Today on the island
To bring the report this week, we sailed out to meet the members of WikiProject Islands – first created in 2008 by ERK, and now with just under 30 members and 43 pieces of recognised content, you can't say they haven't been successful so far. The project covers an area of geography relevant to many of us, because if you live on Greenland, Borneo, Madagascar, Great Britain, Tasmania, Java, Newfoundland, Cuba, Iceland or even Kauai (and the rest), you live in an area this project can make a difference to. Of course, you can always lend them a hand in their quest to document every place surrounded by water. Some of the projects members agreed to give us an interview: MusikAnimal, PaintedCarpet, Victor Lopes, Wikirictor, Muffin Wizard and Danimations.
What motivated you to become a member of WikiProject Islands? Do you live on one or have relevant experience?
- MusikAnimal: I do live on one, it's called Manhattan. I'm also an avid traveler, and am fascinated by the intrigue remote islands have, particularly uninhabited ones. We often know so little, even when the island itself is so little! Through this WikiProject, we can help document what the world knows about these amazing pieces of land, to sort of quench the thirst for knowledge of the unknown.
- PaintedCarpet: I used to live in the Philippines, and joined WikiProject Islands in an effort to develop more articles on Philippine islands.
- Victor Lopes: I'm just kind of fascinated with islands, and as the beach lover I am, I feel a beach is incomplete without one or two islands visible from it. Because I work a lot with Brazilian geography articles, I'm always making edits related to islands in Brazil.
- Wikirictor: I live on the coast of Cambodia and do visit some of the islands frequently. The lack of information and data – a characteristic of all of Cambodia – made me a Wikipedian in the first place. Since I've been living here for a long time, I am rather knowledgeable, I speak the language, know oral history, know how to deal with reluctant officials and so on.
- Muffin Wizard: Just like the Great Britain island, I live on an island called Borneo island and my village also not far from the beach. I join this project because want to expand more about Bornean smaller islands especially in the north of Malaysian side.
- Danimations: I'm an Australian and I live on an island continent. Australia is also fringed with many inshore and offshore islands. I have fond memories of visiting some of these, both tropical and temperate as a tourist when I was a child. I have had many wonderful experiences with nature on Australia's diverse islands.
This project has 16 pieces of Featured content, a Featured portal and 27 Good articles. Which of these articles are you most proud of being involved with? Overall, what have been some of the project's greatest achievements?
- PaintedCarpet: While I don't work on the FA, I'm most proud of clearing our backlog of unassessed islands articles.
- Wikirictor: So far there is nothing I can be proud of with respect to Wikipedia article ratings. Still, I am optimistic because I have prepared the basics for a survey of Cambodia's islands, which is something "WE" can build upon. And – I hope – I was able to encourage young Cambodians to try their first edits, to share their valuable knowledge and – eventually – make them to fully participate. In order to achieve good Wikipedia article ratings – I know – I (we) need more and more accurate sources and have to improve our style. But to be honest, I am very much alone here.
- Danimations: I am personally proud to have created many new pages dedicated to the lesser known islands of South Australia.
How difficult is it to locate good images for articles about islands? Are there any particular sources many pictures are from or do you rely on finding freely licensed photos and maps online? Does anybody within the project make pictures especially?
- PaintedCarpet: It is especially hard to find pictures for some of the smaller islands.
- Victor Lopes: It is hard to find images on minor islands, but I never actually search for them, I just wait for someone to upload them. If I have the opportunity, I photograph them myself – São Sebastião, São Paulo and Ilhabela have some examples.
- Muffin Wizard: Very hard to find free images. Most islands image on the web are copyright. Also smaller islands seems to be no images at all.
- Wikirictor:I make the images myself – and I have a lot now. What I find a bit disturbing is the strict policy. I have to prove things....so to speak. I find that a bit presumptuous – at times. In particular, the way disputes are being presented. I am spoken to in third person, without naming a reason, why there is a dispute and – most important – not telling how this could be resolved. Only after repeated inquiring someone might give a hint, what's the problem. I am sure you know that, though. And – make it easier to upload at "Commons". After I have filled in everything I am asked to "consider upload at Commons", when click it, I have to fill in everything again.....not very motivating.
- Danimations: I travel quite a bit for my work and take photographs of Australia's islands whenever I am able. That way I can guarantee that the islands I focus on, which are often uninhabited, are indeed what they profess to be. You can see examples at West Island (South Australia) and Wright Island (South Australia).
Has your project developed collaborations or relationships with any other projects?
- Danimations: Many of Australia's islands are also protected areas, either as conservation parks, or via location within marine parks or aquatic reserves. I have made contacts with other editors who focus more specifically on those topics through my involvement with this project.
What are WikiProject islands most pressing needs? How can a new contributor help today?
- PaintedCarpet: We're always on the lookout for good images for islands. Many of our articles also have dead links, so updating those are always helpful.
- Victor Lopes: We need more info on smaller islands. Also, at least when it comes to Brazilian islands, there is a tendency that articles contain too much travel guide material, which I'm always removing or turning into encyclopedic text.
- Muffin Wizard: Lack of source published in a WP:RS form, most of the smaller island sources can be found only on blogspot site or any other blog site even the island is within the country territory.
- Wikirictor: There are too many stub articles – just created for the sake of having the credit of "having created" the article. Other people, who actually provide the content – the actual work – images and so on, are being harassed by these admins who "created 100.000 articles" without any content. Not motivating at all.
Next week, we'll uncover more hidden editing as we chat to another WikiProject. Until then, you can read past reports in the archive.
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