see Visual Editor user guide for more information.
• Think about what you would like to edit about - you can even prepare some materials to bring with you on the day (to help with verifiability).
• Check out the notability guidelines and what topics can be written about on Wikipedia.
• Think about whether you have any conflicts of interest.

Programme

The day will start at 10am, with a chance to check out the exhibition and warm up with a cup of tea or coffee.

We'll then move on to hearing some inspirational history of psychiatry & mental health (there'll be a break between the talks for lunch). Talks will include:

• Mike Jay & Julia Nurse - Behind the Scenes at Bedlam
• Jennifer Farquharson - 'Move out!': the marginalisation of soldiers and civilians in Great War Scotland
• Russell Moul - Healing or Breaking Minds? Psychiatry in British Kenya & French Algeria, 1950-64
• Sonu Shamdasani - Psychotherapy in Society: Historical Notes
• Matthew Smith - Deinstitutionalisation and After: The Mad Back Among Us?

Then we'll move on to some wiki-editing! Experienced and new editors are very welcome - there'll be training for new editors and tips for experienced editors - to improve some history of psychiatry and mental health pages.

Links

• Geel story- Mike Jay
• Stone of madness
• Ship of fools
• Sebastian Brant
• Aristotlean treaties 1477 - Urban Metcalf Articles missing
• Thomas Tryon
• Non compos mentis
• John Conolly,- Robert Gardiner Hill restraint debate Restraint disamb), Medical restraint
• Ophelia, Harriet Smithson
• Ticehurst
• Herman Charles Merivale, James Henry Pullen
• Psychiatric hospital, Friern Hospital
• William A. F. Browne

Category:History of mental health in the United Kingdom useful category to add to new articles

• Daniel Hack Tuke
• Prof Bernheim
• Joseph Delboeuf
• Paul Dubois

Participants

Wiki-editors can add their names here during the event...

• --ClemRutter (talk) 12:47, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
• Zeromonk (talk) 13:36, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
• Thisandthem (talk) 14:54, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
• LoopZilla

Content to Improve/Create

Here are some suggestions (along with links to more information to get you started) - feel free to add your own too!

Male Lunatic Asylum at Kissy in Sierra Leone, photo from Wellcome Images

• Kissy Lunatic Asylum, established in Sierra Leone in 1820 particularly for liberated Africans who had been recently enslaved.
• James Tilly Matthews - his page has nothing on his designs for a new version of Bedlam, and no infobox.
• Robina Addis has no page - information on her here.
• James Adam (Asylum superintendent) has no page - information on him here.
• George Shuttleworth has no page - information on him here.
• Rudolf Karl Freudenberg has no page - information on him here.
• The page on the concept Non compos mentis doesn't include any real history, or reference to Brydall's book (downstairs in the exhibition).
• The Mental After Care Association has no page. You can find information on the organisation here.
• Ella Freeman Sharpe's page could use some improvements - e.g. adding an infobox.
• Mary Barkas has no page. She was the first female house physician at Bedlam. There's information to get you started here.
• Clare Winnicott's page needs improvement.
• Esther Bick created the technique of Therapeutic Infant Observation. She doesn't yet have a page. You can read more about her here.
• Ethilda Budgett Meakin Herford was the director of a hospital, a key figure in establishing psychoanalysis in Britain, an honorary physician for two different institutions, and founded a school! You can find more about her here.
• The Stone of madness page is quite brief, as is the Cutting the Stone page.
• We could add to the Ship of fools page - there's a digitised version that you can get to if you're physically in the library. We could also make it more prominent on the page of author Sebastian Brant.
• We could add a page for Urban Metcalf, patient at two sites of Bedlam who had allegedly tried to murder King George III (see here).
• The page on Medical restraint has nothing on the history of this process, or the debate about restraint in asylums.
• We could add an infobox to Asylum reformer John Conolly, and some more informtation on the non-restraint debates.
• There is a section in the Geel page on psychiatric care, but it only has two citation and there's lots more to add now.
• The page of Thomas Tryon could include more information on his views on madness and spirituality.
• Information on the patients' account by Herman Charles Merivale could be added to his page.
• We might like to add to the Gartloch Hospital page.
• We could translate / create a page for the horse Marco Cavallo.
• The page for Asylum (magazine) can be significantly improved.
• James Henry Pullen and Professor Hippolyte Bernheim's pages could be tidied up a little, as could those of Daniel Hack Tuke and Walter Cooper Dendy (which have no infoboxes).

Content Improved / Created

Add pages you've created or worked on to this list!

• Gartloch Hospital-- cleaned up format ClemRutter (talk) 13:55, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
• Transinstitutionalisation-- New article
• Page...

Inspiration for even more improvements

If you'd like to join us remotely or continue to edit after the event, there are plenty of improvements to make - we'll suggest some here soon!