I have been editing on Wikipedia since 2010, contributing in that time a few translations between Spanish, Catalan and English articles, content on cooperatives, and a number of basic copyedits. In April 2012, I began working for UC Berkeley's Office of Public Affairs on articles related to the university. My work as a paid editor for UC Berkeley began with a small preliminary contract, and in May 2012, the university awarded me a further one. This page is an effort to make my conflict of interest with these articles transparent, and to open the door to further collaboration with the Wikipedia community. I am a Wikipedian before all else--all of my edits are made with my best good faith effort to adhere not only to the guidelines and policies of Wikipedia, but also the spirit behind them.
Background edit
A recent UC Berkeley graduate, underemployed, I found myself working on Wikipedia articles for which I'd previously not had any time. One of these articles was the Berkeley Student Food Collective, a successful example of a cooperative business founded for and by UC Berkeley students. I started the article and was looking for a way for UC Berkeley to link to it. The structuring of the latter article was poor, so I began working on that, not realizing that I would spend an entire evening making changes. After spending the night away on article improvements, I had a crisis of underemployment and whispered under my breath to myself that the university should pay me for such work. Then it dawned on me: in this oddly shifting economy I might want to consider and brave such creative unknowns.
The next day I wrote an email to UC Berkeley Public Affairs, introducing myself as an independent contractor and giving them a rundown of some of the improvements that I could make to the UC Berkeley article should they hire me. They responded with great enthusiasm and asked me to come in for an interview. They agreed to hire me on a small contract since neither of us had had any experience doing this kind of work. Since then, they have hired me to work on content on sustainability policies and projects on campus (not live), and spaces in the National Register of Historic Places.
Ethics of paid editing edit
Before beginning my work, I felt uneasy and uncertain about the possibility of being paid to edit on Wikipedia. I did what I thought was best and consulted a couple of my friends who are regular contributors, and they said that it would be best for me to announce myself, whether through the UC Berkeley talk page or my user talk. The small amount of feedback I got was positive. It was only later that another user contacted me privately to inform me that a wiser route would be for me to connect myself with WP:COOPERATION, the Wikiproject dedicated toward the collaboration between volunteer Wikipedians and paid ones. On May 31, 2012 at 22:59, I exclaimed: "I just requested a mentor! In the mean time, I will be word processing and sandboxing possible future edits." The person who was to be my mentor became busy in the Real Life. New strategy: Announce self in talk pages and edit summaries, and update my Userspace.
More thoughts on paid editing... edit
Pete Forsyth, long-time Wikipedian and founder of Wiki Strategies, a consulting service for organizations who desire to edit on Wikipedia, recently had his views on paid editing featured on The Signpost:
My work edit
Finances and scholarships (April 2012) edit
My work during this time was open-ended, meaning I could work on what I wanted. I decided I wanted to provide information about scholarship and financial aid opportunities, in this way eventually opening up the article to discuss or link to articles discussing present-day controversy over tuition increases and related issues of controversy at the university. My vision was to provide impartial information that could act as a backbone for other editors' further contributions.
The people at the PA office sent me financial statements released by the University of California and UC Berkeley. Upon reading these documents, I realized that in order to begin speaking about UC Berkeley finances I'd have to begin by writing about finances at the system-wide level. Hence:
- April 12: University of California finances
Then came:
- April 13: UC Berkeley financial aid
- A friend and fellow Wikipedian noted to me that the content I added is not entirely "encyclopedic" because UCB financial aid policies may change. How do I reconcile this issue? Do I write a "historical account" (e.g. Info on the California DREAM Act Scholarship: year it began, major donors, its historicity within the California Congress, etc. historical angles)?
- April 13: University of California, Berkeley#University_finances
- This edit was a cleanup of what was a vague opening paragraph that included info on one scholarship. I migrated info on that scholarship from University of California, Berkeley to UC Berkeley financial aid without compromising anything that had been written about it.
Sustainability (June-August 2012) edit
Worked on content for UC Berkeley sustainability policies and projects. Edits are not yet live, as they are being reviewed by members of the campus community involved in those projects. See my sandbox for more info. Eekiv (talk) 22:05, 15 August 2012 (UTC)
NRHP (August 2012-Present) edit
After completing the sustainability project, I was asked to propose a new contract. I had recently returned from Wikimania 2012 in Washington, DC. Inspired by Wikipedia Loves Monuments, Open Street Map (OSM) and Monmouthpedia, I proposed creating articles and improving articles on the spaces on campus in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), geolocate these articles on OSM and install QR codes at these buildings. UC Berkeley is home to 24 spaces in the NRHP. At the time I turned in my proposal in August, 11 of these spaces did not have articles, 8 were stubs and 2 were flagged for poor or missing citations. I have since become a regular at the UC Berkeley Environmental Design Library, creating the California Hall article, expanding the Hearst Memorial Mining Building article and researching future articles. The California Hall and Hearst Memorial Mining Building edits were migrated into the encyclopedia on September 26, 2012. I am currently on a work freeze until my final hours are approved.