"Wiki loves SDGs" - Global Goals Week online edit-a-thon on SDG topics in September 2020

Update on 28 September 2020: this event is now completed. A report will be posted soon on this page towards the bottom (put the page on your watchlist to be notified). We hope to be able to organize similar events in future! If you have feedback or suggestions, please put them on the talk page. To everyone who participated in the edit-a-thon: thanks a lot for your contributions! You might like to join the group Wikimedians for Sustainable Development to stay in touch.

This is the project meet-up page for the online one-week long edit-a-thon on Sustainable Development Goals topics during Global Goals Week (19-26 September 2020), called "Wiki loves SDGs".

This edit-a-thon mobilizes a community of SDG experts and hundreds of volunteers to create and update the SDG-related articles on Wikipedia. We expect this event will help strengthen the SDG related contents on Wikipedia, raise awareness of the Goals amongst new audiences and bring attention to the overall Global Goals movement. The edit-a-thon is part of a larger initiative also called "Wiki loves SDGs" which is supported by members of Wikimedians for Sustainable Development.

This event follows the Friendly Space policy for conduct. This initiative is organized by the UK not-for-profit Project Everyone. A detailed description of to-dos and how-tos is available on this sub-page here.

Questions about the event? Email us at wikipedia@susana.org

The outputs were analyzed with event metrics by creating this event.

Settings:

• Time period used in the analysis: 15 to 29 Sept 2020
• Wikis analysed: English Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons
• Note: User:Scann was removed from the analysis because this user used a tool called "Find link" to add wikilinks to the article about Food prices. Whilst this is a good, valid approach, it meant that the number of pages improved jumped up by about 400 pages (934 instead of 517).

Contributions:

• Pages created: 5 (the event metrics recorded 10 new pages but 5 of those were not relevant to SDG topics)
• Pages improved: 517 (see table below for details)
• Edits made: 3.3 k
• Uploaded files: 216
• Bytes changed: 612.2k

Impact:

• Views to pages created: 1.6 k
• Average daily views to pages improved: 333.7k
• Average daily views to uploaded files: 2.5k
• Unique pages with uploaded files: 60
• Uploaded files in use: 86

Participation:

• Participants: 108
• New editors: 64
• Retention after 7 days (beginning 7 days after the event): 7

The event's Dashboard was useful during the event to have an overview of who is editing and how much. The reporting by the Dashboard after the event is less useful as the data seems somewhat inflated. Here is the dashboard's data for this event (treat figures with care) for the time period 17 August to 29 September 2020 for the English Wikipedia:

• Articles created: 178
• Articles edited: 3.64 K
• Edits, in total: 10.5 K
• Registered editors: 328
• Words added: 350 K
• References added: 2.87 K
• Article views: 10.4 million
• Wikimedia Commons uploads: 219

Note: The data was retrieved on 6 October 2020 after removing about ten editors who did not contribute in English or who are highly experienced and active editors who edited a large number of articles that were not SDG-related. These people were removed in order to only monitor the contributions to the English Wikipedia and in order to not artificially inflate the results with "words added" or "article views" that were not SDG-related.

We did not plan to create new articles during this event but rather improve existing articles. Nevertheless, the following articles were created by participants during the event:

1. Aid for Trade
2. Sustainable Development Goals and Australia
3. Sustainable Development Goals and Lebanon
4. Sustainable Development Goals and Ghana
5. Sustainable Development Goals and Nigeria

In the lead-up to the edit-a-thon, the four SDG experts created the basics of the individual SDG Wikipedia articles. These included the following 12 articles (whereas these 5 already existed: SDG 6, SDG 14, SDG 15, SDG 16, SDG 17, but were pretty basic expect for SDG 6):

The nine volunteers who have made the most valuable contributions to SDG-related topics in the English Wikipedia during the edit-a-thon could win a cash prize of 100 Eur each. The prize winners were announced by Jimmy Wales in a video call on 25 September 2020 (recording available here on Youtube: https://youtu.be/cbxVnG-51oA). Amongst the prize winners were five women and four men. The winners were:

