How to categorize people on Wikimedia Commons

Hi, I'm Vera and I've been helping Susan and the rest of the group out in getting around on Wikimedia Commons, the media database the Wikipedia projects relies upon. I've written here before about how to transfer files from Flickr, and how the OTRS system works, today I'm going to tackle categories. I thought this was a good idea since Susan requested everyone to send in portraits last week.

Just like Wikipedia, files and pages on Commons are categorized, but unlike articles where categories are often an after though, they form the back bone of this project. This because there is no text that can link to other articles, so you often have to rely on the categories to find what you are looking for.

Please note: categories aren't tags. When you've added a file to say “Atheists from the United States”, there is no need to also ad “Atheism” or “Atheist”. The trick is to add the lowest level category as possible. Categories have a structure, for example:

Like this there is a huge tree structure on Wikimedia Commons, making all people in the end categorized in a subcategory of Homo Sapiens, even Kent Hovind.

Aspects of a person that make it possible to put files about them in a category are, for example:

• Year of birth
•  [1989 births]
• Alma mate
•  For this there doesn’t seem to be a consensus for having either [Alumni of University of Florida] or [University of Florida Alumni], try either or look it up by going to the university’s category.
• Occupation
• [Economists from the United States], [Neuroscientists from the Netherlands], [Film directors from New York City]. Again, try to find the lowest level, [DemocraticParty (United States) politicians] is a subcategory of [Politicians from theUnited States]  and [Democrats from Florida] in turn is a subcategory of the former.
•  Place of birth/residence
•  [People of Los Angeles], [People of The Hague]Not all places have such a category. Sometimes from is used instead of of.

Of course, it isn't always possible to add, say, [Atheists from Istanbul] because it doesn't exists. You can also create the category yourself:

Creating categories

Creating a new category is similar to creating a new page, just be sure to start the title with “Category:”. If a category is added to a file that doesn't exist, it will show up read, just like a page would. When you click on it, you will see the option to create it in the top right corner.

For general category, like Stroopwafels at Wikimedia meetups, are usually 2 parent categories. In this case:

[[Category:Stroopwafels|Wikimedia meetups]]
[[Category:Food at Wikimedia meetups]]

to the page and safe.

The section I colored here is a way to sort the category in its parent category, allowing for instance to have Skepticism in the United States to be sorted under U in its parent category Skepticism by country 
.

Optionally you can link to the Wikipedia article about the category you've just created. This is done the same way any Wikipedia page links to the same article in another language:

[[it:Independent Investigations Group]]
[[en:Independent Investigations Group]]
[[en:Independent Investigations Group]]

 On Wikipedia you can link back to the category by Commonscat template at the bottom of the page:

 {{Commonscat|Categoryname}}

Will result in something like this:

If you've made a spelling error

You can always go back and edit a category in order to change its parent categories,  I added Obama to the category left-handed people only last year for instance. You can't change its name through a simple edit though. If you've made a spelling error in its name, create the correct one following the above steps and replace the content of the wrong category with:

 {{bad name|Category:New category name}}

 Don't forget to move all the files in the bad category to the new category.

Creating a category for one individual

As the list of possible categories a person can be put in can quickly grow, it is often easier to create a person-specific category.  The categories that would otherwise be added to every file would then be added to the category page. 2 thinks are specific about these categories than other: The category People by namehas to be added and you have to add the defaultsort template:

{{DEFAULTSORT:Surname, Firstname}}

The category Greta Christina, for instance, looks like this:

[[Category:People by name]]
[[Category:1961 births]]
[[Category:Reed College alumni]]
[[category:Skeptics from the United States]]
[[category:Atheists from the United States]]
[[category:Bloggers from the United States]]
[[Category:People from San Francisco, California]]
[[Category:LGBT activists from the United States]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christina, Greta}}

[[en:Greta Christina]]

Extra tools

There are some extra tools, gadgets they're called, I like to use when categorizing files. In order to activate them, go to Preferences > Gadgets

•  Cat-a-lot: A tool that helps with moving multiple files between categories or adding categories to search results.   [documentation] 
• HotCat: Easily add / remove / change a category on a page, with name suggestions.   [documentation / example] 

And I've changed my interface slightly by checking this option: 

• Place categories above content, but below image on file description pages. 

This way you don't have to scroll all the way down the page. I hope this was of help. If you have any question, you can contact me in our Facebook group or down in the comments. 

David Lazarus ~ using watchlists and catagories

Watch lists and Categories are a very quick way to put people on your "to-do" Wiki list. Discovered a new skeptic today, David Lazarus while reading the LA Times.  This man writes a consumer action column two days a week for the newspaper and also appears daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5.  He had written another article I chanced upon a month ago that made me think "who is this guy and why isn't he a part of our skeptic world."? 

