Wikipedia:GLAM/WestCoastWPAL/Postcards from the Coast
As part of the West Coast Wikipedian at Large project, all signed-up volunteers got a weekly "virtual postcard" delivered to their Talk page. It summarised the past week of work, listed possible articles to concentrate on in the coming week, and thanked volunteers for especially good work. Each one contained a photo I'd taken during the week, and had a "stamp" mocked up from an old New Zealand stamp with a Des Helmore sandfly drawing. All volunteers received a thank you to their Talk page at the end of the project.
Postcard #1 (2020)
| Postcard from the West Coast
Sunday 6 September: Blackball |
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| Welcome to the Progress Report: prizes for quality, quantity, and anything else I like. User:Schwede66 has been powering ahead. There's room to add a little more to the To Do list, but I want every red link blue by the end of October – plenty to do already! Thank you all. • Take care — Giantflightlessbirds
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Afghan from the Broadway Tearooms and Bakery (Future Dough Co), Reefton |
Postcard #2
| Postcard from the West Coast
Sunday 14 September: Greymouth |
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| Hello all from Greymouth! There are now a dozen of you from Australia and New Zealand signed up to help, which is wonderful. • The last week has seen some great work, especially from Progress Report, just so others can see and help out. Thank you all for your hard work! • Take care — Giantflightlessbirds
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Postcard #3
| Postcard from the West Coast
Sunday 20 September: Westport |
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| Hi from Progress Report, so we can all see and help! • Take care — Giantflightlessbirds
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Postcard #4
| Postcard from the West Coast
Sunday 27 September: Hokitika |
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| Greetings from sunny Hokitika! The fine weather I've had for the last few weeks finally broke and it's been driving hail and wind today. • Last week in Westport was fun, talking to many local historians and photographers, and the Progress Report. Thank you all for your hard work. • Stay warm and dry! — Giantflightlessbirds
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Postcard #5
| Postcard from the West Coast
Sunday 4 October: Hokitika |
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| Kia ora from Hokitika! Tomorrow I pack up the car and head to Greymouth to present to Development West Coast our previous month's work, before heading south • Yes, Glacier Country are supplying accommodation in south Westland – Ōkārito, Franz Josef, and Fox – for the next two weeks. Possibly because I mouthed off to the media that Fox Glacier's entry is so short who would want to stay there? • So this week it's Ōkārito (splitting the article into settlement and lagoon), kōtuku, spoonbills, the West Coast Wildlife Centre (Q99767675), rowi, Franz Josef glacier (and NZ glacier photos in general glacier articles), historic buildings thereabouts, etc • I uploaded lots of Stewart Nimmo photos of the Haast area, and have some Paparoa ones by Jase Blair coming soon. • Pakoire noticed that Fayne Robinson (Q99836010) needs an article – can we collaborate on one? He's def notable and we need more coverage of Māori from the Coast. • Also women: see the Westland women in the WikiProject Hokitika Museum Google doc and Hokitika Museum Google drive. • Last week I wrote or improved articles about Hokitika Museum, Lake Kaniere, History House Museum, Lake Mahinapua, and Westland District Library. Error check, cleanup etc welcome. It's great to be able to work from folders and scrapbooks stuffed full of newspaper clippings! • Housekeeping: Thank you all for collaborating and filling in gaps, especially with historic buildings. Paora has been doing some great work. Please keep letting me know of any photos you need taking on the spot. • Take care — Giantflightlessbirds |  |
Postcard #6
| Postcard from the West Coast
Sunday 11 October: Franz Josef |
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| Gidday from Haast Tokoeka and Rowi articles • Great to see a new Fayne Robinson article from Pakoire, and Maida Bryant from MurielMary; Paora's been beavering away on lists of mayors • Housekeeping: do reach out to any of the team for a hand if some random editor knocks you back or makes trouble. Don't let them rattle you! We're here to help each other. • Take care and be kind — Giantflightlessbirds
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Postcard #7
| Final Postcard from the West Coast
Friday 23 October:Reefton |
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| Kia ora koutou from Reefton Distillery • There are photos of all of Reeftons's historic buildings (and I've added a few), but no articles about the Reefton Courthouse or the Reefton School of Mines, and the Reefton Power Station article could do with work • Since I last wrote DrThneed has been hard at work on libraries, there's a nice Donovan's Store article from Gertrude206, much-needed improvements to pounamu by Pakoire, and Paora's been super-industrious with historic buildings but most importantly managed to produce a photo of the giant sandfly of Pukekura • Housekeeping: I'm sending out prizes kindly donated by Development West Coast and Friends of Waiuta to those of you who've worked hardest on the project, so if I ask for a postal address that's why. But even if you just signed up to get these postcards, that's fine too! • Thank you all for making a wonderful project work; I've never coordinated a team effort like this, and I think it's potentially a model for other edit-a-thons. Its been great fun. And I hope this has inspired you to keep chipping away, improving the coverage of New Zealand's beautiful West Coast. Ka kite ano, — Giantflightlessbirds
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Postcard #1 (2022)
| Postcard from the West Coast
Monday 20 June, 2022 |
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| Kia ora koutou and thanks for joining the West Coast Wikipedian at Large project! I hope you enjoy helping improve coverage of the beautiful country of pancake rocks (which need their own article?), Paparoa Track (a stub with no photos!), Cave Creek (much work needed, and photos of the track, creek, and memorial), and Barrytown, subject of a Wikiblitz but still with plenty to do • I'll be visiting the Punakaiki area and hopefully presenting on Wikipedia to the DOC team around the 29–30 June (depending on weather), and will take photos of tracks, river, points, islands, and caves–requests taken • Note: there's a West Coast Reptiles Wikiblitz on Sunday 3 July if you want to help improve articles about native lizards • Right, that's plenty! Maybe people would be interested in an online team chat? I could post a Doodle poll… • So looking forward to working with you all on this! • Mānawatia a Matariki, — Giantflightlessbirds
