In writing my blog entries and my manuscript, wikipedia.org has proven an incredibly useful resource. So I decided I’d try to give back a little bit.
But where could I contribute? Photography? No, I don’t know enough about optics. Scooters? Even though the Vespa entry has been flagged for poor quality, there’s just not enough two-stroke oil coursing through my veins to improve it.
The Mid-East, perhaps? Hmmm. The editors of wikipedia have banned new registrants from modifying major entries about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Not surprising. Wiki technology allows anyone to make changes or modification, so anyone with an axe to grind can come in and distort as they please. Of course, enough people will be monitoring the entry, so the changes will be rolled back. But better to be proactive than reactive.
As I was browsing, I noticed a request from an Arab wikipedia member that someone add a photo of Birzeit University’s Martyr’s Memorial. I have pictures of that! So I made some minor changes to the entry about Birzeit University and Birzeit village: I added a few pictures, and made a minor correction. Another user has already modified my modifications. Very exciting.