1. Helena, User:Hbdelfin - Czech Republic (female)
2. Clementine, User:Cnyirahabihirwe123 - Rwanda (female)
3. James, User:James_Moore200 - Nigeria (male)
4. Obiorah, User:Obiorah_Precious_Oby - Nigeria (female)
5. Moshood User:Moshood Lasisi - Nigeria (male)
6. Alex User:Rwebogora - Tanzania (male)
7. Gbadegesin User:Gbadegesin Muhammed - Nigeria (male)
8. Euphemia User:Ptinphusmia - Nigeria (female)
9. Fatima User:Fatima993 - Lebanon (female)

Please note that this event focused on the English Wikipedia. For this reason, only the edits made to the English Wikipedia were eligible for prizes.

We had 328 editors signed up in the event's Dashboard. Of those who signed up on the dashboard, about 100 volunteers (30%) contributed to SDG-related topics in the English Wikipedia - some with a lot of edits, some with only two or three edits. Volunteers who made at least ten good edits in the English Wikipedia during the edit-a-thon will receive a certificate of participation. The list below shows participants who made some edits, in alphabetical order:

The main focus of the event was the English Wikipedia but other organizers have translated the event page and list of SDG-related articles:

• Spanish event page
• Macedonian event page

17 articles about the individual SDGs were created (none of them had articles in the Spanish Wikipedia before). More than 20 articles were improved, and also added references and created new articles about SDGs.

Participants:

1. Usuario:Ezarate
2. Usuario:Lilian89
3. Usuario:Marinna
4. Usuario:Scann

A blog post about this event is available here on Diff with the title "Wikipedia and Sustainable Development Goals: Engaging smaller Wikipedias". A full report about the Macedonian editing is available here in Macedonian language. The participants in the localized version of the initiative on the Macedonian Wikipedia created or improved 102 articles, which has substantially improved the coverage of SDG-related topics on the project. Importantly, participants have identified and used Macedonian-language sources as additional citations in articles.

The breakdown of the total figures identifies SDG 8 as the most popular goal for editing with 11 articles, followed by SDG 11 with 9. 100 new articles were created and one was improved. Most articles have been translated from other languages - not from English necessarily - but there are some developed independently and many expanded with additional content from other sources identified.

Participants:

1. Корисник:Dandarmkd
2. Корисник:Delova e
3. Корисник:Kiril Simeonovski
4. Корисник:КатеринаКајевска
5. Корисник:Тиверополник
6. Корисник:P.Nedelkovski
7. Корисник:Професор 18+
8. Корисник:Иван Ж

All the individual SDG articles were created in the Catalan Wikipedia, translated from the English Wikipedia.

Participants:

1. Marinna

There was only one article created in September during the edit-a-thon (pt:Objetivo de Desenvolvimento Sustentável 12 by pt:user:Beatriz Brajal. Another one was created in October pt:Objetivo de Desenvolvimento Sustentável 14 by pt:User:GoEThe.

Participants:

• pt:user:Beatriz Brajal
• pt:User:GoEThe

The tool "Event Metrics" was applied to this event and found that 517 articles were improved. Below we show the Top-100 of those articles, ordered by "Bytes changed during event" (you can re-order the table by clicking on the little triangles). About 5 articles were removed from the list because they were completely unrelated to the SDGs.

