[Gendergap] FYI [PAPER] "Suck It Up, Princess": Outreach and Diversity in FOSS Communities

[Sue Gardner]

On 10 October 2011 20:25, Nathan <nawrich at gmail.com> wrote:
> Follow up to my own post of new thoughts... The idea of follow-on
> effects from improvements in project atmosphere is one that can be
> extended. We could, for instance, view the controversial content issue
> as a symptom of a community imbalance that could be improved
> indirectly and with less resistance than the "direct approach" image
> filter.
>
> I have no basis for this other than a gut feeling, but it seems like
> subject matter (page content like images etc.) is less a barrier to
> entry than the contributing environment. Perhaps first focusing on
> environmental improvements would alter the community in such a way
> that controversial content issues could be resolved organically.
>
> Nathan

Yes -- I think you're 100% correct, Nathan. You are exactly right:
that is precisely what I am hoping and expecting.

The consensus model, and all the basic decision-making structures of
Wikipedia, work fine --- they only produce poor-quality results when
there isn't sufficient diversity in the discussions. That's why we
sometimes see articles of interest to women being wrongly deleted as
non-notable, and so forth.

I believe that at this point in our history, all minority Wikipedia
editors likely tend to either i) happen to have interests and a
personal style that is very similar to the majority culture here,
and/or ii) have some extra motivation to participate that other
members of their minority group lack -- e.g., a feminist desire to
ensure women's history is well covered. The participation of the first
group is great, but doesn't do anything to stretch the existing
culture, whereas the participation of the second group will -- it is
different from the norm, and so it will require the culture to expand,
making it easier for the next generation.

That's why I'm so glad we have this list. That second group is going
to have a tough slog for a while, and I am glad we've got people here
who want to support them :-)

Thanks,
Sue


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Sue Gardner
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