Wikipedia and Europeana edit-a-thons focus on the First World War

Volunteers around Europe and Australia are due to meet to remember and write about the First World War in edit-a-thons and online events that aim to improve the coverage of the war on Wikipedia.

In the edit-a-thons, people will come together to write new or expand existing Wikipedia articles in a language of their choice. The events, organised by the Wikimedia movement together with Europeana (Europe’s digital library and archive), local museums and other partners, will take place on 29 June.

'We will be using material from Europeana's enormous First World War portal so that we can add amazing pictures to the articles that we are working on. This really does add tons of value to the articles that we have on Wikipedia,' explained the coordinator of the edit-a-thons, John Andersson from Wikimedia Sverige.

'This is a great way to make connections between Wikimedia and local museums as well as between Wikimedia chapters in different countries. We want to show how far we have come and how much has changed since the war and how all kinds of new collaborations are possible through modern technology,' he added.