Number	Title	Edits during event	Bytes changed during event	Avg. daily pageviews	Incoming links
1	2020 Western United States wildfire season	304	78653	1578	27
2	Sustainable Development Goal 12	106	32109	79	30
3	Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana	13	20133	69	764
4	Sustainable Development Goal 3	205	16938	128	38
5	Sustainable Development Goal 17	131	16700	131	21
6	Sustainable Development Goal 9	83	14677	83	13
7	Sustainable Development Goal 7	91	14588	80	22
8	Developing country	41	14117	2177	1201
9	Sustainable Development Goal 1	207	14107	219	21
10	Sustainable Development Goal 4	148	13408	129	40
11	Gross domestic product	16	13406	4929	3023
12	Sustainable Development Goal 2	185	12264	162	20
13	Sustainable city	28	12054	164	313
14	Sustainable Development Goal 8	59	11290	87	27
15	COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana	32	10292	499	777
16	Urban planning	20	9965	752	2977
17	Waste management	10	9835	1824	1450
18	Sustainable Development Goal 11	62	9255	101	19
19	Sustainable Development Goal 10	102	9040	88	33
20	Causes of poverty	27	8776	694	9
21	Sustainable Development Goal 5	89	8741	106	32
22	Sanitation worker	1	8084	53	133
23	Sustainable Development Goal 13	41	7936	96	23
24	Food prices	18	7784	37	443
25	2020 California wildfires	194	7087	6376	259
26	Climate change	178	4874	5544	5365
27	International Monetary Fund	6	4611	3351	5022
28	Sustainable Development Goal 15	47	4531	79	26
29	Remittance	14	4471	419	285
30	Sustainable Development Goals	158	4457	4594	1430
31	Sustainable energy	40	4392	3472	860
32	Corruption	3	4121	1693	1202
33	Vulnerable adult	14	4074	135	54
34	Biodiversity loss	16	3707	379	633
35	Reforestation	3	3691	289	1326
36	Birth certificate	13	3563	706	392
37	Indigenous peoples	23	3157	3218	2506
38	Ocean acidification	13	3094	433	1162
39	Climate change adaptation	12	3070	216	435
40	Government procurement	4	3053	189	205
41	Open defecation	20	2941	427	684
42	Reuse of excreta	15	2898	69	141
43	Economic inequality	23	2880	832	1126
44	Transport	13	2864	1159	2259
45	Sustainable Development Goal 6	25	2723	179	52
46	Youth unemployment	8	2647	191	310
47	Child marriage	30	2590	846	692
48	Poverty	25	2338	1805	2872
49	Ghana	22	2187	5197	23294
50	Poverty in Moldova	4	2139	52	130
51	Education for sustainable development	6	2067	87	32
52	Research	7	2034	2306	3006
53	Swachh Bharat Mission	6	1909	1820	311
54	Enabling technology	16	1883	31	10
55	Malnutrition	14	1867	1473	1369
56	North-South divide	6	1863	944	288
57	Wildlife smuggling	9	1845	64	148
58	Child poverty	6	1813	85	69
59	Microplastics	4	1802	415	124
60	Hepatitis	19	1792	1310	1198
61	Water supply	6	1783	246	1373
62	Effects of climate change	11	1775	860	320
63	Global health	10	1731	224	632
64	Climate change mitigation	11	1694	397	1225
65	Poverty reduction	16	1680	511	370
66	Green infrastructure	8	1636	87	120
67	Sustainable tourism	7	1579	375	564
68	Industrialisation	4	1536	622	894
69	Maternal death	7	1474	725	588
70	Fisheries subsidy	6	1459	5	1
71	Environmentally friendly	6	1368	274	529
72	Justice	2	1367	1090	2383
73	Marine conservation	5	1342	104	677
74	Educational technology	29	1330	1040	586
75	Sustainable development	26	1305	3009	2087
76	Recycling	11	1291	1346	2322
77	Hazardous waste	10	1254	411	599
78	Anemia	7	1222	1915	1289
79	Eutrophication	5	1191	1093	870
80	Nonformal learning	4	1188	254	40
81	Regional effects of global warming	1	1186	157	312
82	Infrastructure	5	1185	808	2088
83	Carbon tetrachloride	3	1174	771	695
84	Financial market	4	1169	907	995
85	Ghana Infectious Disease Centre	2	1143	9	808
86	Genetic diversity	8	1141	413	642
87	Neglected tropical diseases	23	1133	228	246
88	Domestic violence	14	1104	2817	2823
89	Human trafficking	11	1099	1526	2512
90	Foreign direct investment	5	1083	1044	1054
91	Extreme poverty	20	1052	455	243
92	Drinking water	14	1042	736	1302
93	Poverty threshold	6	1009	659	606
94	Tobacco control	2	989	33	264
95	Export	5	971	299	1017
96	National Board for Small-Scale Industries	2	959	12	6
97	Marine pollution	9	952	521	920
98	Occupational safety and health	6	945	1382	2612
99	Climate Week NYC	5	938	27	5
100	Agricultural productivity	3	936	168	82

• Date and time: 19 September 9:00 CET until 26 September 16:00 CET (during Global Goals Week)
• Location: Online.
• Virtual workroom (online platform): The link for this project is https://fb.me/g/3aTi3vIQp/rGKMKM3B (copy link into your browser) on Workplace by Facebook. More information about the workroom is available in the Welcome Note here.

