Submissions:2025/Improving Neighbourhood Wikipedia Articles
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This submission has been noted and is pending review for WikiConference North America 2025.
Title:
- Improving Neighbourhood Wikipedia Articles
Type of session:
- Lecture (15-30 min)
Session theme(s):
- Missing pieces, Future of Wikipedia
Abstract:
There is considerable room for improvement and innovation in neighbourhood Wikipedia articles. The Wikipedia article on Britannia Village, Ottawa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Village,_Ottawa includes a number of innovative features including:
- Photos from city and provincial archives/museums with labels and arrows that quickly aid the reader in comprehending their significance
- An interactive, self-guided, audio walking tour embedded directly into the article
- Photos and photo galleries with longer captions, particularly aimed at many readers who don’t read the body of the text but simply look at the photos and captions
- Use of both vertical and oblique aerial views of the same landscape to further a better understanding of a particular development (2 more vertical views will be added before the conference)
- A new interactive section on address-searchable, City of Ottawa databases related to flood potential, zoning and protected heritage properties
- A new type of map based on an aerial photo from the National Air Photo Library as an alternative to the Pushpin map in the Neighbourhood Infobox
- Sunny-day photographs that significantly increase aesthetic appeal
The following will also be discussed:
- copyright issues pertinent to archives/museums and Wikipedia requirements
- the use of superlative language, when merited, to emphasize national- or internationally-recognized achievements in the neighbourhood
- the use of newspaper clippings from Newspapers.com in Wikipedia including attribution
Author name(s):
Wikimedia username(s):
- Robert Neustadter
Affiliated organization(s):
- Retired principle scientist, National Research Council of Canada
Estimated length of session
- 30 minutes
Will you be presenting remotely?
- I will present in-person
Okay to livestream?
- Livestreaming is okay
Previously presented?
- At Wikimedia North America 2023 (Toronto), I made a 10-minute presentation on "An Alternative to Pushpin Maps in the Neighbourhood Infobox": https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/WikiConference_North_America%2C_Toronto%2C_November_11%2C_2023%2C_final.pdf
Special requests:
- - A PowerPoint presentation is being prepared