Thoughts on Wikipedia Editathon

It was overall a beautiful experience being in a room where the dominant sound was the ceaseless typing away on keyboards. Everyone could choose their favourite topic to edit and they all did it with fervour – despite the fact that it was nine in the morning. There was a huge variety of topics. Through this process I realized how many gaps are out there in Wikipedia and how important it is for everyone to contribute because, reliable or not, it is commonly the first source to run to whenever you need to quickly search for something.

I had chosen to translate a paragraph from English to Greek concerning Michael Moorcock’s bibliography and specifically his Fantasy novels featuring his most known character Elric of Melniboné. I decided to translate from English to Greek instead of editing an English text because, in the beginning, I thought that the English text on Wikipedia is complete but during the process of translating I discovered that I can also add some unmentioned elements in the English text as well. Michael Moorcock’s Fantasy novels are very popular in Greece among the Fantasy literature fans – being circulated by Aiolos Publications in very meticulous translations – and I was surprised to see that a lot of information about him and his work was missing from the Greek page. By translating and adding information on Wikipedia, especially about this author, I instantly felt the warm feeling of contributing something to academic discourse and to the promotion of the Fantasy genre without being enmeshed in processes that – although necessary – have the tendency to become tiresome. I will definitely continue using my Wikipedia account.