I'm Caddie Brain. I've been an active Wikipedian since 2016, mostly writing about Northern Territory people, places and histories. I'm was formerly the Executive Officer of Wikimedia Australia.
As a Wikimedia Australia Partner Project, this project focuses on updating and growing the Northern Territory’s environmental pages including - plants, animals, ecosystems, major projects, key players and looking to build First Nations representation on Wikimedia platforms in a self-determined way. It is supporting me to be a Wikipedian-in-Residence at the NT Environment Centre, where a public information session/edit-a-thon will be held for members/networks in 2024.
Wikiclub NT was a multi-year effort to create and update Wikipedia pages related to Northern Territory history, places and people. The Northern Territory is poorly represented on Wikipedia. When the project began, there were a mere 1700 pages relating to the Northern Territory compared to more than 10,000 pages on Western Australia. Aspects of Territory history of great significance and interest at a local, national and international level were not covered in Wikipedia, and were therefore invisible to a vast audience, including to Territorians themselves. It enabled the launch of a series of workshops providing training in Wikipedia editing, followed by a monthly program of edit-a-thons for new editors to come together to create and update pages about the Northern Territory. It also supported the delivery of the first- ever Wikipedia training workshops in Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek. Participants were trained and are now active editors of Wikipedia, working together to double the number of Wikipedia pages for the NT. Wikiclub NT was supported by the Northern Territory Government through a Department of Tourism and Culture History Grant, Northern Territory Library, Wikimedia Australia and the Wikimedia Foundation through a Quick Response Grant.
Just 18 per cent of biographies on Wikipedia are about women. When it comes to women artists and creators, that number is even lower. I've been co-coordinating the National Gallery of Australia's Know My Name initiative which aims to enhance understanding and appreciation of work by Australian artists who identify as women. Each year on the weekend of International Women's Day, Wikipedia edit-a-thons are growing around Australia to significantly increase the representation of women creators, scientists and leaders on the world's biggest information platform.
