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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: Editathons: Getting the Most Out of Community Editing |
| 3 | +tags: open-access authoring, editing, Pretext |
| 4 | +author: Jordan Kostiuk |
| 5 | +comments: true |
| 6 | +--- |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +As yet another Fall semester comes to a close, I'm finalizing the logistics for our next [Team-Based Inquiry Learning (TBIL)](www.tbil.org) editathon---a 4-day stretch of focused editing to review and implement improvements that have been suggested to us over the semester. |
| 9 | +The purpose of this post is to share a little bit about what happens at editathon, invite newcomers to join the party, and encourage others to start their own community editing parties! |
| 10 | + |
| 11 | +## Maintaining High-Quality Open Eduation Resources |
| 12 | +One of my favourite parts about authoring course materials as Open Eduation Resources (OERs) in Github is our ability to incorporate feedback and suggestions from our community of users. |
| 13 | +As a user leaving feedback, it's as easy as leaving an issue on the repository. |
| 14 | +The details of how you and your authoring team handle this feedback will vary depending on the size of your team and the time you have to devote to these tasks, but having this feedback easily visible and organized in the issues section of your project helps you make those decisions. |
| 15 | +Developing a strategy to review and make incremental changes with your authoring team helps you improve the quality of your course materials. |
| 16 | +Additionally, this feedback cycle is an important opportunity for us to engage with our user community. |
| 17 | + |
| 18 | +The TBIL community makes these decisions through an editorial board. |
| 19 | +Typically consisting of 4-6 folks, the board meets monthly to review feedback left by the community. |
| 20 | +Some of these changes are small-scale edits that are easy to delegate among the board and can be addressed quickly and asynchronously. |
| 21 | +Others require more substantial discussion and effort. |
| 22 | +For these kinds of issues, we've found that it's helpful for us to have some dedicated synchronous focus time a few times each year to address them properly. |
| 23 | +Enter **_Editathon_**. |
| 24 | + |
| 25 | +## Editathon |
| 26 | +Twice a year (typically May and December), we host an open-to-the-community editathon for the TBIL Resource Library. |
| 27 | +Taking place over a 4-day period, the editorial board invites any and all users wishing to contribute to our resource suite to join us on Zoom. |
| 28 | +During these sessions, users are welcome to pick away at outstanding issues in our repository and to create new issues associated with their suggestions. |
| 29 | + |
| 30 | +For users, this is a great way to engage more with the TBIL community, make sure your voice is heard, and to practice the Github workflow central to the TBIL Resource Library. |
| 31 | +For the editorial board, editathon provides us with fresh perspectives, a motivating environment, and, most importantly, the accountability that comes with setting aside a focused window of time to work. |
| 32 | + |
| 33 | +## Join Us! |
| 34 | +Consider this your invitation to join us for the TBIL Winter Editathon, taking place Monday December 15th-Thursday December 18th. |
| 35 | +If you're interested in joining us for editathon, please join the conversation on our |
| 36 | +[Zulip chatroom](https://tbil.zulipchat.com/#narrow/channel/481193-editathon/topic/Winter.202025.20Dates.3A.20Dec.2015-18/with/548038883) |
| 37 | +Our main meeting hours will be: |
| 38 | +1. Monday 10:00am-3:00pm Central |
| 39 | +2. Tuesday 12:00pm-5:00pm Central |
| 40 | +3. Wednesday 10:00am-3:00pm Central |
| 41 | +4. Thursday 12:00pm-5:00pm Central |
| 42 | + |
| 43 | +Hope to see you there! |
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