Wikipedia:Meetup/Adelaide/Meetup 8

Adelaide Meetup
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The 8th Adelaide Meetup finally happened(!) on Wednesday, 16 April 2014
Eleven people attended; (see below for a summary of the meeting)

Timeline 2014[edit]

Initial invitation, February 2014[edit]

It's been too long since we last had the pleasure of each other's company. There's again an opportunity to meet on Sunday morning at a picnic on Torrens Island (see the invitation here) but you'll need to book a place today.

Otherwise, any suggestions for a date for a meetup in the city? Tuesday nights especially are out for me. Cheers, Bahudhara (talk) 03:06, 21 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Preliminary discussion, April 2014[edit]

There wasn't any response to my earlier post, but I did have a chat with Bilby three weeks ago and we initially thought that the third Wednesday in March would be a good time for us - but in the end we were just too busy and time ran out on us.

So, how about the third Wednesday in April then? - it's the 16th. Or are there any other suggestions?

Bilby suggested using his campus space at UniSA, which has computers available, and supplying pizzas. We have also talked about trying to make this a more regular event, with guest speakers. There is a community history officer from HistorySA who is interested in coming along to meet us, so we need to fix a date. Cheers, Bahudhara (talk) 05:52, 21 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm keen. Will be good to meet some local Wikipedians after recently joining the fold.Danimations (talk) 02:41, 27 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Count me in Doug butler (talk) 22:06, 27 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Now that we have a couple of registrations, and no suggestions for alternative dates, I'll lock in Wednesday 16 April after I've had confirmation from Bilby that his suggested venue is available. I'll also contact the community history officer from HistorySA who offered to come. (She helped to organise the recent digitisation workshop at the State Library - see the flickr photos of the event here. Details of the event, as well as information on future workshops can be found here.) Cheers, Bahudhara (talk) 00:31, 28 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Bilby is now back, and has just confirmed the venue for the 16th. Cheers, Bahudhara (talk) 07:30, 4 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Meetup 8, Wednesday, 16 April 2014[edit]

Time: 7:30pm

Location: 27 North Terrace, Adelaide. (Located in the red SM building next door to the Riviera Hotel. Signs will be on the door).

Guest(s): Catherine Manning, HistorySA's on-line programs manager (formerly, curator at the Migration Museum)

Food arrangements: Pizza and drinks.

Proposed attendees:

Bahudhara
Bilby
Donama
Doug butler
Pdfpdf
Tullyis

Apologies:

Brudder Andrusha
cowdy001
Daniel
Danimations
Philiashasspots
Touring123

I'm suggesting a relatively late starting time, as I will be attending the SA NRM Science Conference on 15-16 April. The event concludes with a post-event networking drinks event which finishes at 7pm, leaving me enough time to get to the other end of North Tce for the WP Meetup. I find these sorts of events useful for making new contacts, so hopefully there may be some additional interest among the conference attendees for our Meetup. There's already one of my other acquaintances who has indicated that she will be coming. Cheers, Bahudhara (talk) 03:10, 7 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Just to clarify the location - it is at the University of South Australia, City West Campus. The map displays it as the SM building in the top left corner. If you are walking down North Terrace, it is just past the main UniSA campus when walking away from the city, just past the Riviera hotel. I'll make sure that there are signs on the door. - Bilby (talk) 12:28, 7 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm still trying to get a guest speaker. The task might be a little difficult, because I've just had the news that the National Trust of SA, in conjunction with the Adelaide City Council, will be simultaneously holding the launch of the Adelaidepedia website - at Ayres House, at the other end of North Terrace! Due to it being an invitation-only affair with the Governor in attendance, it won't be possible to merge the two events.

It will be different to how Wikipedia works, in that it will have more restricted geographical coverage, being limited to the area of the City of Adelaide (which is sponsoring the website); and rather than allowing anonymous editing (which is responsible for a lot of the vandalism that occurs on Wikipedia), editing will be essentially by invitation - which should make it a more reliable source. So, I can imagine that Adelaidepedia will become a great resource for setting up crosslinks to Wikipedia, and vice-versa. Cheers, Bahudhara (talk) 06:19, 10 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Catherine Manning confirmed as guest speaker. Cheers, Bahudhara (talk) 08:03, 10 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I fly out to Japan on the morning of the 16th :( Sorry all, would have been there with bells on otherwise! Have fun! Daniel (talk) 12:09, 10 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'll put it on my calendar and make an effort to come along. About time I got to one of these. Thanks for organising. Cheers Donama (talk) 02:23, 13 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm afraid I have to make an apology for Wednesday night... I have a double-booking and my other engagement is the AGM of a non-profit organisation I'm a part of. There's an election taking place and I'm nominated for a position, so unfortunately, that takes precedence. I hope you all have an enjoyable night. Danimations (talk) 10:15, 14 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Apology on this occasion, keep me posted for future events Screech1616 (talk) 12:38, 14 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I am interested in attending, still open for more people? Can not guarantee 100% at the moment my availability due to uni work but should know soon. blue520 04:32, 15 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

That's fine, there'll be plenty of room. One person at today's NRM Science conference seems quite interested, and I now have permission to put up posters advertising our event, so that may attract some additional interest. (BTW, the presiding member of the AMLR NRM Board, Professor Chris Daniels, approves of our project.) Cheers, Bahudhara (talk) 15:02, 15 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry can not make it this evening, have just got back from taking a cat to the Vet and need to keep an eye on it this evening. Hope it is a good evening for all. blue520 09:48, 16 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm in! Some possibility I'll bring along a friend whose made a few edits (as in, 15, heh), but more likely he'll be too busy. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 07:09, 15 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Meeting summary[edit]

