A new project is appealing for members of the public to join forces and remake the way the world sees Middlesbrough.
Over two days on 27 and 28 April, Teesside University will host (Re)Making Middlesbrough, a student, staff and community edit-a-thon that will examine how Middlesbrough and its surrounding areas, its people, history and culture are represented online.
The group will look at what and who is missing from the stories and information the world sees about Middlesbrough and the community, asking what needs to be rewritten, and how the rest of the world views the town and people.
On 27 April Wikimedian of the Year, Ewan McAndrew, from the University of Edinburgh, will visit Teesside University to share his knowledge with staff and students. The session on 28 April is open to the public and asks participants to share their knowledge and edit online content.
Participants will be offered training and be supported to develop Wikipedia pages that need to be improved or further developed.
The project is the idea of Dr Sophie Nicholls, acclaimed author and Principal Lecturer at Teesside University. Wikipedia is one of the top visited websites in the world and Dr Nicholls feels that it is crucial that local people have a say on how Middlesbrough is represented.
“There are many misconceptions and prejudices that are often made about our region and we want to change this. We have a lot to be proud of and to celebrate,” explained Dr Nicholls.
“We especially want to encourage people to come along if they have never thought of themselves as particularly technical or web-savvy. We want to help people discover how easy it is to edit and join in this important social movement.”
This work supports the University’s Grand Challenge Research Theme of Learning for the 21st Century, which is part of a wider aim to address some of the global challenges of our time through focus on externally facing research which makes a real, practical difference to the lives of people, along with the success of businesses and economies.
The project is also looking for people to contribute their knowledge about Middlesbrough and take photographs of buildings and places that can be added to the Wikipedia pages.
Members of the public are welcome to drop into the session taking place in Teesside University Library from 10.00am until 4.30pm on Saturday 28 April.
For further information email S.Nicholls@tees.ac.uk or visit the website – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/