Would you like to improve public knowledge of Scotland's LGBTQ+ history, and to help make Scotland's connections to LGBTQ+ communities better understood? Wikipedia is one of the most widely used means by which people get information, but it has lots of gaps and problems. This project will work to make it better. You might create a page of alumni, an exhibition, a research project, ensuring that these contributions fully represent research-based understandings of this activity. Full training will be provided, and no specialist knowledge is required, just a commitment to developing accurate and comprehensive knowledge.
Come and help us improve Wikipedia's representation of LGBTQ+ history!
William Fergusson (governor of Sierra Leone)[1] - First known black student at University of Edinburgh, born Jamaica, only black governor of Sierra Leone.
Jesse Ewing Glasgow[4][5] - Philadelphia born African American intellectual, student at UoE 1858-60, author of pamphlet on John Brown's Harper's Ferry raid. Died young, while still a student at Ed.
Seetsele Modiri Molema[9][10][11] - Studied medicine at Glasgow Uni graduating 1919, President African Races Association Glasgow, secretary of African National Congress (South Africa) 1949.
William Wright[12][13]- Doctor and botanist, born Crieff, Perthshire, trained at U of E, spent 13 years in Jamaica, fellow of Royal Society Edinburgh, owned sugar plantation and enslaved people.
Bunce Island[14] - Island in Sierra Leone, with significnat role in slave trade. Currently no mention that the 'London-based firm' of Grant, Oswald and Co which took it over in 1748 had strong Scttish connections, or the significance role of Scots working there. NB also spelled 'Bance Island'.
James IV[15]- No mention of the significant presence of Africans at the court of James IV (King of Scotland 1488-1513). At least 5 black people lived at court.
Bute House[16][17] - Official residence of Scottish first minister. Add information on slave-owning residents including John Innes Crawford and Sir John Sinclair.
Malvina Wells[18] - Add reference to her entry in New Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women and check for any further information (but entry is relatively complete already given how little is known).
You can find advice on how to search for relevant sources here.
All sorts of helpful guides and online resources can be found below:
A speedy guide on where to find the different buttons on Wikipedia, and explaining what they do - useful for complete beginners!
Very straightforward step-by-step instructions on how to add a piece of information to an existing Wikipedia page - useful for complete beginners!
A guide to elements to include in a wiki-biography, with a checklist to ensure you include as many as you can when editing.
A guide to adding infoboxes (those handy things on the right side of a page with a summary of key info).
A complete beginner's introduction to adding information onto Wikidata. If in doubt, take a look at someone else's Wikidata entry for inspiration!
Steps to adding a photograph to Wikimedia Commons so you can use it in a Wikipedia article - the picture has to be your own for you to add it.
Guide to creating your Wikipedia userpage to introduce yourself to other editors.
Using talk pages
Citing your sources
Avoiding plagiarism
Classroom handout - moving out of your sandbox
Polishing your articles
You can add pictures for use on Wiki-pages and beyond on Wikimedia Commons. Your Wikipedia account will work on Commons too - as well as all the other Wiki-projects and different language versions of Wikipedia.
Here are some ways to keep track of your edits:
You can view all your contributions to Wikipedia by clicking "Contributions" (in the top right of this page).
The Pageviews tool is a great way of measuring how many people are looking at the page you created/edited. You can even export the data if you'd like it for reports, etc.
Once you've learned the basics of editing using Wikipedia’s Visual Editor, I hope that you'll stay logged in and edit or create more articles. As a first step you may like to check out what What Wikipedia is not along with its 5 guiding principles: The 5 pillars.
Please sign your messages on talk pages with four tildes (~~~~). This will automatically insert your "signature" (your username and a date stamp). The or button, on the tool bar above Wikipedia's text editing window, also does this.
If you would like to play around with your new Wiki skills without changing the mainspace, the Sandbox is for you.