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WikiProject report

Kia ora WikiProject New Zealand


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Submit your project's news and announcements for next week's WikiProject Report at the Signpost's WikiProject Desk.
Milford Sound (Piopiotahi in Māori), a fjord in the southwest of New Zealand's South Island, is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination

This week, we take our first look at WikiProject New Zealand. Started in September 2004 by SimonLyall, the Project has 90 members and is home to 16 Featured articles, 4 Featured lists, 41 Good articles and a Featured portal, with a total of over 26,000 assessed articles. The Signpost spoke with Project members Stuartyeates, gadfium, Schwede and Avenue.

The article on Kakapo (also called owl parrot), a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand, is a Featured article of WP:NZ
There's usually somebody who can answer any Māori-related questions at the Māori task force
Wikipedians can help document historic heritage sites such as The Press Building, which suffered extensive damage in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, and had to be demolished
Auckland, the "City of Sails", with a population of 1,354,900 or 31 percent of the country's population, is New Zealand's most populous city

Stuartyeates is a kiwi Wikipedian who has been contributing since December 2004. He says that, "contributing to the Project was a no-brainer, since the subject matter was all around me". An administrator at the English Wikipedia, gadfium is also an administrator and bureaucrat on the Māori Wikipedia. A long-term resident of New Zealand, he has also lived in Ireland, Australia and the United States, "which allows me to make an informed choice that New Zealand is a very nice place to live. To contribute about one's local area or country is almost a default position, with good reference material available in public and university libraries, and access to local knowledge from social networks". Originally from Germany, Schwede66 now lives in New Zealand, and has been on Wikipedia since October 2009: "I have an interest in politics, history and the built environment. Given that I live in Christchurch, WikiProject New Zealand is the logical home for me." Avenue has been a Wikipedian since November 2004: "I live in NZ too, so it's a natural fit, and there's plenty of overlap with my interests in geography and history."

Your Project has over 26,200 articles associated with it. How does the Project keep all these up to standard, and what are its biggest challenges?

WikiProject New Zealand has 16 Featured articles, 4 Featured lists, 41 Good articles and a Featured portal. How did your Project achieve this and how can other Projects work toward this?

Does WP:NZ collaborate with any other WikiProjects?

Do your members face any problems when it comes to translating sources or materials from the Māori language?

What are the most pressing needs for WikiProject New Zealand? How can a new contributor help today?

Anything else to add?

Next week, you'll learn to respect your elders. Until then, read about the good old days in the archive.


















Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-10-03/WikiProject_report