Author: Peter King
I expect many of you will have heard of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Well, there are many Wikipedias in many languages. The English language Wikipedia is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
I’ve been working on expanding the coverage of mills on Wikipedia. This is where you can help too, You can expand existing articles (you don’t need to create an account to do this) or write a new article on a mill (you will need to create an account to do this). Another way you can help is by adding images to Wikimedia Commons. Many old postcards are now out of copyright, and digital copies of the postcards can be used to illustrate articles and lists. You can also add photographs that you have taken yourself, if you are prepared to release them on a free or attribution required licence, such as a Creative Commons licence. Again, you will need to create an account to do this. I have recently created a Wiki Project to better co-ordinate coverage of mills articles on the English language Wikipedia
Almost every windmill in the UK now has a mention on Wikipedia (as long as it is at least verifiable by appearance on a map, mills known by field names only are not listed). I’ve also been creating articles on the surviving windmills. So far all surviving windmills in Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Sussex, Surrey, London, Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk have an article. I’m currently working through the Norfolk mills, but there are plenty more articles still to write. Please consider joining Wikipedia and expanding the coverage of mills there. Another area that you could assist with is translation of articles into/from foreign languages. The French, Dutch and German wikipedias have a fair amount of coverage on mills. Of course, there are thousands of mills abroad which could have articles written about them too.
An article on your local preserved mill may have a link to the mill’s website, and could encourage more people to visit the mill, which could get more people interested in mills generally, thus bring in more new blood to replace us oldies when we go.
WikiProject Mills – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Mills
Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
My Wikipedia account – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mjroots