Eleven people turned up - including four persons of the feminine gender(!) and two newbie-editors.
After an informal chat where those present informed each other of what their Wikipedia editing interests are, we moved into a room with a table and a projector and had a guided look at the developing History SA website, under the guidance of Catherine Manning, our guest presenter.
Many and various discussions covering a very wide range of topics followed.
One of the outcomes was the decision to have an ~~Editathon~~ event during History Week in May 2014.
Those remaining then adjourned to Hindley Street where kebabs, falafels, and other unspeakable concoctions were consumed. Pdfpdf (talk) 15:16, 19 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Attendees:

User talk:Adrian J. Hunter
User talk:Alex Sims‎
User talk:Bahudhara‎
User talk:Bilby‎
User talk:Doug butler‎
User talk:Pdfpdf
User talk:Studiojproduction
User talk:Tullyis‎
plus two new editors
plus our guest speaker, Catherine Manning from History SA.

Pdfpdf (talk) 15:52, 19 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Apologies:

Bahudhara (talk) 02:49, 20 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Comments and suggestions for future meetings[edit]

With 11 participants, including guest Catherine Manning from History SA, and 9 apologies (+ one other who didn't make it), there was a lot of interest in the meetup. (The number of page views of this page—which peaked at 180 on 10 April, with secondary peaks of 118 on 12 April, and 66 on 14 & 16 April—suggests a high level of general interest; however, there are less than 30 users currently watching this page.)

Perhaps selecting a date just before Easter wasn't such a good choice. Having it in the evening of the second day of a very intense NRM Science conference didn't result in any response from that event. There was some interest from people I spoke with there, but I found I was suffering from information overload at the end of it, so I imagine that others felt likewise. Despite this, Bilby and I still think that the 3rd Wednesday of the month is a good time for future meetups (unless there are any strong objections).

Catherine has moved to the on-line projects manager position in History SA only a couple of weeks ago, but she gave us an overview of how the History SA website is developing. Unfortunately at present the History SA Board has chosen not to release their images under a Creative Commons licence, which precludes their use on Wikipedia. However they will be generating more content, which will be useful as reliable source material for us. She has seen a preview of the Adelaidepedia site which, despite its official launch, doesn't appear to be live yet. Apparently this website will be aimed towards mobile users wanting information when visiting locations within the Adelaide City Council area. (I have briefly spoken with the developer of the site, Darren Peacock of NTSA, and arranged to meet with him soon. He said that Adelaidepedia will draw on WP as part of the 'semantic web'. Catherine said that Darren was previously involved with developing the History SA website, and he said that he knows Bilby as well.)

I mentioned some of the meetings that Bilby and I have had with some of our cultural institutions, with the aim of setting up a local GLAM-Wiki collaboration. Last December we met with Lesley Sharp of the State Library of SA. Some time ago we met with Suzanne Miller at the SA Museum, but as she has now moved on, we will have to re-establish contact with the new Director.

My view is that the Friends groups and Visitor Guides attached to the various cultural institutions may be the best source of new WP editors capable of making significant contributions to articles on SA topics, and that experienced local WP editors can play a useful mentoring role. Although progress in setting up an official GLAM-Wiki project has been slow so far, at least we have started the conversation. Alexis Tindall of the SA Museum has asked to be kept informed of our progress.

Bilby mentioned the current debate on WP over paid editing and perceived conflicts of interests, which he expects will be resolved soon.

Tullyis mentioned a small WP Editathon she organised recently at Flinders Uni.

I'd like to see meetups continue on a monthly basis. The suggestion is for an ~~Editathon~~ (not everyone likes the name) to be held in May (which is History Month), perhaps concentrating on a topic like North Terrace - the third Wednesday is the 21st. I will try to arrange a speaker for the 18 June meeting, if everyone is agreeable (I already have someone in mind to approach). Cheers, Bahudhara (talk) 02:29, 20 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the welcome the other night and thanks to User:Pdfpdf for putting the invite on my talk page.

The small edit-a-thon I organised at Flinders was part of this broader event: Wikipedia:Meetup/ArtAndFeminism_2014, which had a lot of attendees worldwide and received a bit of press.

What do people have against the term edit-a-thon? I like it because it implies a collaborative, short-term burst of energy for a common goal. It doesn't imply a long commitment - which may put some off - nor a social purpose, though it has a social dimension. I think it's less intimidating than other ways of characterising a Wikipedia event. What might others suggest as an alternative?

This page has suggestions for Wikipedia:How_to_run_an_edit-a-thon. I think, whatever one calls it, a useful thing to do is have a worklist: a list of topics potential editors might turn to. It helps focus the mind and fire the imagination.

I can't make 21 May or 18 June (school governing council meetings with very set meeting dates). Any chance we could make it the 14th or 28th May? If not, I should be able to make July and August dates Tullyis (talk) 16:17, 20 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

May 14 is no good for me as I have commitments to various other committees, but the 28th would be OK. In general, the 2nd Tuesday, 2nd Wednesday, 3rd Thursday and 4th Tuesday of each month are out for me; and Thursdays in general aren't so good because of other bi-monthly meetings. Cheers, Bahudhara (talk) 21:56, 20 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Correction - actually, all Tuesdays are out for me (just remembered another commitment!), Thurdays not so bad - only the 3rd of the month, and the 1st in even-numbered months (plus occasional others, usually quarterly) are out for me. Cheers, Bahudhara (talk) 01:21, 22 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]