Submissions/A Wikipedia article in multiple languages improved by many Wikipedians at once


Info

This is an Open submission for Wikimania 2017 that has not yet been reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Submission no. 7028 Subject - MP
Title of the submission

A Wikipedia article in multiple languages improved by many Wikipedians at once

Type of submission (lecture, panel, tutorial/workshop, roundtable discussion, lightning talk, poster, birds of a feather discussion)

Workshop

Author of the submission

Niki Korth

Language of presentation

English (for introductory presentation and concluding discussion) + the various languages of attendees' home wikis (during small group work time)

E-mail address

niki.e.korth@gmail.com

Username

Nikikana

Country of origin

USA

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)
Personal homepage or blog

http://www.thebigconversationspace.org/

Abstract (up to 300 words to describe your proposal)

Wikipedia is certainly collaborative, but how often do we collaborate on an individual article, in a shared space and time? What might we learn about how we collaborate by trying this together, in good faith, documenting the attempt, and putting the documentation on Commons?

Inspired by the artist Koki Tanaka's video works A Haircut by 9 Hairdressers at Once (Second Attempt), A Piano played by Five Pianists at once (First Attempt), a pottery produced by 5 potters at once (silent attempt), and a poem written by 5 Poets at once (first attempt), which involve the documentation of a group collaborating on a given task that they usually perform in solitude, this workshop invites participants who are willing to be recorded to come together to attempt the following task: collaborate in groups of at least two on improving a single article on Collaboration on your home wiki.

Perhaps the concept of collaboration in your language cannot be contained in a single term, a single article. Perhaps there is an article on collaboration on your wiki but you think that the article on cooperation or consensus is more in need of improvement and is more aligned with the spirit of this prompt. Perhaps you think that it would be better to work on Wikipedia:Consensus but others in your group disagree...

Whatever the case for you, your home wiki, or your understanding of collaboration, you are invited to come make this attempt together, and participate in the creation of an artwork through the documentation of the process. In so doing we hope the process helps us to explore further questions: How does the collaboration we enact through building this encyclopedia compare to the concept of collaboration in our cultures, as understood and defined through our languages?

What will attendees take away from this session?

Attendees will learn about and share in-person collaboration strategies, philosophies, and understandings; participate in the creation of an artistic work that will invite future Wikipedians to start collaborating; and learn about how frameworks of contemporary art may offer lenses through which we can examine ourselves and the movement in new ways.

Theme of presentation

WikiCulture & Community

For workshops and discussions, what level is the intended audience?

all levels

Length of session (if other than 25 minutes, specify how long)
60 minutes
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?

Hopefully

Slides or further information (optional)

Additional information on how the workshop will be structured:

  • 5 minutes - brief presentation on the art works of Koki Tanaka referenced in the abstract
  • 1 minute - brief elaboration on the prompt, directions for the task
  • 2 minutes - break into groups based on home wiki
  • 40 minutes - work time (groups work on the task, I and potentially other videographers drift around the room documenting the work)
  • 2 minutes - groups gather their thoughts to summarize their experience and what they learned
  • 10 minutes - all groups gather round for concluding discussion about our experiences and what we learned about collaboration (including video crew)
  • Post-workshop - all video documentation will be uploaded to Commons; and attendees interested in continuing the collaboration will be invited to a new project to create subtitles for and edit the video documentation (perhaps documenting the process of doing so as well!)

What attendees should do to prepare: Attendees must agree to be recorded in video, and therefore be prepared to be recorded. No further preparation is required besides arriving with an open mind, curiosity, and a desire to work together. (Optional): Interested attendees may spend a little time exploring how the concept of Collaboration is covered on their home wiki and thinking about what may need improvement (though doing this together will be part of the exercise also). Additionally, interested attendees may want to explore some of the video works by Koki Tanaka that inspire this project, all of which (and more) can be found here.

Description of the workshop presenter's experience: I have experience organizing edit-a-thons, leading workshops and giving talks on collaborative practices in the arts, and producing collaborative art projects that have been featured in galleries and project spaces around the world. As an artist, I have worked for the past 7 years as part of a collaboration (The Big Conversation Space), where my work has primarily involved video production and moving image research.

Special requests
Is this Submission a Draft or Final?
Info

This is a Completed submission for Wikimania 2017 ready to be reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Interested attendees

If you are interested in attending this session, please sign with your username below. This will help reviewers to decide which sessions are of high interest. Sign with a hash and four tildes. (# ~~~~).

  1. Amir É. Aharoni (talk) 10:18, 11 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  2. RachelWex (talk) 21:29, 11 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  3. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 23:39, 12 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]