How To Set Up A Wikipedia

How to be included on Wikipedia

My proper name is Bister Berson, and in add-on to existence a writer, curator, and PhD student, I'm the Canadian ambassador for the Art+Feminism Wikipedia projection. I've been working with Art+Feminism since 2022 to help train more female-identifying editors, and to generate more and better feminist content on Wikipedia. If you're an artist or other type of creative professional, you may have wondered what it takes to go your own Wikipedia page. And, if you lot already have a Wikipedia page, you lot may take wondered how to change the information on your page to go far more accurate (or more flattering!). The tips in this guide are intended to assist you understand Wikipedia's guidelines and policies, and learn more than about how you tin can arroyo digital archiving, disharmonize resolution, calculation content to the Commons, etc. Hopefully, with all the information presented hither, you'll be able to have the all-time Wikipedia page possible.</i>

What is Wikipedia, and who writes information technology?

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. More than that, it's the world's gratis online encyclopedia, accessed by most 500 1000000 unique visitors each month in more 250 languages. The English language version of Wikipedia hosts more than 4.5 1000000 articles, all of them collaboratively authored and edited by volunteers. If there'south an article near you and your work, it's because someone took the time to brand i.

How Wikipedia works

Wikipedia is a publicly generated resources. Anyone, anywhere can edit (about) whatsoever commodity at whatever fourth dimension. This means that once a page goes alive, volunteer editors are able to edit and add together to a page forever (although, in that location are also a modest number of protected or locked Wikipedia pages that require special permission to edit, mainly for controversial topics or templates).

Anyone can become an editor on Wikipedia in gild to modify existing pages, or to create new ones. Editors can also contribute by translating manufactures (Wikipedia even offers a really cool content-translator tool) and by calculation material to Wikimedia Commons—a collection of over 45,184,580 (and growing!) freely usable media files to which anyone tin contribute.

To create a new page, all y'all need to practice is create an account on Wikipedia, and and then add your new article. While only registered and signed-in users can create pages, anyone can modify a page, and the edits are merely attributed to their IP address. In addition to volunteer editors, Wikipedia employs bots to browse edits for plagiarism and carry out other mundane and repetitive tasks such as checking for typos.

What type of content tin can go on Wikipedia?

Wikipedia has a number of rules that govern what type of content appears on the site. To quote Wikipedia,

"Wikipedia articles follow sure guidelines: the topic should be notable and be covered in particular in expert references from independent sources. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia—it is non a personal home page or a business list. Practice not use content from other websites fifty-fifty if you, your school, or your boss owns them. If yous cull to create an article with only a limited cognition of the standards on Wikipedia, y'all should be aware that other editors may delete it if it's not considered advisable."

To clarify, EVERYTHING added to Wikipedia must be a newly written, summarized description of a subject. Even if I wrote an article for another website, say on The Creative Independent, for case, I could not re-create and paste that information into Wikipedia. I can cite a minor portion, just the bulk of an commodity needs to be new copy.

Wikipedia itself has no firm rules but does operate under what they call their 5 pillars:

• Wikipedia is an encyclopedia.

• Wikipedia is written from a neutral signal of view.

• Wikipedia is free content that anyone tin use, edit, and distribute.

• Wikipedia'southward editors should treat each other with respect and civility.

• Wikipedia has no firm rules, merely policies and guidelines.

How practice I become (or alter) a Wikipedia page written about me and my work?

Near likely, y'all're reading this because you don't have a Wikipedia page and you want one—or, because you take a page, merely you lot want to edit it. The unproblematic answer is that yous tin can't edit or create your own Wikipedia page, because that would exist a conflict of involvement (more than on this later). Yet, you are allowed—and even encouraged—to list yourself on Wikipedia'southward repository of articles looking for creators or on a like list run by a detail customs like Women in Red. And, while you can't write your own Wikipedia article, y'all can prep the bibliography and images to make information technology easier for someone else to write 1 about you (keep reading to learn how). Below are some boosted tactics y'all can use for the all-time chance at having a not bad Wikipedia page written about you by a volunteer editor.

Get written near in as many places as possible

Before y'all tin can count as a "notable" person, you and your work first demand to exist covered in multiple, reliable, independent secondary sources. Wikipedia borrows its content and credibility from external editorial bodies, and thus, in order to have enough information available for a whole page most yous and your work, there needs to be plenty of credible content about y'all published in other reliable sources.

Use red-linking to your advantage

If there are pre-existing articles on Wikipedia that reference you or your work, another skillful tactic is to get into those pages and red-link your proper name to alert people that your biography is missing from Wikipedia. This volition help editors assess whether y'all need a standalone page, or a biography in an already existing page.

What to practise if you lot accept a Wikipedia page, but don't like what's on it

If in that location'southward already a page nigh you but you don't like what's on information technology, I discourage yous from editing content yourself (though information technology is permitted occasionally). Rather, in dealing with manufactures nearly yourself, you tin open a discussion on the Talk page of the article, and you tin can contact the Wikimedia Foundation for help resolving the consequence.

