Many small towns scattered around the United States are virtually unknown to outsiders. To preserve their history, Mark Combs, also known by his Wikipedia handle Coal town guy, has started to document them on Wikipedia.
“My mom grew up in a really teeny, tiny small coal town in Raleigh County, West Virginia … You know most people when they go to a coal town, it’s by accident. So I wanted to start documenting them in a Wikipedia fashion you know, where is it a real place, what county is it in, where its geospatial coordinates is and et cetera. And I do it for the community, that’s a hobby.” says Combs.
For Combs, it was troublesome that these towns were being forgotten, even though they brought up fond memories for many people like him.
“In 2009 and 2010, a lot of the local landmarks were just sort of disappearing and it wasn’t by intent, it was really just the apathy in the area, the lack of — lack of jobs. And it really struck me that I kind of have, either I go out with my camera and take lots and lots of pictures – and not that somebody looks at them – or I have to start documenting things in an encyclopedic fashion.” Combs says. “And no one was really taking a uniform approach and worse yet, no one was really approaching these places with I guess not the respect it deserved, but rather the history that should be associated with them.”
“There are people I know from that place who were totally jazzed that you know their [town is on] Wikipedia. They felt a sense of recognition,” Combs says. “They’re just happy to know that somebody knows their town as a real place and that these are real people.”
Combs says he encountered townspeople who thought he was ridiculing them, but after several years they “loosened up” because they understood he was there to document the town from a historical perspective.
The idea of preserving small towns virtually came to him in 2002 (which Combs describes as “the dark ages of the Internet”), after working with some geospatial data that he had access to. “You could buy a GPS but it was not necessarily reliable and they were really expensive” says Combs. He tested the data that he collected, to see if he could identify small towns like the one his mother grew up in.
“I used my moms’ coal town name. It’s called Whitby. And I spelled it just like Whitby Lancashire in England. And everybody was telling me there’s no such place and that kind of peeved me off, because you know I was a kid, I played there. I used to go fossil hunting there and like it’s real, I know it was real.” says Combs. At the time, it took Combs two weeks to find his mother’s hometown.
Shortly after that experience, Combs drove to Whitby and starting taking photographs and interviewing people, and fell in love with researching and documenting small towns.
“Most people when they look at my preservation work, have no idea why I do it.” Combs says. “I take vacation time from work to drive to a coal town that hasn’t been inhabited for 25 or 30 years.”
In April 2010, Combs started a Facebook group called ‘I miss West Virginia Coal Towns‘. The group started with four members and today it boasts over nine thousand. And with more people in that group, Combs says they all learned more from each other. For instance, Combs would ask for help to identify a fact or a photograph and many people would join the conversation to weigh in on his question. They would then get even more photographs to identify from other users, and the knowledge pool would grow.
“We literally have thousands of photographs. Photographs I would think would’ve never existed, started showing up. Because some woman in Ohio went into her trunk and pulled out a picture of her aunt who stood in front of this building that hasn’t existed in 30 years. And suddenly a lot of people began contributing to knowledge in a way that I never thought possible. But the hard part was going through this pile of data and trying to find out what was real. What could be verified? And for Wikipedia it would almost be insurmountable. I mean you need five or six rows of supercomputers to say is this real or is this not real. But on the other hand if you don’t do that, it can’t grow.”
So far, Combs has created over 2,700 articles on Wikipedia. Many of them, including his mothers’ hometown of Whitby, can show their town’s history with images such as US postmarks on old postcards or coal scrip.
When asked if his work will have a legacy, Combs replied:
“I do not know if mine will. I really do not know. I think the only thing I want is for a few generations of people to be recognized as being just a place, that there was someone there – that people lived there, died there, worked there.”
Combs told us, “If you provide a place where only knowledge is acquired, verifiable, not hate speech, not opinions, but knowledge is acquired – then anybody can benefit.”
Profile by Yoona Ha, Communications Intern and Victor Grigas, Wikimedia Foundation Storyteller
Interview by Dan McSwain, Wikimedia Foundation contractor
