Join us for Open Access / Wikipedia Loves Libraries Week!
We will work to improve Wikipedia's coverage of underrepresented groups in Massachusetts and U.S. history. All participants, in-person and remote, are welcome.

When: Wednesday October 22nd, 2014, 3:30-8:30pm

Where: Digital Scholarship Commons in the Northeastern University Libraries. Make a right as you come out of the main library stairwell on the second floor.
Street address: Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.

Focus: Massachusetts History and Social Justice

Snacks? Yes! We will provide refreshments.

You do not need to be an experienced Wikipedia editor in order to attend, just bring a willingness to learn.

Shortcut to this page: bit.ly/NUOA14

Event Details

Interested in the history of activism? Want to learn some basics of creating new Wikipedia articles? Join us to increase Wikipedia's coverage of people, places, events, and organizations important to Massachusetts history and activism in the U.S., in honor of Open Access and Wikipedia Loves Libraries Week.

Northeastern's campus is near the Ruggles stop on the Orange Line or the Northeastern stop on the Green Line E Branch. More driving and parking directions are available here.

Please either RSVP below, or email the organizer so we know how many to expect. If you are unfamiliar with Wikipedia, try this training module which will help explain a lot of things, including how to add your signature. Or, sign up on the Meetup page.

About Us

Since 1998, the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections Department locates, secures, and makes accessible the most important and at-risk historical records of Boston's African American, Chinese, GLBTQ, and Latino communities, preserving the records of Boston-area social justice organizations that serve under-represented communities. The Digital Scholarship Group, also part of the library, opened in January 2014 and develops new tools and methods in representation, analysis, and dissemination of scholarship, teaching researchers at all levels about those new techniques, while also strengthening Northeastern’s expertise in research methods that engage and question the effects of the digital medium on culture and communication

Schedule

If possible, create your Wikipedia account ahead of time. If you can't, that's not a problem: we will help you at the Edit-a-thon. On the day of, you will just need to bring a laptop and power supply.

3:30pm - 4:00pm: Check-in and welcome.

Cookies and coffee somewhere in here.

4:00pm - 4:30pm: Beginner intro to Wikipedia editing and special collections

4:30pm - 4:45pm: Self-organize and choose article topics

4:45pm - 8:15pm: Edit party!

Pizza somewhere in here.

8:15pm - 8:30pm: Wrap-up and thanks

Logistics

Location and directions
Twitter: @ClubSnell or @Snell_Research
WiFi: Use NUWave-guest -- we will give out an access code in person
What to Bring: Attendees should bring their own laptops and power cords, and will need a photo ID to sign into the library. Just let the front desk staff know you are here for the edit-a-thon.
Contact the organizers: If you have questions ahead of time, contact Amanda Rust. For directions and help finding the building on the day of, call the library's Circulation Desk at (617) 373-8778.

Sign Up and Guest List

Attending

Participating Remotely

Regrets

Suggested Topics

Suggested articles for improvement and new articles to create, focused on Massachusetts and U.S. activism, but of course you are not limited to this list! Developed with help from the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections.

Articles to improve (Boston/MA history)

Carmen Pola, Latina activist and civic leader, she directed the Project to Monitor the Code of Discipline at the Massachusetts Advocacy Center, she was liaison to Boston’s Hispanic community during Raymond Flynn's successful mayoral bid in 1983, and she was the first director of Constituent Services under Flynn’s administration and later served as his senior advisor on human needs. View guide to her personal papers.
Muriel S. Snowden (1916-1988), an African American social worker, was with her husband a co-founder and co-director of Freedom House (Roxbury, Massachusetts), a center for neighborhood improvement and community activism in Roxbury, Massachusetts. View guide to their personal papers.
Elma Lewis, founder and leader of national organizations for African-Americans in the performing and visual arts. View guide to her personal papers
Boston Guild for the Hard of Hearing (1916-2003) provided services to people with hearing impairments, including lip reading classes and advocating for technologies to test and improve hearing. View guide to the records.
Community Resources for Justice provides services to ex–offenders to re–integrate them into society, and reforming the criminal justice system through public policy development. View guide to the records.
Phyllis M. Ryan, (1927-1998), social justice and political activist, supported school desegregation, prison reform, welfare reform, the establishment of disability rights, and civil rights organizations, such as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). View guide to her personal papers.
Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, founded in 1968, is a grassroots organization in Boston’s South End that provides services for youth, families, adults, and the elderly through community organizing, educational, civic, cultural, and peer leadership. View guide to the records.
Byron Rushing, Massachusetts State Representative who was interviewed through Northeastern University’s Lower Roxbury Black History Project, a collection of oral histories documenting Roxbury during the early to mid-twentieth century. View a list of participants and the guide to the records.
La Alianza Hispana, established in 1968, the first Latino organization in Boston, provides education, family counseling, public health, and youth development programs to Boston’s Latino community. View guide to the records.
Boston Society of Vulcans, founded in 1971 for the recruitment of African American and other minorities into the fire service. In 1972 the Boston Society of Vulcans, with assistance from the NAACP, Attorney Thomas Mela, and the Justice Department, filed a class action suit against the Civil Service Commission, which resulted in the City of Boston having to hire minorities on a one to one basis until minorities represented 26% of the fire fighting force; this was known as the Beecher certification.
Gay Community News (Boston), published by the Bromfield Street Educational Foundation, one of the most important LGBT news sources in the 1970s and 1980s and possibly the first LGBT weekly in the U.S View guide to Bromfield records.
The Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts View guide to Elma Ina Lewis School of Fine Arts records.
Triangle Theater Company (1979-1996) provided a supportive environment in which gay men and women could work in theater View guide to the records.

Articles to create (Boston/MA history)

Sarah R. Ehrmann (1895-1993), a Boston-area civic leader best known for her regional and national work as an opponent of capital punishment, sparked by the Sacco and Vanzetti case. View guide to her personal papers
Chartered as the Boston Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women in 1991, Boston Coalition of Black Women, Inc. provides African American women in Boston with a social and political forum and resources to become involved in the community through education, social, economic, and civil action. View guide to the records.
National Association of Black and White Men Together, the national organization, and the chapter in Boston, Men of All Colors Together (Boston, Mass.) (below) engages in educational, political, cultural, and social activities which foster supportive environments to overcome racial and cultural inequalities.
The Chinese Progressive Association, a grassroots community organization, was founded in 1977 to provide Chinatown residents a forum for their concerns and a way to communicate their vision for the community to officials of the City of Boston and of the Commonwealth. The Association provides support for workers and immigrants, particularly new Asian immigrants, needing translation services or other support. View guide to the records.