User:Carlinmack/Wiki World Challenge

For me the wiki world is so enriching to contribute to and time spent editing feels like time well spent. The idea with this challenge is to get you familiar with many different possible things, how they work and how easy a lot of this stuff is :)

Before we can begin, if you haven't already you ought to make a Wiki account. This actually isn't necessary as you can edit without one, but I think it's preferable

1. Tip: After you have created your account, go straight to the settings, scroll to the bottom and enable "Display newcomer homepage". This will enable your personal Homepage which has some nifty things which could help you on your quest

I've split it into three parts as to be manageable, and I've prepared a shorter version of this for you to "clone" and put on your user page

Template

🧙🏻‍♂️The WikiGnome Quest🧙🏻‍♂️

1. Fix a typo and/or formatting
   • Edit:
2. Add an image/video to a page
   • Edit:
3. Caption an image
   • Edit:
4. Add a link between articles
   • Edit:
5. Add a citation
   • Edit:

Bonus: if you know another language, edit in your own language

👭The Sister Site Challenge👭

1. Make some edits on Wikivoyage
   • Edit:
2. Add something to Commons
   • Edit:
3. Add something to Wikidata
   • Edit:
4. Proofread and/or validate something on Wikisource
   • Edit:
5. Contribute to OpenStreetMap
   • Done:

🧙🏻‍♂️ The WikiGnome Quest, Part Two 🧙🏻‍♂️

1. Add a category to an article
   • Edit:
2. Add a sentence to a stub
   • Edit:
3. Add something to current events
   • Edit:
4. Transcribe something on Wikisource
   • Edit:
5. De-orphan an article
   • Edit:

Finally Be Bold!

🧙🏻‍♂️ The WikiGnome Quest 🧙🏻‍♂️

This challenge is all about gaining the skills of a good WikiGnome

1. Fix a typo and/or formatting
   • Tip: Learn how to use the visual editor to make edits
   • Tip: If you are unsure about how things should be formatted, you can check out the Manual of Style
   • Idea: Here's some pages which have some issues last I checked. Otherwise the best way to find issues is to be curious and read what interests you
     • ACT UP#Edinburgh
     • Animal cafe#Sheep café
   • Idea: If you can't find something, Wikipedia has a hidden system for collecting pages with issues, here is the category for articles that need copyediting (typos/formatting help)
2. Caption an image
   • Idea: The WikiGnome category for articles with images which need captions
3. Add an image/video to a page
   • Tip: To find images, search on Commons which is the media repository from Wikipedia. For me I find it easier to use the source editor to add images as the visual editor media search can be a bit unhelpful
   • Idea: The WikiGnome category for articles needing additional images
   • Idea: It can be very valuable to use things that are already on Commons, but it can take a bit of trial and error. All these examples are for films as that's what I'm most familiar with
     • You could look at films released in 1929 and find a page like Madame X (1929 film) which is uploaded to Commons
     • You could look at Charlie Chaplin's short films and find A Day's Pleasure which is on Commons
     • You could also go the other way, look at things in the 1929 US films category and there will be a section at the bottom of the film called "File usage on other wikis" and you want to see if it's on en.wikipedia.org. If not, like with Lady of the Pavements (1929) you can add the film to the page
4. Add a link between articles
   • Idea: This is as simple as reading Wikipedia and adding a link when you come across something which isn't something common knowledge like an acronym such as UPADS
5. Add a citation
   • Tip: This is a pretty uncontroversial way to contribute as ideally every sentence on Wikipedia should be cited (caveat that the lead section generally doesn't need to be cited as long as the citations are found in the body)
   • Tip: Introduction to referencing with VisualEditor
   • Idea: It's easiest to find something niche to cite yourself, but if not you can check out the Task Center: Fact-Checking

Bonus: if you know another language, edit in your own language

👭The Sister Site Challenge👭

1. Make some edits on Wikivoyage — the wiki for tourists
   • Idea: Read the article for the place you grew up, you live or are most familiar with and there's likely something you can correct, for example Guelph, South London, etc
2. Add something to Commons — the media repository for Wikipedia
   • Idea: The WikiShootMe tool shows you things near you that haven't yet been photographed!
   • Idea: If you have any unique photos — you've taken a decent photo of a public figure, a rare road sign, etc — it might be worth uploading to Commons
3. Add something to Wikidata — the structured data analog to Wikipedia
   • Tip: Start here to learn more about Wikidata
   • Idea: Add the most recent BAFTA award winners (i.e. each winner/nominee should have a property like "award received" "Bafta Award for ...")
4. Proofread and/or validate something on Wikisource — the wiki library of free texts
   • Idea: Help proofread and validate the monthly challenge
5. Contribute to OpenStreetMap! This is not a Wikimedia Foundation project, but a highly successful wiki project that is used by many of the largest companies in the world like Facebook and Uber, as well as helping in disaster efforts (see below)
   • Idea: Have an Android phone and want to get off the computer and go outside? Download StreetComplete and contribute to OpenStreetMap! This is outside the Wikimedia ecosystem, but probably my favourite way to contribute to open information as it gets me out and about
   • Info: In the template above I don't suggest you share your edits as that will identify where you are ahah
   • Idea: Help out devastated communities around the world via HotOSM

🧙🏻‍♂️ The WikiGnome Quest, Part Two 🧙🏻‍♂️

1. Add a category to an article
   • Tip: I recommend enabling HotCat as this makes editing categories a lot easier
   • Tip: Everything you'd want to know about categorisation
   • Idea: This one kinda requires you to be familiar with what categories there are so you can spot when something could be in a category. For me I like adding things like Category:Two-player card games, Category:Internet memes introduced in 2024, Category:Gay-related films, etc
2. Add a sentence to a stub
   • Idea: Check out the Task Center: Expand a Short Article
3. Edit or add something to current events
   • Tip: It's worth familiarising yourself with how stories are reported here before looking for news to add. Generally stories are from diverse sources and most of the words in the stories are linked to relevant wiki articles
4. Transcribe something on Wikisource, similar to the challenge above but now you are helping create the pages which will be proofread
   • Tip: You'll want to read introduction to Wikisource
   • Idea: Help out with the current community collaboration
5. De-orphan an article
   • Info: An "orphan" article on Wikipedia is one which no other article links to. This means that you can't click around Wikipedia to find this page. Here are the new orphans in March 2025

Participants

• Carlinmack (talk · contribs)