2025:Program/Editing from Antarctica: the first international edit-a-thon from the southernmost continent

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Session title: Editing from Antarctica: the first international edit-a-thon from the southernmost continent

Session type: Poster

Track: Partnerships

Language: en

The first edit-a-thon from Antarctica is presented: seven researchers (of different nationalities) aboard the Italian icebreaker RV Laura Bassi decided to join the Wikipedia cause in January-February 2024, during an oceanographic campaign in the Ross Sea, in the framework of the Italian National Antarctic Research Program. They worked off-line due to limited Internet access and collaborated with Wikimedia Italy for publishing and formatting their articles. They created articles on Italian and English Wikipedia on topics related to Antarctica, the environment, and climate change. The Italian Wikipedia community followed their example, by launching a month of contribution on those topics, creating or improving more than 150 articles. Besides the “coolness” of the event, it was a remarkable example of how academic personnel can learn how important (and how funny) is to promote scientific dissemination and the spread of free knowledge through Wikimedia projects.

Description

Edit-a-thons are an important widespread tool to improve the content of Wikimedia projects and engage external people in the Wikimedia world. In January-February 2024, a particular edit-a-thon was launched aboard the icebreaker RV Laura Bassi, an Italian oceanographic vessel which was involved in a scientific campaign in the Ross Sea, the largest protected area in the world, in the framework of the Italian National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA). Yes, you read it right: Antarctica, the southernmost continent in the world, where to our knowledge no event such this was done before.

Researchers from different institutions (Italian and New Zealand) and countries (Italian, New Zealand, Australian, Dutch, German, American) were informed about the purposes and importance of Wikipedia and taught about how this project works and what an edit-a-thon is. Seven of them enthusiastically volunteered to join the cause and started to write articles about topics related to Antarctica, the environment, and climate change. Due to technical restrictions of limited Internet access, we had to work off-line with the sources we had available, coordinating with Wikimedia Italy to publish and formatting articles when they were finalized. Moreover, the Italian Wikipedia community was proposed to participate in a week of contribution about Antarctica and climate change, and the response exceeded our expectations: the week became a month, and then a whole new stable project on Italian Wikipedia, all dedicated to Antarctica, was launched. In the end, 6 new articles were created on Italian and English Wikipedia by the researchers from Antarctica (and 7 pictures were uploaded on Wikimedia Commons), while it.wiki community created or expanded 150 different articles throughout the contribution month.

Looking beyond the numbers and the record of being the first edit-a-thon in Antarctica, a huge satisfaction came when all the researchers aboard (also those who could not or preferred not to join the event) understood the importance of scientific dissemination even through non-institutional means like Wikipedia, allowing the spread of free knowledge and important discoveries to as wide an audience as possible.

The involved institutions were: (1) PNRA, funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, managed by CNR for scientific coordination, by ENEA for planning and logistical organization of activities at the bases on the continent, and by the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics – OGS for the technical and scientific management of the icebreaker ship Laura Bassi; (2) Antarctica New Zealand; (3) Wikimedia Italy.

How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 – Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?

The illustrated edit-a-thon saw the collaboration of researchers from different countries (Italy, New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands), marking an example of wikipedian and academic collaboration and inclusivity. This is also an example of the impact that the projects can have and can profit from the work of high-profile academic personnel. The topic of the event (environment and climate change) is also crucial with sustainability.

What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Everyone can participate in this session

Speakers

• Francisco Ardini

Wikipedian from 2006, most active on Italian Wikipedia, Wikiquote, Wikibooks and also Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons. Since 2021 I have coordination roles in Wikimedia Italy chapter. Professor of analytical chemistry at the University of Genoa, studying polar environments for contamination and climate interests. Since 2020 I have brought the Wikimedia world to some educational projects with students and colleagues, hoping to make everyone understand how these projects can benefit from their support and how they can be useful for them.