• Step 1: Create your Wikipedia account here or log into Wikipedia if you already have an account. If you have a problem with a blocked IP address, please e-mail us: wikipedia@susana.org.
• Step 2: While logged in to Wikipedia, register on our Outreach Dashboard for the event here. This gives us an overview of all edits made during this edit-a-thon. You can see who else has registered here in this List of editors.
• Step 3 (recommended for best results): Come to the virtual workroom: https://fb.me/g/3aTi3vIQp/rGKMKM3B to coordinate activities, collaborate with others, and ask questions. Copy and paste the link in your browser and click enter to go to the room. If you have problems with entering, just e-mail us: wikipedia@susana.org.

• Coordinators:
  • Main coordinator: EMsmile, experienced Wikipedian, located in Brisbane, Australia.
  • SDG experts and activists:
    • Doti Nicolasia in Nairobi, Kenya;
    • Olabideen in Ilorin, Nigeria;
    • Brunapedia in Beirut, Lebanon and
    • RosieTMM2030 in Chicago, United States.
• Organizer and sponsor: This initiative is organized by Project Everyone in the UK.
• Meet the team: More information about the team is available in this Google folder.

The nine volunteers who have made the most valuable contributions to SDG-related topics in the English Wikipedia during the edit-a-thon will receive a cash prize at the end of the edit-a-thon of 100 Eur each. The prize recipients will be announced at the end of the edit-a-thon. The organizers will determine who the volunteers with the most valuable contributions were based on quality and quantity of their editing contributions. To make this judgement, the editors will carefully review the volunteers' contributions as per the data collected in the event's dashboard here.

In order to encourage more female participation, at least four of the cash awards will be awarded to a female participant.

You can only be eligible for the prize money if you are editing while logged into Wikipedia and if you have registered for the event's dashboard - see above under registration. This means anonymous edits cannot be counted and neither can edits be counted of someone who did not register for the dashboard. Double check that you are registered by taking a look at the list of editors here. If you have any doubts, just e-mail the organizers at wikipedia@susana.org.

We have created a list of Frequently Asked Questions about this event and it's available in this Google drive folder.

We particularly encourage women to participate as editors in this event. Why? We want to help reduce the gender gap on Wikipedia. This refers to the fact that Wikipedia contributors are mostly male, the fact that relatively few biographies on Wikipedia are about women, and the concept that topics of interest to women are less well-covered. The estimated portion of women editors has fluctuated from a low of 9% to a high of 20% since the founding of Wikipedia.^[1][2]

Anyone can take part in this event provided you have a reliable internet connection, an interest in the SDGs, good knowledge of the English language and a desire to improve Wikipedia content.

You can:

• Improve the 17 SDG Wikipedia articles as well as other SDG-related Wikipedia articles - see list below. Some (few) new articles will also need to be created.
• Help with conceptualizing the work that needs to be done for SDG content on Wikipedia, including pointing us to relevant references. Use the talk page at the top left for this purpose.

