There are two awesome Wikipedia events happening this month- Wikipedia Loves Libraries and the Coding Challenge.
The Coding Challenge sounds awesome, but I don't know much about computer coding so I recommend you guys check it out- I'm here to post about the former event.
Right now, I'm at the Chicago Meetup branch event of Wikipedia Loves Libraries.
Basically, this is a project coordinated by individual wiki users, and it's aim is to bring people from all walks of life together to use public libraries' resources to update Wikipedia pages relevant to that region.
The Chicago event's focus is Barack Obama: The Chicago Years, and it intended to include "primary articles Early life and career of Barack Obama, Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama and United States Senate career of Barack Obama."
When I went to the 6th floor of the Harold-Washington Library Center (a huge, beautiful library), an hour ago, I didn't see any groups of people around so I asked someone who works at the Circulation desk where the Wikipedia event was being held.
She did not know what I was talking about*, but said some groups reserve private rooms, so directed me to the Northernmost study room. I walked to a locked study room with 2 people inside on laptops. When I knocked, they let me in, and much to my relief, they were in fact the group I'd been looking for.
They said that a few others had been participating but had left. Since I didn't have a laptop, they said I could edit articles downstairs on one of the open internet computers, which is where I am currently.
Because I'm somewhat intimidated by the grandeur of this library, don't know much about how to edit wikipedia articles or where to find the information I should find, and have to run as soon as my friend arrives(we're going to Hyde Park!), I might just follow up on one of the participants- Tony's -suggestion, and edit the grammar of a few Obama articles.
Which means anyone can participate in this. Why not, in honor of Loving Libraries and Relying on Wikipedia for All Your Research Papers Even Though You Can't Cite It, edit some grammar or put in a few facts you know abour Wikipedia articles today?
This turned into more of a call to action than I intended, but go for it! That's why it's user-based!
*=Note of interest: On the Meetup page it says:
"The topic that was proposed to the Chicago Public Library who will be publicizing the event on Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook was Barack Obama: The Chicago Years"
However, they did NO publicizing, and further down in that same paragraph it says:
Note that the library will not be publicizing this at their website because it is not an official library event. It is a wikipedia event held at the library.
So, who's behind this event then? I'm confused.