Today was the clincher when I found this article called "Diabetes cure? Finding out can cost you $15,000".  In this investigation he looks into the claims of "Doctor" Jeff Hockings and his scam to fleece people out money to cure their diabetes. 

So here I go into Guerrilla Skeptic mode, guess I need a cape or something.  Anyway I'm all set to get on Hocking's wiki page and start hammering him, but he doesn't have a page.  Or any reference I can find on Wikipedia.  That really says something, this man is supposed to be able to cure Type 1 diabetes with a few "cleansings of the system" and some diet changes and herbs you can buy from his company.  You would think if it worked that he would be world famous.  Sadly its a scam and people are lining up at his "workshops" to learn more.  Anyway read the article to see how Lazarus exposes this fraud.

So I do the next best thing and go to Lazarus's Wiki page.  He does have a page but it badly needs updating, something I don't have time for at the moment.  So I did a few quick things that I wanted to share with you all.

I added him to the list of "American Skeptics" that appears at the bottom of his page.  I talk about this in another blog entry but here are the directions again.

I usually go to someone's page that I know is done correctly open up the "edit" page and you will see a ton of HTML writing.  Don't be overwhelmed.  Go all the way to the bottom and you will see something like this that I've taken from Dr. Eugenie Scott's edit page.
[[Category:Articles with inconsistent citation formats]]
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:American anthropologists]]
[[Category:American humanists]]
[[Category:University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumni]]
[[Category:University of Missouri alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:California State University, East Bay faculty]]
[[Category:National Academy of Sciences laureates]]
[[Category:American skeptics]]

Highlight and copy the last line here.  [[Category:American skeptics]] and then go to the edit page you are wanting to place this in and select the edit page.  Find where other Categories are listed and paste this link into the bottom of the list.  I suggest that you should always try to copy from a page where you know it is done correctly and not "type it in" on your own.  In this case if you had simply just typed it in and you capitalized the "S" in skeptic the you would not be getting the correct link.  Silly?  Well sorry that is the way Wikipedia works.

Anyway, next you want to "preview your changes" look at the bottom where it says "save page" and "watch this page".  Click on "preview" and you will see the edited page along with what looks like the real page.  Look it over.  If you see red writing where your change should be then you have not linked it correctly.  It might be something as simple as missing a [ or a Capital letter or something like that.  You need to review what you have done and keep looking at it making changes until you get it correct.  If you just can't figure it out you can ask here and I or someone will go in and see if we can help you out.  This is a learning process and it takes some confusing to get to where you figure out how to do things correctly.  I don't have a problem at all helping so don't be afraid to ask.

If you have gotten it correct and everything is either blue or black ink then hit "save" but first click the "watch this page" box and you MUST write in the "edit summary" box something about the change you made.  It could be as simple as saying I changed the spelling of a word, or added commas, or added the category.  Whatever it is, you aren't editing Wikipedia correctly if you don't write in that box.

When you are all done and pleased with yourself you might try clicking on the link you just inserted and making sure you did it correctly.  Clicking on American skeptics will bring you to this page.  Not very representative is it?  93 people on the list at the moment, I think that is a bit shy of the real number.  But as we get better at this the site will grow and we can use this list for all kinds of things.  Click on a few names and you can wander around seeing what needs to be done.  If you are really new at this and want something important to do, learn this step correctly and then go into every American Skeptic you can find on Wikipedia and add this category to their page.  This simple step will help a lot in the long run, and help you improve your confidence in editing.

Next I want to introduce you to the "watchlist" this can be found on the very top of any Wikipedia page.  Your user name should be on this line also.  If your name is in red type that means you have not yet set up a "user page" for yourself, which I would highly encourage.  It is a great way to give yourself some practice editing time and it allows others to get to know you.  Plus it gives you creds in the editing world.

Click on "my watchlist" and you will see all kinds of info from your past edits.  The top one should be the one you just finished editing.  The name of that site will be in blue (means it is linked correctly) and you can click on the "diff/hist" to see what was the difference from what was there before you edited and after.

Play around with these features to see what all you can do with this watchlist.  If someone makes a change on a page you have put on the list you will see it here.  This is an important helpful tool.  If someone is vandalizing a page you need to know right away so you can revert the edit (happens all the time to me) or respond to the edit or whatever.  Anyway once you play around with this and have a few pages on your watchlist you will get the hang of it.  Otherwise just post here and I'll answer your question.

Check out this group of categories.


[[Category: American skeptics]]
[[Category: Australian sceptics]]
[[Category: New Zealand sceptics]]
[[Category: Brazilian skeptics]]
[[Category: Indian skeptics]]
[[Category: Finnish sceptics]]
[[Category: British sceptics]]
[[Category: English skeptics]]
[[Category: Canadian skeptics]]