In this session of the group we were giving the final touches to the biography of Gaby Brimmer and we managed to create without problems (at least, for now) the article on Wikipedia in Spanish. Although this proposal was initiated in the March editathon On the occasion of Women's Day, it was not over. So, in the same work pad We were maturing the entry, modeling the structure like other similar biographies and looking for references that were somewhat solid to avoid being knocked down with that reason.
> Biographies wiki
The process of creating an article is long (more than you can think) because, although when doing a Google search we get a lot of references about a concept, a fact, a work or a person, you have to look for those sources which are primary: official documents, interviews, entity pages, articles in the media... It is problematic when the references come almost exclusively from blogs of dubious authorship in which, many times, materials from other sites are replicated without even mentioning the source.
In addition to the search for those references (which, to clarify, not only have to be online but a good bibliography is as solid or even more than links to web pages), it is necessary create a skeleton with a very specific format. It is advisable to look at other similar pages that give us the keys on how that biography, event, work or concept should be, to avoid being censored by a wiki librarian without wanting to do pedagogy.
We also decided to start with a brief, well-structured article with solid references instead of producing a very extensive biography, since it was difficult to verify the origin of many of the data or events that we had found in a first search on the Internet. There is always time to complete information of an already created entry, so it is not about not including everything that we consider relevant, but to reserve material that we have to verify and add sources, to complete it in successive editions of the article.
> The satisfaction of publishing
Reviewing an article before publishing it can be an endless task, especially if we are very perfectionist or want to have the "closed" article from the first moment. We fall into the error of thinking that by publishing we are ending a cycle when, in reality, we are opening it: once we create an entry on Wikipedia we are allowing more people to contribute new data and information.
Of course, it is logical to want to have it as best as possible to feel proud of our work and be able to share it with everyone. So the step prior to publication is to file the details (especially in relation to the creation of references or internal links) on the user's "workshop" page. Once put there, you will be able to see with the format of Wikipedia both effort of collection, of search of references and of Wikipedia/Encyclopedic Writing.
And we come to the long-awaited moment of creating the article. That step is savored even more when that work has been done collaboratively.: the most difficult part has been shared, that of creating a content with all its difficulties and complexities, and also the joy of arriving together at the publication is shared ⁇
> And once published...
We did more than just publish the biography of Gaby Brimmer on Wikipedia: we link it to its versions in English and in Italian that already existed, and we also looked for those articles in which it was mentioned in the same Wikipedia to create internal links and better establish its existence and relevance in the wiki world. Pending we had to ask a relative to release a photograph to be able to include it in the file of his biography. But there is time for that and to keep improving what we already have.
Congratulations and thanks to all those who have participated and contributed to this complete learning process!
English (UK)