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Miji mingi midogo iliyotawanyika kotekote Marekani haijulikani na watu wa nje. Kwa ajili ya kuhifadhi historia yao, Mark Combs, pia anajulikana kwa Wikipedia yake kushughulikia Coal town guy, imeanza kuorodhesha yao juu ya Wikipedia. <unk>Mama yangu alikulia katika kweli teeny, ndogo ndogo makaa ya mawe mji katika Raleigh County, West Virginia... Unajua watu wengi wakati wao kwenda mji makaa ya mawe, ni kwa ajali. "Kama unavyojua, Wikipedia inaonyesha ""mji halisi"" kama ""mahali halisi,"" ""mahali halisi"" kama ""mahali halisi"" kama ""mahali halisi"" kama ""mahali halisi"" kama ""mahali halisi"" kama ""mahali halisi"" kama ""mahali halisi"" kama ""mahali halisi"" kama ""mahali halisi.""" Na mimi kufanya hivyo kwa ajili ya jamii, kwamba <unk> ni hobby. <unk> anasema Combs. Kwa Combs, ilikuwa ni jambo la kusumbua kwamba miji hiyo ilikuwa ikisahauliwa, ingawa ilileta kumbukumbu nzuri kwa watu wengi kama yeye. "Mwaka 2009 na 2010, alama nyingi za eneo hilo zilikuwa zinapotea na haikuwa kwa makusudi, ilikuwa ni ukosefu wa wasiwasi katika eneo hilo, ukosefu wa ""ukosefu wa kazi.""" "Na kwa kweli ilinipata kwamba nina aina ya, ama mimi kwenda nje na kamera yangu na kuchukua mengi na mengi ya picha - na si kwamba mtu yeyote inaangalia yao - au mimi kuwa na kuanza kumbukumbu mambo katika encyclopedic fashion. """ "Hakuna mtu aliyekuwa na mtazamo wa kawaida, na mbaya zaidi, hakuna mtu aliyekuwa akikaribia maeneo haya kwa heshima inayostahili, lakini badala yake historia inayopaswa kuhusishwa nayo. "" ""Kuna watu ninaowajua kutoka mahali hapo ambao walikuwa na furaha kabisa kwamba unajua [mji wao uko kwenye] Wikipedia." Walijisikia kutambuliwa, Combs anasema. "Wanafurahi kujua kwamba mtu anajua mji wao kama mahali halisi na kwamba hawa ni watu halisi. " Combs anasema alikutana na watu wa mji ambao walidhani alikuwa akiwadhihaki, lakini baada ya miaka kadhaa "walipunguza" kwa sababu walielewa alikuwa huko kurekodi mji kutoka kwa mtazamo wa kihistoria. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, Combs alianzisha ""Mizizi ya Giza ya Mtandao"" mnamo 2002 baada ya kufanya kazi na data ya kijiografia ambayo alikuwa nayo." "Unaweza kununua GPS lakini haikuwa ya kuaminika na ilikuwa ghali sana", anasema Combs. Alijaribu data aliyoikusanya, ili kuona kama angeweza kutambua miji midogo kama ile ambayo mama yake alilelewa. "Nilitumia jina la mji wa makaa ya mawe la mama yangu". Inaitwa Whitby. Na niliandika kama Whitby Lancashire huko Uingereza. Na kila mtu alikuwa akiniambia hakuna mahali kama hapo na hiyo aina ya pissed mimi mbali, kwa sababu unajua nilikuwa mtoto, mimi alicheza huko. Nilikuwa nikienda huko kutafuta visukuku na kama ni kweli, najua ni kweli. " anasema Combs. Wakati huo, Combs alichukua majuma mawili kupata mji wa nyumbani wa mama yake. Baada ya hapo, Combs alienda Whitby na kuanza kupiga picha na kuhoji watu, na akaanguka katika upendo na utafiti na kuorodhesha miji midogo. "Watu wengi wanapoangalia kazi yangu ya kuhifadhi, hawajui ni kwa nini ninafanya hivyo", Combs anasema. "Kama msichana, yeye ni mtu wa kawaida katika mji wa makaa ya mawe ambao haujakaa kwa miaka 25 au 30."" - Combs, mwanzilishi wa Facebook, ""Ninakosa West Virginia Coal Towns.""" Kikundi hicho kilianza na washiriki wanne na leo kina zaidi ya elfu tisa. Na kwa watu zaidi katika kikundi hicho, Combs anasema wote walijifunza zaidi kutoka kwa kila mmoja. Kwa mfano, Combs angeomba msaada wa kutambua ukweli au picha na watu wengi wangejiunga na mazungumzo ili kuamua swali lake. Kisha wangepata picha zaidi za kutambulisha kutoka kwa watumiaji wengine, na hifadhi ya maarifa ingeongezeka. <unk>Kweli tuna maelfu ya picha. Picha ambazo nilidhani hazingekuwapo kamwe, zilianza kuonekana. Mwanamke mmoja huko Ohio alitoa picha ya shangazi yake aliyesimama mbele ya jengo ambalo halikuwepo kwa miaka 30. Na ghafla watu wengi walianza kuchangia maarifa kwa njia ambayo sikuwahi kufikiria inawezekana. Lakini sehemu ngumu ilikuwa kupitia rundo hili la data na kujaribu kujua ni nini kilichokuwa halisi. Ni nini ambacho kingeweza kuthibitishwa? Na kwa Wikipedia itakuwa karibu haiwezi kushindwa. "Hii ni kwa sababu kuna ""supercomputer"" tano au sita ambazo zinatumia kompyuta nyingi sana kuamua kama ni kweli au si kweli." "Kwa upande mwingine, ikiwa haufanyi hivyo, haiwezi kukua. ""Kufikia sasa, Combs ameunda makala zaidi ya 2,700 kwenye Wikipedia." Wengi wao, ikiwa ni pamoja na mji wa nyumbani wa mama yake wa Whitby, wanaweza kuonyesha historia ya mji wao na picha kama vile stempu za posta za Marekani kwenye kadi za posta za zamani au scrip ya makaa ya mawe. Alipoulizwa kama kazi yake itakuwa na urithi, Combs alijibu: "Sijui kama yangu itakuwa. Kwa kweli sijui. "Kama vile ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""Kama unaandaa mahali ambapo maarifa tu yanapatikana, yanaweza kuthibitishwa, sio hotuba ya chuki, sio maoni, lakini maarifa yanapatikana, basi mtu yeyote anaweza kufaidika."" - Yoona Ha, Mkurugenzi wa Mawasiliano na Mshauri wa Mawasiliano wa Wikimedia Foundation, Mshauri wa Mawasiliano wa Wikimedia Foundation, Dan McSwain, Mkataba wa Wikimedia Foundation." Ili makala hii ifikie watu wengi iwezekanavyo, tunataka msaada wako. Je, unaweza kutafsiri makala hii ili kupata ujumbe nje?Anza tafsiri