<< Return to the Community Toolkit

Here are simple, everyday ideas for creating content:

Mural by Cannon Dill. Photo CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 by Mazzarello Media and Art

  • Carry a camera! Do this regularly and take photos of interesting things you see. Then, create a page for each of the things you took photos of. Photos make for very interesting content, and they are much easier than writing up an article!
  • Share what you know. Make pages for all of the places, businesses, events, and weird idiosyncracies you find interesting. The beauty is in the little things. Unique things, events, idiosyncracies, vocabulary, underground culture, phenomena, secret places, in-jokes, history, food, local characters, traditions, and culture. You know what makes your place different from all the other places. What are the fun, weird, things that everyone knows about but that aren't documented anywhere? No piece of local knowledge is too small :)
  • Pledge to make an edit each day, no matter how small.
  • Add maps!
  • Add tags! After you make a tag, click on the tag you created to see what else is in that category. If there aren't a lot of other things listed under that tag, you can create more entries that would fit this category and build a nice little list of things for people to find. What other similar things can you create entries for that would have the same tag? Neighborhoods? Historical people? Scenic views?
  • Make an ideas list on the wiki with suggestions for people, places, and events that can be covered.
  • Attend (or host) an edit party
  • Add fun things! One of the funnest pages on Ann Arbor LocalWiki is the Birthday Deals page, which lists everywhere in town that has discounts on your birthday. Similarly, the Lost Eateries page taps into history and nostalgia for places that are no longer there.
  • Ask questions! Want to know more about that mysterious thing in your town? Make a page about it, and someone else will surely find it and fill everyone in.
  • Local nature - that neglected patch of trees has a fanbase! Make a page for it and see what people add.
  • Most importantly: Be silly, be subjective, add your own opinions, memories, and stories. Don't worry about getting it perfect right away--you can always go back and fix it, improve it, reword it, and fill in the blanks.

Read more...

Edit tags