On Sunday, 29 March, the Wales Club is hosting a Wikipedia edit-a-thon, inviting OU students to discover the joy of contributing to this global encyclopaedia.
Wikipedia remains one of the world’s largest collaborative information resources, created and maintained entirely by volunteers. It offers hundreds of language editions and continues to expand as a multilingual, community-driven project. Most of us use Wikipedia almost every day in our studies. Sometimes we find exactly what we need – a clear explanation, a well-sourced historical overview, or a concise summary of a scientific concept. Other times, an article is thin, outdated, or missing entirely. This inconsistency is precisely why Wikipedia relies on ordinary readers to become editors: the people who spot the gaps are often the best placed to fix them.
This Edit-a-thon is being hosted by two OU student representatives who share a passion for improving knowledge online. Jack Flaherty, the Student Representative for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, is a history student with a keen interest in promoting both global and local historical perspectives. He believes that history is best understood when examined from multiple viewpoints on the broad world stage and the deeply local narratives that shape communities. Michael Jones, the Welsh Area Student Representative, is a STEM student who has been championing Welsh culture and language within the University. He has played an active role in co-creating the Wales Club, building spaces where students can explore Welsh identity, heritage, and linguistic diversity.
If you live in Wales or are interested in Celtic languages more broadly, it’s helpful to know that Wikipedia is not solely an English-language platform. Wicipedia Cymraeg, the Welsh language edition, is active and thriving, and contributing to it directly supports the presence of Welsh online. Alongside it, several other Celtic language editions welcome new contributors, including the Cornish Wikipedia, the Irish Wikipedia, and the Scottish Gaelic Wikipedia. These projects play an important role in preserving linguistic heritage and recording local cultural knowledge in the languages that communities speak.
During the Edit-a-thon, we will guide participants through account creation, the basics of editing, and methods for identifying which articles might benefit from updates. We encourage everyone to reflect on the places that shaped them – where you grew up, where you live now, or communities that hold personal significance. Many students are surprised to learn that even well-known towns or villages have sparse or outdated pages. Perhaps the local bus routes have changed, a new community centre has opened, a notable event took place in recent years, or new historical research has been published. Wikipedia values verifiable, neutral, and well-sourced information, and even small additions – such as adding citations to local news or council documents – help improve accuracy. We will also explain what qualifies as a reliable, verifiable source so that new editors can contribute confidently.
Focusing on smaller or less frequently-edited pages allows beginners to practice without the fast-paced editing and complex discussions often found on major articles. It is an ideal setting to learn the fundamentals of Wikipedia’s principles: neutrality, verifiability, collaborative editing, and respect for reliable sourcing. Every contribution, no matter how small, supports the broader mission of making knowledge accessible to everyone.
This Edit-a-thon is also an opportunity to explore Wikipedia’s multilingual landscape. With 360 language editions created and 344 actively maintained, many language communities have far fewer editors than the English edition, and greatly appreciate new volunteers. Minority-language Wikipedia sites benefit enormously from even a modest amount of participation. Whether you choose to edit in English, Welsh, Irish, Cornish, or Scottish Gaelic, your work helps sustain and develop linguistic diversity across one of the world’s most widely-used information platforms.
By joining us on 29 March, you’ll gain digital skills, contribute to public knowledge, and play a role in supporting linguistic and cultural diversity. We look forward to welcoming you – Rydym yn edrych ymlaen at eich croesawu.
Written by Jack Flaherty and Michael Jones
