I chose to edit the demographics section of the Wikipedia article on Bayside, Queens because I feel the article gave the misimpression that the community (where I have lived for the last 27 years) consists of "a majority" of "upper class Greeks, Italians, Irish, and Russians"--in reality a rather slim majority of 53.9% at the time of the census. While the article did point out a large influx of Asians into the community since the '90s, it did not mention that a whopping 30.4% of the community in 2000 identified themselves as Asian. I added these specific census statistics (and other ethnic and racial identification figures) because I think it is important to identify the significant Asian population in the community, which has grown even more considerable in the 8 years since the census.
It felt empowering and a little scary to edit this article and see the changes appear immediately in the online article. It remains to be seen how long this edit will hold up, if at all, but I liked doing it. I really liked it!
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This is a great example of why more librarians should be contributing to wikis. Maybe should isn't the right word. I guess I'm just saying we tend to improve the quality of information where we go.
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