Have you ever wondered why the information in Wikipedia is extensive for some topics and scarce for others? For Halloween 2017, the University's Information Services team are running an edit-a-thon to celebrate the lives of those sadly passed on.
Working together with liaison librarians, archivists & academic colleagues we will provide training on how to edit and participate in an open knowledge community. Participants will be supported to develop articles covering areas which could stand to be improved.
Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. Traditionally, it is celebrated from the very beginning of one Celtic day to its end, or in the modern calendar, from sunset on 31 October to sunset on 1 November.
Samhain was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld could more easily be crossed. This meant the Aos Sí, the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into our world. Offerings of food and drink were left outside for them. The souls of the dead were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality.
Come join us as we set a place for the dead; through helping to create new biography articles and improving existing articles as part of a day of celebration.
New editors very welcome. Full Wikipedia training given. Thereafter the afternoon's editathon will focus on improving the quality of Wikipedia articles relating to notable lives unearthed from newspaper obituary articles!
Hit list of articles to be created or improved[edit]
Helpful updates could be as simple as: Making sure reference links are still appropriate and functional; Adding new inline citations/references; Adding a photo; Adding an infobox; Adding data to more fields in an existing infobox; Creating headings; Adding categories; etc.
The Wikipedia Manual of Style has a lot of great information on the formatting & style of an article so please do consult it, especially if you are not sure how or where to begin & looking for help with writing the lead section.
All are welcome to add names to the list which is intended to serve as a basis for creating new articles in this important but somewhat neglected sector on the English Wikipedia.
The following is a small sample of topics to work on. Feel free to come up with your own ideas!
William Lindsay Renwick - William joined the tenth battalion of the Cameronians (The Royal Scottish Rifles) on 27th September 1914. He experienced trench warfare with this regiment & rose quickly in the ranks to become a Captain, serving at home and in France where his battalion took part in the Battle of Loos. William returned to civilian life in 1919 and enrolled at Merton College at Oxford University where he completed a thesis on the renaissance poet, Edmund Spenser, and graduated with a B.Litt degree in 1920. William then returned to Glasgow where he lectured for a short spell at Glasgow University; residing at 32 Keir Street, Pollokshields. It was during this period of 1920-21, that he enrolled for one year in evening classes at The Glasgow School of Art in order to learn bookbinding. Following this, William moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne to become Professor of English Literature at the University of Durham in 1921. He remained in this role for the next twenty-four years. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, William joined the Home Guard where he was made a commander. He also spent a year in China as a visiting Professor, lecturing with the British Council. William was appointed Regis Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature at Edinburgh University. Moving to a new home in Edinburgh overlooking Arthur’s Seat, he was to remain in this role until he retired in 1959. Entry on William Lindsay Renwick at the Glasgow School of Art WW1 Roll of Honour project.University Story Biography:[63]
Sethu Vijayakumar page created. Sethu Vijayakumar is Professor of Robotics at the University of Edinburgh and a judge on the BBC2 show Robot Wars. He was instrumental in bringing the first Valkyrie humanoid robot out of the United States of America, and to Europe.
Brenda Moon - Librarian to the University of Edinburgh from 1980 to 1996. She was the first female chief of a university library in Scotland, and one of the first female librarian chiefs of a major UK research university.
Janet Anne Galloway(1841–1909) promoted higher education for women in Scotland. As a result of the limited educational opportunities open to women, Janet became an active supporter of the movement for higher education provision for women. In 1877 Janet was appointed as the honorary secretary of the new Glasgow Association for the Higher Education of Women, founded by Jessie Campbell and financed by Isabella Elder. John Caird, principal of Glasgow University at the time, was the first Chairman of its General Committee.
Katherine Clerk Maxwell - a Scottish physical scientist best known for her observations which supported and contributed to the discoveries of her husband, James Clerk Maxwell. She born Katherine Dewar in 1824 In Glasgow and married Clerk Maxwell in 1859. Her contributions are largely recorded in writings on her husband, partly due to a fire at the Maxwell family estate which destroyed many of the family papers.
James MacLagan - a Church of Scotland minister and collector of Scottish Gaelic poetry and song. He was the creator of the McLagan Manuscripts, a collection of some 250 manuscripts containing 630 items of primarily Gaelic song and poetry collected in the second half of the eighteenth century including many of the most well-known 17th- and 18th-century Gaelic poets such as Iain Lom, Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh and Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair.
Jeffery Collins - prolific electrical engineer who directed and researched experimental physics, robotics, microelectronics, communications technologies and parallel computing.
Susan Manning (professor) - Scottish academic born in Glasgow, Scotland. She specialized in Scottish studies and English literature. Before her untimely death in 2013 at the age of 59 years, she was the Grierson Professor in English literature in the University of Edinburgh and the Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities (IASH) an institute under the University of Edinburgh.
Magdalena Midgley - former Professor of the European Neolithic at the University of Edinburgh (2013-4), dedicated her archaeological career to teaching and researching early farming cultures of Continental Europe.
Ernest Francis Bashford - influential oncologist who pioneered the biological approach to the study of cancer.
Christian Kay - Emeritus Professor of English Language and Honorary Professorial Research Fellow in English Language at the University of Glasgow.
Anne Strachan Robertson - archeologist, numismatist and writer who was a professor of archeology at the University of Glasgow.
George Robin Henderson (mathematician) - Scots mathematician with a flair for music. Noted as an inspirational character in his field, he taught at Boroughmuir High School, lectured at Napier College, played cornet and tuba, and through the 1980s and 90s as a member of the MacTaggart Scott Works Band he revived the band and pushed them to have a "positive impact on the community".
William Lindsay Renwick - Professor of English Literature at the University of Durham from 1921 to 1945 and Regis Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature at Edinburgh University from 1945-1959.
Evelyn Gillan - Champion of women’s rights, co-founder of the Zero Tolerance campaign and the main proponent in bringing about a minimum alcohol pricing law in Scotland.
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Don't worry! If you haven't edited Wikipedia before and don't have a Wikipedia User Name yet, we will help you on the day of the event! And remember to have fun!