A live view of a new Wikipedia page on William “Red” Reese — the man Reese Court was named after — is projected on a screen just inside of the JFK Library’s entrance. Notebooks, printed copies of old articles, yearbooks and other resources are scattered across tabletops. University laptops create a line of black down the center of plastic folding tables. A microfilm machine sits in the corner, waiting for a pair of student hands to turn its knobs in search of black flecked articles from an age long past. To the left, a colorful assortment of Valentine treats sit, ready to be consumed.

Last week, EWU’s JFK Library held its first ever Wikipedia event, aimed at helping students learn more about where information comes from, as well as about the history of Eastern Washington University. “The focus of this event is a person named William Reese — Red Reese,” James Rosenzweig, EWU education librarian and the man in charge of the All Red Event, said.

“There wasn’t a biography of him anywhere online, and before this morning, there was no Wikipedia article about him,” said Rosenzweig. “When we realized there were no articles at all, we thought, well, let’s talk about him. He had a pretty significant career here.”

When students walked in to participate in the All Red Event, they were first prompted to sign in at the front and then directed to a laptop and a stack of materials. “We say, take this source, look at it, see what it says about Reese, and then have a look at the article and see where in the article you think that should go,” said Rosenzweig. “Then it’s a matter of clicking the edit button, typing in some information, putting in a citation. We’re helping students learn how to actually put links and things into Wikipedia.”

The All Red Event was designed for hands-on learning. “We wanted to bring out books from the library, materials from the archives, newspaper articles and things like that, and then have students, faculty, and staff — whoever wanted to — come by and help us write,” said Rosenzweig.

EWU sophomore Dillon Hadaway participated in the event, adding information about Reese’s time coaching while in the military. According to Wikipedia, “During his military career, Reese coached the Second Air Force Superbomber football team to 20 victories and one tie out of 23 games played during the 1942 and 1943 seasons.”

For Hadaway, partaking in the All Red Event was a brand-new experience. “I’ve used Wikipedia plenty of times,” said Hadaway. “You just think, oh Wikipedia is there, it has tons of information, but you never think about how it gets there. Being a part of actually adding something new that’s never been on Wikipedia before [was] really interesting. I learned how information is archived and shared between people. I definitely have a different perspective on how all of that works.”

Hadaway’s experience sums up what the coordinators of the event were hoping for. “Not many people think about where Wikipedia information comes from,” said Rosenzweig. “That’s one of the goals for the event, to help people think about where information comes from online.”

Altogether, approximately 12 students participated in the event. Despite a rather low turnout, Rosenzweig said he hopes this event can be the first of an annual series. “This is the first time we’ve tried this here at Eastern,” said Rosenzweig. “We’re excited about it.”