It'south of import to respect how Wikipedia operates—as a repository for facts-so if there is non-inflammatory, not-speculative, factual, verifiable, and cited information on your page that you are not excited to share, if it's true information, it may non get removed. For the all-time chance of a change being made, you need to exist able to demonstrate how the information is not noteworthy or reputable.

A few notes on notability

If y'all don't have your ain Wikipedia folio yet, before you exercise any of the above, you need to determine whether or non you're a notable figure. Notability guidelines are maybe the most subjective part of Wikipedia, and are the subject of many of the discussions that take place behind the scenes, in what Wikipedia calls Talk pages. Like Wikipedia states, "Existence does not prove notability." Yous will demand to demonstrate that you and/or your work have garnered significant coverage by verifiable, reliable, and independent sources. And while you tin can't create your ain page, you can make it easier for people to know about your piece of work past assembling this data for them—on your own website, for instance.

Using your own website to annal unbiased information virtually yous/your piece of work

I strongly encourage you to set up a Google alert for yourself. When articles are written about you lot and your piece of work, create a PDF of the article and include it—besides as a link and citation—on a well-marked section of your personal website. This will assistance future editors admission content from verified sources to help with their article. If you lot don't archive articles yourself, future editors will accept to scour the cyberspace to find things about you and your piece of work, and they might not always plough up the content y'all are about proud of, or that you want highlighted on your page.

To help your own website show up towards the top of Google search results when a future editor goes hunting for information about y'all, you lot tin take a few steps. When you're beingness written well-nigh, ask publications to link to your site (links to your website from reputable sources tell Google your site is legit, which will help information technology show upward higher in search results). Using a domain name for your website that features your own name tin assist as well (for example: yourname.com). Too ensure that your proper noun is featured throughout your website, as this helps with something called "keyword density." Updating content on your site relatively often can help too, since Google prefers fresh content to stale content when indexing search results.

Calculation to the Commons

Another actually important mode to contribute to Wikipedia is by adding media to the Commons—a collection of 45,187,131 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute. Co-ordinate to Wikimedia, "any freely licensed media file (images, sound, video, etc.) that is useful for whatsoever Wikimedia project can be uploaded." Information technology's very important that you are the owner of any media you add to the Wikimedia Commons. Content added to the Commons must conduct a Creative Commons license. Wikimedia offers a pretty awesome upload wizard for this purpose.

Calculation media to the commons is helpful when creating a new article, but you lot can also search the commons for media that has already been added that supports the discipline. This means that it is within your power to add your own image, or images of your piece of work, to the commons right now. In doing so, yous are adding to the public domain and providing resources for editors who want to work on your page. And this way, yous take the power to cull the type of eatables license that you lot feel virtually comfortable with for images of yous and your work.

If you don't want to bother uploading to the commons—or if you lot can't rationalize a need for your images to be housed there yet—you can add images to many sites (similar your website or weblog) and have them labeled with a shareable Artistic Commons license. When people search your name, Google makes it possible to narrow the results downwards to ones with open up licenses.

The risks of being on Wikipedia

But because someone has a created a page for you lot on Wikipedia doesn't mean that you'll like what they wrote. Sometimes edits are good, merely sometimes they can exist biased, unflattering, or any number of other things. The risks of being on Wikipedia include the take chances of bad edits being added to your page.

There is also a take a chance of a Wikipedia ambassador removing the post most yous for a multifariousness of reasons. For case, if some other editor suspects a conflict of involvement, or a bot picks up on plagiarism, the article will be nominated for deletion.

In that location is too always a risk that when women, transgender, and non-binary people are profiled online that it can atomic number 82 to online harassment. Wikipedia takes harassment very seriously and in improver to the non-Wikipedia related consequences to these actions, users constitute guilty of harassment will be blocked. Unfortunately, because of Wikipedians general anonymity, and the fact that an IP accost can generate multiple user accounts, harassment is notwithstanding a trouble on Wikipedia, in spite of the good-religion measures they've taken to stopping it.

Disharmonize negotiation

While harassment is a real trouble on Wikipedia, not every negative interaction can be labeled as such. Having your edits flagged for deletion, your edits rewritten, and/or tracking a user'southward contributions for policy violations does not found harassment, though it certainly can atomic number 82 to disharmonize. To quote Wikipedia:

"Editors practise not own their edits, or any other article content, and whatsoever other editor has a correct to track their editing patterns, and, if necessary, to revert their edits. Unwarranted resistance to such efforts may be a sign of ownership behavior and atomic number 82 to sanctions."

If you're dealing with a conflict with some other user, in that location are several things you lot tin practise. First, assume the other editor was interim in good organized religion if they inverse or removed your content. Similarly, if you find questionable content on Wikipedia, remember that the page may have been created by a new editor. Adjacent, follow Wikipedia's dispute resolution protocol and bring the dispute to the article's Talk page. If you lot require outside support to continue the discussion, consider the dispute resolution noticeboard and maybe get a third opinion. Don't presume things will become ugly, simply if they do, know that there are many, many Wikipedians dedicated to making information technology a more zen and condom space.