You can also help with advertising the event on social media (see hashtags and example tweets above)

• Hashtags: Primary hashtag: #WikiLovesSDGs Secondary hashtags you can use: #GlobalGoalsWeek #GlobalGoals #SDGs #Act4SDGs #GetInvolved #Volunteer #UNGA75 #SignUp. Please help us promote this project on twitter or other social media.
• Shortened URL to this page: https://tinyurl.com/SDGsWikipedia2020
• Possible tweets to advertise this event (note the volunteer sign up form has now closed):
  • In September (19-26th), I will be working with volunteers from around the world to deliver an exciting online edit-a-thon where we'll create Wikipedia articles for the #GlobalGoals. Join us, #volunteer & be a part of an exciting opportunity! #WikiLovesSDG
  • #DidYouKnow that there are only a few pages on the #GlobalGoals on Wikipedia and most of them need improving? Come join me on 19-16th September for our online edit-a-thon and be a part of something exciting in September! #WikiLovesSDGs

How to get started:

• Choose a Wikipedia article that interests you (from the lists below) and click on it to get to know what's already there
• Ask yourself "what changes do I think this article needs?" See the next section for ideas.
• Then click on one of the topics, click "edit" and start editing. Only make small changes at first until you get the hang of it.

For people who are new to Wikipedia please see here for explanations on how to do things in Wikipedia: how to edit

If you are new to Wikipedia this is what we recommend you do, in a nutshell:

• Get a Wikipedia user name (think about real name versus non-real name, see Username policy).
• Adjust your "Preferences" within Wikipedia - see here how it's done: Finding your way around Wikipedia (for novices).
• Go to this page and tackle one of the easiest tasks first: Edit-a-thon task list, just click on "edit" in any Wikipedia article.
• Do not copy & paste chunks of text, but instead write sentences in your own words, with reference to back up what you are saying. Do not add content directly from publications or website that are under copyright (see: Copyrights in Wikipedia). You need to paraphrase that content and cite the source.
• When writing, use language that is easy to understand for a layperson, especially for a person who does not have English as their first language.
• View these short "how to" videos here on the tasks page.
• Browse useful guides to Wikipedia here on the tasks page.

More tips for novice Wikipedians are available here on the tasks page.

Some guiding questions for improving existing articles are given below (the exact methods on how to make these changes is explained here):

• Does the article need some content about the situation in developing countries and about SDGs?
  • Are hyperlinks (Wiki links) from content articles to the right SDG articles already in place or still need to be added? Example where this was recently added (from "wastewater treatment" to SDG 6), see here.
• Does the lead need to be improved?
• If the article is about SDGs, does it already include the maps from SDG Tracker / Our World in Data to show data about the indicators? See SDG 6 as an example.
• Does the readability need improvement?

The full list of SDG-related Wikipedia articles that require improvement are listed in the sub-page here. The terms were selected by reviewing the targets and indicators of the goals (some of the terms appear for several SDGs), see List of SDG targets and indicators.

The table below only shows a prioritised selection (2-3 articles per SDG). This is just meant to make it easier to decide what to focus on. It does not mean that the other Wikipedia articles are "out of bounds". You can suggest other articles on the "talk page" by clicking on the "talk" tab at the top of this page.

Click on the arrows in the table headers to sort the table by view rates or by alphabetical ordering.

