If you’re a proofreader, editor, writer, photographer or artist you can boost your profile by becoming a Wikipedia volunteer. There are 40 million articles on Wikipedia – and they all need proofreading, editing, updating, illustrating, etc. Kiwi Mike Dickerson has been appointed Wikipedian-At-Large and he has established his base in Whanganui. He’s looking for help with his task of tidying up Wikipedia.
Here’s why you should become a volunteer
- It’s a great way to increase and refine your knowledge in your field/s of special interest. Tip: Don’t dive into topics you know nothing about. If you’re into athletes’ health, stay clear of astrophysics. Get the idea?
- When you’re promoting your commercial services it helps your credibility when you can add: “I’m an editor for Wikipedia”, etc. (My friend Dr John Waughman wrote articles for Encyclopaedia Britannica and he said that gave him huge credibility worldwide.)
- You’ll meet other volunteers worldwide who can nominate you for paid gigs. Just as you will for them when you find potential collaborators.
Step 1: Listen to the 15 minutes radio interview with Mike Dickerson.
Step 2: Check out his website.
Step 3: Introduce yourself to Mike. Tell him your single BEST SKILL. Tell him FOUR TOPICS of which you have prior knowledge. Be very specific. Eg: Vegetable gardening in NZ; Trout fishing in NZ, etc. Having a NZ focus will be an advantage.
Step 4: Share your experience on the forum. Tell Principal Liza when you’ve completed your first Wikipedia gig.
Have fun. Make new friends. Put something back into the Wikipedia which fed you.
Brian Morris
Principal Emeritus
Brian Morris was the founding principal of NZIBS and has been a professional writer for 50 years. His first effort at age 7 (in pencil) was rejected by Reader’s Digest. Since then he has focused on writing non-fiction ebooks.
See Brian’s Amazon profile for his extensive list of publications. According to Brian …
My aim is to produce a new ebook every two weeks. My other aim is to show as many people as will listen how to write their own ebooks. That means giving talks to writers groups, ‘How-To’ workshops and NZIBS writing courses. I know the topics of my next 40 ebooks, but there are only 25 hours in a day.