Take part in multiple languages

Support sessions also available:

Training session: Tuesday 8 November at 1pm GMT
Q&A session: Monday 14 November at 1pm GMT

Alongside COP27 Egypt and continuing the great success of last year, IIC is organising another 24-hour global edit-a-thon, 16 - 17 November 2022, to edit and create content for the world's largest encyclopedia, Wikipedia, focused on Cultural Heritage Conservation Sustainability, UN Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Action themes.

Whether or not you are an IIC member,  we invite you to take part in one of the most exciting and collaborative plans our IIC 2022 Edit-A-Thon, which will help create an invaluable new resource for conservators.

The importance of open knowledge and the power of collective intelligence

We will bridge the gaps in the world’s largest encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, with a focus on the theme of Cultural Heritage Conservation and Climate Action. Our collaboration will bring together existing resources on climate and conservation, as well as adding new material. By the end of the Edit-A-Thon, we aim to have created a unique global knowledge set to underpin action on climate being taken by the conservation profession. You just have to join us, write about your interests within the topics and edit on Wikipedia!

Choose your two hour time slot as the Edit-A-Thon moves around the world

Participating universities sign up for one of our two-hour “sprint slots” - and then pass on the baton from time zone to time zone across the world. If you are no longer at university, but would like to be part of this - and pick up useful collaborative information development skills - we would love to have you, do drop Marina a line, details at the bottom of this email.

Plenty of support for all those taking part

* We are supported by a Wikimedian in residence, through UK Wikimedia, our technical partner.
* You will receive online editing training programmed to suit you, during November. Recorded training materials will also be accessible for participants to view in their own time.
* Our Edit-a-thon project co-ordinator Marina Herriges, who is also our Associate Editor for Rethinking Conservation through Sustainability, will be on hand to answer your questions.
* The translation capability of Wikipedia means that you can participate in most languages.

How to take part

Whether you are already keen to sign up - or interested, but would like to know more, the next step is to complete our short Registration of Interest form here

Key documents

Resource guide (please, see the document at the bottom of the page)
A list of recorded editing training materials is accessible in the links below for participants to view in their own time. 

If you are very keen yourself, but not sure how to get involved drop Marina a line at marina.herriges@iiconservation.org – we would love to hear from you.

Image credit: Adapted.  Isa Von Lenthe. Medialab of the conservation department at the University of Arts in Bern, Switzerland

Some FAQs

Q: How does it work on the day?

The event is live online for 24 hours to enable people from all over the globe to participle. Everyone is welcome to join in for as long or as little as you like. Universities that are supporting the event will have two-hour sprint that is fixed during the day, but individuals or groups of individuals are welcome to join and edit at any point.

Q: Could you explain more about what we'll be doing?

IIC is building a schema where you can find conservation-and-climate related subjects that you can write about, but you can also edit and include more information in one or multiple pages that have been already created. This will make sure that the content is updated, and we have more and more content available on Wikipedia, spreading the word about conservation and climate change.