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Pancake Rocks . |
Postcard #2 (2022)
| Postcard from the West Coast
Tuesday 5 July, 2022 |
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| Kia ora koutou and thank you all for your hard work over the last couple of weeks! We've had a cold snap here on the Coast, but at least the rain's slackened off and I've been able to get out on the blue sunny days and take snapshots • Schwede66 has been sorting out the Project page to see jobs there are to do, and how you can help out! Ka kite ano. — Giantflightlessbirds
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Postcard #3 (2022)
| Postcard from the West Coast
Tuesday 19 July, 2022 |
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| Kia ora koutou and once again thank you for all your mahi over the last fortnight • We've been working on articles on the Project page to see jobs there are to do, and how you can help out! Ka kite ano. — Giantflightlessbirds
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Postcard #4 (2022)
| Postcard from the West Coast
Monday 1 Aug, 2022 |
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| Kia ora koutou and thanks for helping with this project • It's been a busy fortnight: I visited Project page to see the north-to-south list for South Westland, and pick something to work on; ask me for a job if you don't have one! Ka kite ano. — Giantflightlessbirds
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Postcard #5 (2022)
| Postcard from the West Coast
Monday 15 Aug, 2022 |
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| Kia ora koutou; we're coming up to the home stretch! • I got back from South Westland with about 400 photos to upload and categorise into Commons • The DOC team down there are very excited about our project; they're busy reopening the North Westland lists for anything that needs expanding • In other news, I'm running an online workshop 7 pm August 23rd on Adding Photos to Commons; enrolment's free, share with any keen photographers you know • We're also having a Wikiblitz this coming Sunday to try to improve the articles about West Coast reptiles, and could use help • Thank you for all your hard work; I'd like to organise an online meetup on Zoom at the end of the project to look back at what we've done and have a think about next steps; will send some possible times • Ka kite ano. — Giantflightlessbirds
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Postcard #6 (2022)
| Postcard from the West Coast
Monday 29 Aug, 2022 |
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| Kia ora koutou; well, it's time to wrap up this project • What a wonderful and short ten weeks it's been; I've really appreciated all the mahi people have put into improving articles about the West Coast • There's a summary of what we've managed to achieve in the final report • Briefly: 24 new articles, 5 of them in DYK, 974 edits to 193 articles, adding 73,800 words and 653 citations • We uploaded 1126 photos into numerous new Commons categories • Standouts for me were Schwede66's sorting out all the Paparoa mountains named after famous scientists, Marshelec's work on Karamea and Bullock Creek, and Turnagra creating the Copland Track article • There are small prizes going out to those three, but I also want to acknowledge all the effort of Paora, Chocmilk03, and Gertrude206—great stuff • I'm about to head off to Europe for a month, to attend the Wikimedia Summit and learn what European Wikipedians are up to, but despite time zones would like to have an online catchup with participants soon • Thank you again for all your hard work; ka kite ano and I hope we'll have another bash at the West Coast again soon. Don't be strangers. — Giantflightlessbirds | Pancake Rocks |
Postcard #1 (2023)
| Postcard from the West Coast
Wednesday 20 Sep, 2023 |
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| Kia ora koutou; so good to be a Wikipedian at Large on the West Coast again. • I've been setting up visits and field photography trips to Karamea (Oct 15), Fox Glacier (Oct 2), and Whataroa (Oct 9), and working through the typewritten Whataroa South Westland: Centennial Report 1879–1979 • Great work from Panamitsu creating the kōtuku and Waitangiroto River articles with journal articles—and the Whataroa River and Waitangitāhuna River articles could do with a tidy up (there's a great article in Tane about how the former split in two, and the implications for the Waitangiroto) • Coming up are the Glacier Country tourism articles: can I recommend Lynley Hargreaves' new book Vanishing Ice as a reference? • Gillespies Beach Beginnings is recently transcribed and available in Wikisource as well • Keep at it folks, and I'll drop you a line in a week and a bit. — Giantflightlessbirds
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Postcard #2 (2023)
| Postcard from the West Coast
Wednesday 8 Nov, 2023 |
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A bit of a gap since the last postcard, but what a great time we've had with the Wikipedian at Large project in the interim • The highlight has been having Marshall and Lyn join me on the West Coast for a few days, visiting Fox Glacier and Whataroa • We now have good photo collections for the newly-created Waitangiroto Nature Reserve, and a a much improved article with galler • The Whataroa article has been improved with local history and links to the White Herons • We also have much better coverage of Fox Glacier, including new Ngāi Tahu viewing place Te Kopikopiko o te Waka, and photos of Te Weheka Walkway/Cycleway and the South Side Walkway/Cycleway • Could I get you all to check back through your contributions and add anything extra you've done to the [Progress page as we wrap up • Also—I'm hosting a catch-up meeting on Sunday November 12, 2:30 pm, online at my Whereby chat room. This is a chance to go over anything you'd still like to see improved, talk about how the project went and possibilities for future ones, and announce winners of prizes for most or best contributions. Drop me a line at mike rove.wiki if you can make it (or can't but have ideas about the project) • Thank you all for your contributions, however small, and chat soon. — Giantflightlessbirds
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Kōtuku at Waitangiroto Nature Reserve |
Sample Thank-You
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The West Coast Stamp of Approval |
| It was great to have you on the team for the West Coast Wikipedian at Large project, and I hope you'll keep helping to improve West Coast pages. Having such a keen and knowledgeable team of volunteers made the project a success. —Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 05:00, 28 October 2020 (UTC) |