We are hosting an Art+Feminism Edit-a-thon in University College Cork in collaboration with Wikimedia Ireland on the 10th March 2018 from 12pm to 3pm in the Digital Humanities Space on the Fourth Floor of the Food Science Building. More information is available HERE and HERE.
Here are a few ways that you can get involved before and during the event:
Before:
- Set up a Wikipedia account if you don’t already have one. Wikipedia also have a short course called The Wikipedia Adventure. It promises to teach you the nuts and bolts of editing in under an hour.
Example of work that needs to be edited on Agnes Clerke’s page: a book title in red signals a page that could be created, and absent citations.
- Suggest pages to edit/create. We have a Google Spreadsheet where people can make suggestions HERE. Once you have set up your Wikipedia account, you can also make to-do-lists like THESE ONES by Wikimedia Ireland’s project Co-ordinator, Rebecca O’Neill. Research Wikipedia content related to your own interests and look for knowledge gaps, poorly referenced information, and underdeveloped sections. Your own interests and expertise are key. Hopefully we can bring a rich variety of knowledge to the event and achieve positive changes across a range of Wikipedia pages.
- Look for content that is “in the red“: words or phrases in red indicates items that do not have pages about them. See the image above for an example.
- Register for the event HERE using the code: UCCAF2018. This helps us to gather statistics on how much work we complete during the Edit-a-thon.
- Share the event with friends and colleagues! This event coincides with Women’s History Month and comes 2 days after International Women’s Day. We hope people see this Edit-a-thon as an opportunity to celebrate these occasions while developing their digital literacies and contributing to open knowledge.
- Bookmark Wikipedia’s Manual of Style. It’s useful to have this to hand for when you begin editing. The Manual contains information on everything from the use of italics to gender-neutral language.
During the Event:
There are lots of ways to contribute to Wikipedia. Here are some ideas:
- Improve the reliability of articles by adding citations. Quality of information is important and ensuring that each article contains a significant amount of reliable references makes Wikipedia a useful start-point for further research.
- Add new sections to increase content in pages. For example, many biographical pages for cis and transgender women do not have enough information about career, activism, public life, published works, etc. Expand existing sections to give more details.
- Correct misleading information. It may surprise you to know that the majority of content is accurate, and incorrect information is dealt with quickly by some very committed editors. A number of studies have proven high rates of accuracy on Wikipedia, including this one which compared Wikipedia pages with pharmacology textbooks. However, false information can slip through, especially in pages about people and works that are not very well known, and for women who did not receive the credit they deserved for their work. We all know the Rosalind Franklin story! We want to ensure that we increase the representation of women on Wikipedia as well as maintaining quality of information.
- Upload to the Commons. You can add photographs to Wikimedia Commons for others to use. The process if fairly simple and you just need to be sure that the images are compliant with Wikimedia’s rules.
- Ensure the correct use of pronouns. A person’s right to be referred to using the pronouns they prefer should be respected. Check pages related to non-binary, trans, and gender fluid people. Make sure that the pronouns used reflect the identity of the person in question. Wikipedia should be unbiased, but sometimes prejudices emerge through editing. Let’s use Art+Feminism to demonstrate respect gender identity on Wikipedia. You can find a section on Gender Identity it’s Manual of Style. Below is an excerpt from the Talk page for Jan Morris’s page. It demonstrates the kind of debates that can flare up in relation to pronoun usage:
A debate on pronoun usage in the Talk Page for Jan Morris
The most important thing is that we do the work that matters and commit to providing the best possible information that we can. Everyone has a unique set of interests and skills that they can bring to this Edit-a-thon. Even if you have never edited Wikipedia before you can contribute so much in a short space of time. Help will be on hand on the day for anyone who is a beginner. We will also provide access to a range of online databases to help support your research. We also encourage people to bring their own reference materials.
Please contact Dr Donna Alexander (donna.alexander@ucc.ie) or Rebecca O’Neill (wikimediaireland@gmail.com) if you have any questions about the event. We look forward to seeing you there!