Goal	Main articles in need (short version; long version available in sub-page)	Daily view rates (average for several years, assessed July 2020)	SDG expert / Wikipedian who can assist you (time zone)
Overarching, applies to all SDGs	Sustainable development goals	2810	User:EMsmile (Brisbane)
	Developing countries	2163
	Global Goals Week (article recently created in August 2020)	2
Goal 1: No Poverty	SDG 1	Created in September 2020	User:Doti_Nicolasia (Nairobi)
	Natural disaster	3408
	Poverty	2545
Goal 2: Zero Hunger	SDG 2	Created in September 2020	User:Brunapedia (Beirut)
	Hunger	355
	Malnutrition / Undernourishment	1460
Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being for People	SDG 3	Created in September 2020	User:Doti_Nicolasia (Nairobi)
	Family planning	817
	Maternal death / Maternal mortality	766
Goal 4: Quality Education	SDG 4	does not exist yet	User:Doti_Nicolasia (Nairobi)
	Education	7645
	Educational equity	219
Goal 5: Gender Equality	SDG 5	Created in September 2020	User:Doti_Nicolasia (Nairobi)
	Equal opportunity	340
	Gender inequality	984
Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation	SDG 6	50	User:EMsmile (Brisbane)
	Drinking water	969
	Hygiene	1236
	Sanitation	937
Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy	SDG 7	Created in September 2020	User:Brunapedia (Beirut) - primary User:EMsmile (Brisbane) - secondary
	Electrification / access to electricity	188
	Renewable energy	2818
Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth	SDG 8	Created in September 2020	User: Olabideen (Ilorin) - primary User:Doti_Nicolasia (Nairobi) - secondary
	Informal economy / Informal employment	400
	Sustainable development / Sustainable economic growth	2700
Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure	SDG 9	Created in September 2020	User: Olabideen (Ilorin)
	Infrastructure	1165
	Small business / small scale industry	827
Goal 10: Reducing Inequalities	SDG 10	Created in September 2020	User:Doti_Nicolasia (Nairobi)
	Economic inequality	877
	Human rights	3342
Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities	SDG 11	Created in September 2020	User: Olabideen (Ilorin)
	Natural disaster / water-related disaster	3407
	Urbanisation / Sustainable urbanisation	1351
Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production	SDG 12	does not exist yet	User:RosieTMM2030 (Chicago) - primary User: Olabideen (Ilorin) - secondary
	Food waste	488
	Sustainable tourism	356
Goal 13: Climate Action	SDG 13	does not exist yet	User:RosieTMM2030 (Chicago)
	Effects of global warming / Impacts of climate change	2118
	Global warming / climate change	9457
	Sustainable energy / Clean energy	1400
Goal 14: Life Below Water	SDG 14	42	User:Brunapedia (Beirut)
	Marine pollution	537
	Ocean acidification	586
Goal 15: Life on Land	SDG 15	30	User:Brunapedia (Beirut)
	Ecosystems	2897
	Reforestation	304
Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions	SDG 16	35	User:RosieTMM2030 (Chicago)
	Corruption	1741
	Justice	1038
Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals	SDG 17	25	User:RosieTMM2030 (Chicago)
	Capacity building	405
	Sustainable development	2700

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals set to be accomplished by 2030. Key to making the SDG process successful is to make the information and data on the 17 goals available and understandable. Wikipedia is one of the world’s most visited websites, receiving more than 18 billion page views per month. It is the world’s most comprehensive encyclopedia and offers access to free knowledge to a huge, diverse audience. There are currently massive gaps in content about the Global Goals on Wikipedia – only some of the goals have their own articles. In addition, hundreds of other Wikipedia articles which could and should be linked to specific Goals are not.

September 2020 is a crucial moment for the Sustainable Development Goals – otherwise known as the Global Goals. World leaders will virtually come together for the General Assembly, it will mark five years since the Global Goals were agreed and the 75th anniversary of the UN. During Global Goals Week (18-26th September), civil society organisations will also come together to advocate for leaders to use the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a framework to turn it around and build a new and better world for everyone, everywhere.

With COVID-19 halting progress towards reaching these Goals, it is crucial that the Global Goals movement continues to build momentum and drive awareness, action and accountability. This means, where possible, more online events, more virtual community building and better inclusivity.

The overall purpose of this initiative is to spread free knowledge about the 17 SDGs and their key content topics through Wikipedia.

Through this project we plan to:

• Raise awareness of the Global Goals using the 5th most visited website.
• Democratise knowledge by providing information on the Goals and the thematic areas they cover to those who would not otherwise have access.
• Create buzz around the Goals during Global Goals Week and the 5th anniversary of the Global Goals’ agreement.
• Engage the Global Goals community giving citizens, activists, academics and many others the opportunity to contribute during Global Goals Week and to feel that they have made a meaningful, tangible contribution.

As part of Global Goals Week (18-26th September), we will hold a virtual week-long edit-a-thon. We’ll bring together volunteers and experts from around the world to create and edit Wikipedia articles on the Global Goals. During this edit-a-thon, participants will:

• Develop new Wikipedia articles for those Goals that do not have their own article yet and improve the existing SDG articles.
• Improve other Wikipedia articles that are linked to the SDGs e.g. linking maternal mortality to Goal 3.
• Insert relevant hyperlinks between a range of different Wikipedia articles on SDG topics to ensure users can learn as much as possible on a given Goal or topic.
• Add images to the pages to make the pages more communicable