Note from Andrea: And we’re back! If you are a long-time reader of Unwritten Histories, you know that last year I helped Krista and Jessica promote the first Canadian history Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. So of course I’m super excited to do so again! While I am not teaching this semester, last year my students participated in the Edit-a-thon and really loved it. I’ll include some more information about what I did at the end of this post.
In October 2017 Krista McCracken and I hosted the first Canada Wide Wikipedia Edit-a-thon for Canadian history. This national event encouraged folks from across Canada to join us in editing Canadian history content on Wikipedia and much to our surprise they did!
The event resulted in 12.9K words being added to Wikipedia, 259 total edits being completed, over 36 editors contributing, and 60 articles being edited. We had numerous classes, community groups, and individuals participate from all over Canada. You can read a full summary of the event on Krista’s website.
I was particularly thrilled to have Grade 9 students from Connect Charter School in Calgary, Alberta participate in this event. Educators Chris Wilding and Jaime Groeller and students Lucas Braun and Benjamin Green wrote about and shared their experiences in an article on CanadasHistory.ca.
On October 24, 2018 we will be hosting the second annual Canada Wide Canadian History edit-a-thon. We’re inviting folks from throughout Canada to join us in editing Canadian history content on Wikipedia. Keep reading to learn about what an edit-a-thon is and find out how you too can participate
Krista McCracken is a public history professional currently working as an Archives Supervisor at Algoma University’s Arthur A. Wishart Library and Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre. Krista’s research primarily focuses on community archives, residential schools, access, educational outreach and Northern Ontario. She lives and works on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and Métis people.
Jessica Knapp is a public historian working at Canada’s History Society. In her role as the Online Engagement Coordinator, she creates and shares engaging digital content that directly connects Canada’s History Society with a variety of history oriented communities, such as, teachers, museum and history professionals, and academic historians. She is active in the public history community in Canada and internationally through the National Council on Public History.