Join us for the fourth annual Black Histories Wikipedia Edit-a-thon! This year’s series of events includes an in-person Edit-a-thon for the York Community on February 6, 2025, from 1pm-3pm and an online edit-a-thon on February 12, 2025, from 12pm–4 pm. The series will also feature a keynote by York alumni Dr. Kisha McPherson, currently Assistant Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Professional Communication, with a focus on media and Black youth, on February 25, 2025, from 1pm-2:30pm.
Representation matters. Not just on screens and pages, but in the information and data we share. Anyone can make a difference by helping to improve coverage of Black histories, with a particular focus on Toronto and local information. By editing Wikipedia, anyone can diversify online knowledge, impacting Wikipedia but also the internet and AI’s knowledgebase, writ large.
The event is collaboratively hosted by York University Libraries, University of Toronto Libraries, Toronto Metropolitan University Library, and the Toronto Public Library. “This edit-a-thon series aims to engage with students and our wider Toronto community to come together and diversity content on local Black histories, knowledges, and experiences. Black editors (as well as all people of colour) are underrepresented as Wikipedia editors and Wikipedia’s content has huge gaps of knowledge, particularly for Black Canadian and local history. We want to empower our students to contribute and become editors; we want our students to be inspired and feel equipped to write their own histories into public knowledgebases,” says Alexandra Wong, co-organizer of the event, and data visualization and analytics librarian.
How to participate
Join us for this beginner-friendly editing event to help improve the coverage of Black histories, with a focus on Toronto and Canada. Haven’t edited before? No problem. An optional training session for editing Wikipedia will be offered at the start of the online event and throughout the in-person edit-a-thon.
Throughout the entire event series, we'll be editing together—you can drop in or out anytime. Facilitators will also be available for any questions and one-on-one support.
Learn more and register for the events at https://bhetoronto.my.canva.site/
The event series consists of:
- York in-person edit-at-thon: Thursday, February 6, 2025, 1-3pm
- Register here: https://yorku.libcal.com/event/3877613
- Online edit-a-thon: Wednesday, February 12, 2025, 12–4 pm
- Keynote event: Tuesday, February 25, 2025, 1-2:30pm
- Registration to open shortly: https://bhetoronto.my.canva.site/