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This Wikipedia volunteer makes sure of his mark! Graham Pearce has made more than 200,000 edits in the 16 years he has been moderating and editing Wikipedia entries. Graham Pearce. (Picture courtesy of Glenda Nikoliv)
It's always fascinating to learn what prompts people to become Wikipedia editors and Graham, who has grown up with technology, claims it's an extension to his love for computers. “Because I am blind, I use screen readers and assistive technology, so I suppose some people may call me a computer geek.” He monitors a lot of articles about Western Australia, such as pages on suburbs and historical events like the 1946 Pilbara Strike. “I know when a school is studying a particular subject because there'll be amendments made in a short time. Sometimes, it's just youngsters who want to alter things when boredom sets in.” As an administrator, Graham has the power to block people if they are persistent offenders. Each edit must be recorded and logged which can be time consuming. He receives no payment for the work he does but has access to the online Wikipedia Library.
He joins an army of volunteers who ensure entries remain correct and up-to-date and is one of just two Wikipedia editors worldwide who is blind. He makes his edits to the online encyclopaedia using the JAWS screen reader which read the content out. The 33-year-old, who also has partial hearing loss in one ear, moved from Perth to Busselton 18 months ago and receives support and services from NDIS provider VisAbility. Graham spends more than four hours a day checking articles, have not been vandalised with misinformation. 10
October/November 2021
Graham also had the opportunity to attend Wikimania, the official annual conference of the Wikimedia Foundation, and has visited Washington DC, Hong Kong and Montreal. “They paid for me and my mother to go to Washington DC, but they have never held one in Australia.” Outside editing Wikipedia, he enjoys listening to music, preferring classical music and hits from the 60s and 70s. He can play piano and it's no surprise to learn that he enjoys computer games. Out of all his edits and checking of Wikipedia sites, is there one more memorable than most? “Early in Wikipedia's history, edits were made to the Sicilian Mafia page, and they later disappeared without a trace. I am sure it was a software bug, but my imagination would run wild, could it have been Mafia members themselves at work? I'd like to think so!”