A user's guide to writing and editing Wikipedia pages

Editing Wikipedia is pretty unproblematic. You have the choice to edit using a visual editor or using code, and you can toggle between the two using the button constitute in the height right-paw corner of the editing screen. Yous must be logged in to use the visual editor feature. Some users need to actuate the visual editor, which you tin exercise under Preferences/Editing/Editing Mode.

To make an edit to a pre-existing Wikipedia page, simply click edit and make the change. Annotation: It's highly advisable to "preview changes" before saving. Once you lot've made and reviewed your edit, you lot tin save it and brand it live. Earlier doing then, remember to record the blazon of edit y'all've fabricated in the appropriate field (added content, images, corrected spelling, etc.) and note whether it was a minor edit or not. This helps other editors and bots to understand why you made the edit.

If you would prefer to create a new folio (note: you can only do this if a page does not already exist for the subject), the first pace is to search Wikipedia to see if a typhoon folio most the same subject already exists. You can do this by typing the field of study into the search bar and then running an advanced search for typhoon pages.

Wikipedia maintains a page with instructions and helpful tips for creating your first article. Note that to create full articles (as opposed to draft pages), your account must be at least 4 days (96 hours) quondam, and you must have already fabricated more ten edits. Information technology is advisable to work in drafts until your article is consummate, and to play around in your Sandbox (a space to experiment with the process of editing Wikipedia) while you larn to edit. When you lot're ready to create an article, y'all tin also use the Article Wizard tool.

For more technical data on editing Wikipedia—including slideshow tutorials and videos—I encourage you to accept a look at Art+Feminism's resources.

Fugitive disharmonize-of-interest editing

Editors are responsible for ensuring that their work does non pose a disharmonize of interest. To quote Wikipedia, "conflict of interest (COI) editing involves contributing to Wikipedia nigh yourself, family, friends, clients, employers, or your fiscal and other relationships."

If you would like to run into a page created about someone or something but have a conflict of interest, yous should request information technology be created by a neutral 3rd party. For information on how to request a new article that can be created by someone else, see Wikipedia:Requested articles. This is a compendium of red links—instances where a page has been requested only does not withal be. In one case a corresponding Wikipedia folio has been created, it will turn blue. In addition to this list, you can also check out projects like Women in Red and the Black Lunch Table for a listing of red links.

Following Wikipedia'south content guidelines

Anything published on Wikipedia must link back to multiple verifiable sources, i.eastward. "reliable sources." These types of sources are defined as "articles on reliable, third-party, published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy." Some examples of verifiable sources are university-level textbooks, books published by respected publishing houses, magazines, journals, and mainstream newspapers.

Wikipedia does not publish original enquiry and all articles must link to a number of external citations. Additionally, Wikipedia content must present a neutral signal of view. When writing about a person, and peculiarly a living field of study, information technology is of import to familiarize yourself with Wikipedia's notability guidelines.

Criticisms of Wikipedia's guidelines and principles related to the to a higher place topics abound. For case, it's possible that what different people volition consider a "verifiable source" volition vary. And, more importantly, Wikipedia's policy for verifiable sources tin magnify the already existing gender bias too as other systemic biases plaguing the platform. Projects similar Fine art+Feminism and Wiki Loves Women work to gainsay this bias and to shut the gender gap.

In summary…

I hope that this information helps you to get excited about Wikipedia. I go that information technology's a lot of data to accept in at once and that much of the content here tin can read as pretty dry and technical. But I promise, Wikipedia is fun! And I've saved the best for last: You can't break Wikipedia. While it's true that editing is serious business organisation—you tin literally shape and correct gaps in history when you lot take to Wikipedia!—no edit is permanent. Which means that fifty-fifty if y'all accidently delete something, or add the wrong link, you or someone else can always become back in a fix the mistake. And so effectively, there are no mistakes.

Ready to start getting involved in Wikipedia? Head hither to find Art+Feminism Edit-a-thon initiatives in your surface area, or simply head to the page of red-linked requested articles and start making a new page today.

About the Author

Amber Berson is a writer, curator, and PhD student conducting doctoral research at Queen'south Academy on artist-run culture and feminist, utopian thinking. She most recently curated Earth Cup! (2018); The Permit Down Reflex (2016-2018, with Juliana Driever); TrailMix (2014, with Eliane Ellbogen); ~._.:JENNIFER 10 JENNIFER*:.~ (2013, with Eliane Ellbogen); The Annual Fine art Administrator'southward Relay Race (2013, with Nicole Burisch); The Wild Bush Residency (2012–14); and was the 2022 curator-in-residence as function of the France-Quebec Cross-Residencies at Astérides in Marseille, France. Her writing has been published in Breach Magazine, Canadian Fine art, C Magazine, Revue .dpi, Esse, Fuse Magazine, and the St Andrews Journal of Art History and Museum Studies.