An edit-a-thon (sometimes written editathon) is an event where some editors of

online communities An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a community whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet. Members of the community usually share common interests. For many, online communities may fe ...

such as

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed g ...

(also as a "

mapathon A mapathon (sometime written map-a-thon) is a coordinated mapping event and a kind of editathon. The public is invited to make online map improvements in their local area to improve coverage and to help disaster risk assessment and energy manageme ...

"), and

LocalWiki LocalWiki is a collaborative project that aims to collect and open the world's local knowledge. The LocalWiki project was founded by DavisWiki creators Mike Ivanov and Philip Neustrom and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in San F ...

edit and improve a specific topic or type of content. The events typically include basic editing training for new editors and may be combined with a more general social meetup. The word is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsmarathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

". An edit-a-thon can either be "in-person" or online or a blended version of both. If it is not in-person, it is usually called a "virtual edit-a-thon" or "online edit-a-thon".

Locations (in-person events)

Wikipedia edit-a-thons have taken place at

Wikimedia chapter Wikimedia chapters are national or sub-national not-for-profit organizations created to promote the interests of Wikimedia projects locally. Chapters are legally independent of the Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or ...

headquarters; accredited educational institutions, including

Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Rohnert Park in Sonoma County, California, US. It is one of the smallest members of the California State University (CSU) system. Sonoma State offers 92 Bachelor's d ...

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

, and the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

; scientific research institutions such as the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences; and

cultural institutions A cultural institution or cultural organization is an organization within a culture/subculture that works for the preservation or promotion of culture. The term is especially used of public and charitable organizations, but its range of meaning can ...

, such as

museums A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

archives An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

Online/remote events

Several Wikipedia edit-a-thons have been held during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

adhering to social distancing measures. These events have been held online using synchronous voice and video chat as well as through asynchronous message boards and forums.

Topics

The events have included topics such as cultural heritage sites, museum collections,

women's history Women's history is the study of the role that women have played in history and the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman's rights throughout recorded history, personal achievement over a period of ...

, art, feminism, narrowing Wikipedia's gender gap, and

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

issues. Women, African Americans, and members of the

LGBT community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a comm ...

are using edit-a-thons to bridge the gap in Wikipedia's sexual and racial makeup and to challenge the under-representation of Africa-related topics.

Organizers

Some Wikipedia edit-a-thons have been organized by Wikipedians in residence. The OpenStreetMap community has also hosted several edit-a-thons.

Examples

Carol Ann Whitehead at Manchester University

* The "Wiki loves SDGs" initiative held a week-long online edit-a-thon on topics around the

Sustainable Development Goals The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".United Nations (2017) R ...

. The event took place online in September 2020 during

Global Goals Week 'Global Goals Week'' is a shared commitment between a coalition of over 160 partners across all industries, which mobilizes annually in September to bring together communities, demand urgency, and supercharge solutions for the Sustainable Develo ...

. It was organized by Project Everyone, an NGO in the UK, and had around 300 registered participants, 108 active contributors and 64 new editors. Most of the participants were from

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

and seven out of the nine prize winners were from Africa. The event focused on improving SDG-related content on the English Wikipedia (some improvements were also made to the Spanish, Macedonian, Catalan and Portuguese Wikipedias). About 500 articles were improved.

Jimmy Wales Jimmy Donal Wales (born August 7, 1966), also known on Wikipedia by the pseudonym Jimbo, is an American-British Internet entrepreneur, webmaster, and former financial trader. He is a co-founder of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedi ...

attended the closing ceremony and presented the nine awards to the most engaged volunteers. * In August 2018
Future Climate for Africa
and the

Climate and Development Knowledge Network The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) works to enhance the quality of life for the poorest and most vulnerable to climate change. CDKN does this by combining research, advisory services and knowledge management in support of local ...

convened the first African Wikipedia edit-a-thon on climate change in Cape Town South Africa. * The longest took place at the

Museo Soumaya The Museo Soumaya is a private museum in Mexico City and a non-profit cultural institution with two museum buildings in Mexico City — Plaza Carso and Plaza Loreto. It has over 66,000 works from 30 centuries of art including sculptures from Pre-H ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

from June 9 to 12, 2016, where Wikimedia Mexico volunteers and museum's staff edited during 72 continuous hours. The record was recognized by

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

. * Since 2014, Art+Feminism has held world-wide edit-a-thons annually to expand the histories of women, feminism, and arts found on Wikipedia, and to dismantle the biases on how women are represented online. 2019 marks the expansion of the movement to include "gender non-binary activists and artists". * The global Ada Lovelace Day Edit-a-thon, an initiative to improve the diversity of Wikipedia articles, was co-created by Carol Ann Whitehead and

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

Expert, Susan Dolan. It took place on October 9, 2019, in Manchester at The Pankhurst Centre.

Gallery

References

External links

OpenStreetMap 'Mapathons'
{{Wikipedia Activism by type OpenStreetMap Wikipedia