Just joining this list; I am an environmental scholar in Chicago and also active in scholarly organizations around women and religion, and environment and religion.
I'd like to second/third/whatever the idea of a "women post to wiki" month. Speaking organizationally, it would be easier to post to lists like H-WOMEN etc, to generate activity for the month. I would hope some of those who post would then continue to contribute.
Speak but the word! Patricia Monaghan (DePaul University and Black Earth Institute)
There are events all over the country - UN Foundation lunch in DC, Tina
Brown conference in NY, Women Deliver 100 list launch, a bunch more. How
about Wikimedia Ambassadors tag on training sessions for women at those
events?
Frances Kissling, visiting scholar
Center for Bioethics, UPenn
202 368 3954
..as a lady Wikipedian I am proud to say that I just completed my 100th
Wikipedia article.. (it still has a bit of work to be done..but..)
/Nana on a Dolphin/ by the sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle.
So, not only is it my 100th, but, it's a female artist, and a female
themed artwork...and it's currently on loan as a public artwork at the
National Museum of Women in the Arts!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nana_on_a_Dolphin
#yay!
--
Sarah Stierch Consulting
Historical, cultural & artistic research, advising & event planning.
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.sarahstierch.com/ <http://www.sarahstierch.com>
Thanks, SV, Patricia, everybody else.
There are lots of groups who would publicize this
but not in time for March 8th.
Women are experts in so many fields of study, not just Women's History.
There's no need for Women Post to Wikipedia Month to be March.
These are two different areas -
1.) "Women's History"
2.) "Women are Experts too."
In fact, I would rather that it *not* be during Women's History Month
just to make sure that the two areas are not confused with each other.
Women are to be encouraged to post to any topic.
So separate these two events.
Let's do this during August or September so it can be done correctly.
A logo sounds nice as long as it's not pink.
- Susan Spencer Conklin
I've proposed some very common sense code of conduct principles here:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_Gap#Mailing_list
This list is getting lots of participation so I think it's a good time
to agree on some basic behavioral principles. If you have things to
add, please add them, if you want to discuss, please use the
discussion page.
Thanks!
Erik
--
Erik Möller
Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation
Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
As a novice and newcomer, I am fascinated by these discussions (although I admit some are soaring over my head).
March is indeed only a few weeks away. However, a lot of academic email lists, which could draw some great women contributors, post every day. On H-NET, there are a number of such lists, such as H-WOMEN with hundreds of members including graduate students, who I believe might well be some of the most active contributors.
Some academics deplore Wikipedia. I have several colleagues who deplore its very existence. (Yes, I have pointed out the studies that compare it to printed encyclopediae, but to no avail.) However, others are less bigoted. And in my experience, graduate students welcome the chance to "publish" in areas they are researching and about which they are writing.
If there were to be a concerted campaign during Women's Hist Month (US), it would have to be organized pretty quickly--like, this week. Might be too much. I'd certainly post hither and yon if this does come about.
Or there's always next year....cheers Patricia
PS Us amateurs don't know the difference between an editor and someone who just posts. I am referring above to getting women to post. Editing is beyond my ken at the moment. Or maybe I'm making a distinction w/ no difference.
An idea I had recently (I was going to submit it officially, and all that
rigmarole) might be useful. I'll let you lot be the judge of that.
As far as I can see, we have two problems here. The first is that the female
demographic of editors is tiny. The second, and more crucial if we're to
work on the first, is that we don't know why this is. We can point to a
dozen different things which show why editing in *general* is turning some
off, but not (that I've seen) anything that applies specifically - or has
more of an impact than it would on men - to women.
One idea I've been playing around with might hit both at the same time. On
en-wiki, we've got the contrib team, which is designed to help act as a link
between the WMF and community in regards to outreach. We/it have been doing
work that involves going to universities, and acting as a gateway for new
editors coming onto the site. What we could try is posting a geolocated
banner notice that applies to specific IPs of say, Vassar College, a
women-only college in the United States. This banner would contain
testimonials from current editors (all or mostly female) about how enjoyable
it is to edit, the impact editing has made on them, and so on, along with a
link to a pre-established gateway to introduce people to editing Wikipedia.
The advantage of this - if it goes well, we get a pool of intelligent,
educated female editors to help address the gender gap. If it goes *badly*,
we get something almost as useful - a pool of disenchanted potential
editors, all from a relatively controlled demographic (reducing the chance
of statistical errors) who we can easily contact to work out what exactly it
is that hindered them from editing. Either we help address the gap, or we
work out *how* to help address it. The only issue I can see is that banner
notices don't currently allow for geolocation that's any more specific than
the country, but if this idea gets sufficient traction and seems like a good
idea to the foundation, I don't see how that couldn't be addressed
relatively quickly.*
What do people think?
Oliver
*Although I am not a techie.
@Sarah,
March sounds good, but it might be hard to pull off a
project to create a "Women Post to Wikipedia" month
in 2 weeks. Could we get a little more lead time?
@Interface discussion:
It would be great if Wikipedia's interface were improved,
but it isn't part of the gendergap problem. To say that
it particularly affects the posting of women more than men
is is pure conjecture. The interface affects everyone -
that's not conjecture.
So, enough of the "women are ____ because ____" statements.
It's demeaning and humiliating, so stop.
- Susan Spencer Conklin
“This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism.
Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated
competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained
to worship acquisitive success as a preparation”.
Albert Einstein
Regards.
Miguel Ángel
I'm afraid that this post won't please many people, but I prefer to be
sincere with my thoughts. In my opinion, the women gap has its real
roots in the capitalist system. Who created it, but men? Capitalism is
the spitting image of men's mentality. In the beginning of times, men
probably used to go hunting and women tried to raise the family, men tried to
defend the tribe against other tribes and/or animals, and women stayed
at home (cave). That's why, nowadays, men are a bit aggressive and
women a bit collaborative by nature.
The problem is that women didn't take part in the creation of the
economical system. Economy rules the world, so it's impossible not to
expect its effects on every detail of our lives. The only solution for
women to adapt to that situation was to play men roles, i.e., to be
competitive and try to get to the top, and that's the situation we
have at the present moment. Women are trying to compete, but it's not
in their nature to compete, but collaborate, so many of them stay
behind, not for their intelligence, but for their way to see the
world.
You have a good example of how to collaborate and succed in the
Chinese society. Ask Chinese people, and they'll tell you that they
never compete, they help each others. Probably, woman took part in
the creation of that economical system.
Regards
Miguel Angel