Thanks for sharing this Tejaswini. Made interesting read. Good to see
wikipedians mentioned in the article.
Interesting to note the article mention the following...
*When at the workshop, the girls began to create articles on Wiki, male
editors were quick to pull them down. “This can be intimidating for anyone,
and more so for girls.” Instead of spending the time creating a template to
delete, she wishes her male friends would just “be more supportive” and
encourage those who step in to what is surely a male-dominated world of
code.
*
Makes me wonder if it is to be deemed as the case of male editors pulling
the pages down. Or is it the case of experienced editors being less
tolerant and not encouraging to most new editors irrespective of their
gender. I believe it more often than not the second.
To share another incident to illustrate the point..... There was
another Women's
Wikipedia
workshop<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Wikipedia_Women%27s_Workshop_Bangalore_2013>running
in town wikipedian Omshivaprakash was working with a new lady
editor to take her through the paces of a new article title "Nalini
Nayak<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalini_Nayak>"k>".
This was being shown on a projector for the rest of the lady participants
to watch and learn. And lo and behold we had an editor for nowhere slap a
"Speedy Delete" notice on a page that had no grounds for it. At best one
could Afd-ed it and have questioned the merits of "noteability".
We all know the treatment of new editors... they have a rough time getting
on to wikipedia and this issue is widely acknowledged. We also know we have
very few women editors. But we ought to be careful to not project this as
a case of male editors being non supportive of women, (which may not be the
case).
Perhaps the above reference in the article was the interpretation of the
news reporter or perhaps even a misquote (which happens often in the media
too).
For the record the Women's workshop that I referred to was co-organised by
many "supportive" men keen to bridge the gender gap in wikipedia - Om,
Soumyan, Pavanaja and yours truly. Of course the event was led by a very
capable and enthusiastic lady wikipedian Pavithra!
We surely need the experienced editors to be a whole lot more sensitive and
to be careful not to
"*Bite*<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_do_not_bite_the_newcomers>"
new editors (irrespective of gender). There also appears to be a template
{{this is a new
user<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:This_is_a_new_user>
}} that new users can sport on their user pages.
Have a good weekend everyone!
regards
Arun
On Sun, Mar 10, 2013 at 10:58 AM, Tejaswini Niranjana <teju(a)cscs.res.in>wrote;wrote:
Nice to see Nikita's name in the article.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/girls-try-to-break-into-an-ol…
--
Tejaswini Niranjana, PhD
Lead Researcher - Higher Education Innovation and Research Applications
(HEIRA)
Senior Fellow - Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS)
Visiting Professor - Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)
Visiting Faculty - Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute
of Science (CCS-IISc)
t: 91-80-26730476, 26730967, 26730268
f: 91-80-26730722
http://heira.in
www.cscs.res.in
_______________________________________________
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l