When we’ve focused on making article content more gender-inclusive here, we’ve usually considered only the text. But a recent edit of mine reminded me that that’s not the only place we can do this.
A month or so ago, on a short train trip to a city near us, my son (at my suggestion) took a video of the conductor of what was to be our train home lining the switch (point to those of you English speakers outside of North America) to bring the train onto the track next to the platform for boarding. He and I have been making videos for Wikipedia since Wikimania (when I realized that we could do it, and it occurred to me for other reasons that this might be another way to make the encyclopedia more welcoming to female readers and editors) and I had noticed that [[railroad switch]] had neither photo nor video of someone actually making the adjustment, an operation that takes place thousands of times a day on railroads all over the planet and is fundamental to rail transport (yes, there was a video of some tracks in Hong Kong being switched, but it was so short and subtle as to be nearly useless).
It took me a while to get around to editing the video and convert it to .ogv format, then upload it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NJ_Transit_conductor_lines_a_switch_in_Po…). Only after I did, and then added it to the article, did I pleasantly realize that it showed a young African-American woman (so score that double for diversity of representation) doing something not always associated with women (although, of course, as we all know, there are many women who work as passenger rail conductors).
Of course, when I look at the “Videos of women” category on Commons (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Videos_of_women) and see both how underpopulated it is and how it’s subdivided, I remember that we still have a lot of work to do.
Daniel Case
http://adainitiative.org/2012/10/boston-wikipedia-edit-a-thon-for-ada-lovel…
Boston Wikipedia edit-a-thon for Ada Lovelace Day
By Valerie Aurora <http://adainitiative.org/author/valerie/>| Published:
October 12, 2012
/This post is written by Maia Weinstock <http://maiaw.com>./
It's hard for me to believe that we are approaching the fourth annual
Ada Lovelace Day <http://findingada.com/> (ALD), a worldwide blogathon
celebrating women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEM_fields>). I don't even remember
how I heard about the first one, but I do remember making a pledge: In
honor of Ada Lovelace <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_lovelace>, the
19th-century mathematician who many credit with being the first computer
programmer, I would write about a woman of my choosing who had made an
important impact on some field of technology. That year, and each year
since then, I've taken time to pick a person, learn more about her
contributions, and explain why she was my choice for that year's ALD
annals. (In case you're curious...my posts from 2009
<http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2009/03/channeling-ada-carolyn-porco-…>,
2010
<http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2010/03/channeling-ada-catherine-wolf…>,
and 2011
<http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2011/10/channeling-ada-maria-klawe-co…>,
plus a BrainPOP cartoon bio
<http://findingada.com/blog/2010/03/22/brainpop-ada-lovelace-movie-for-kids/>
I wrote and co-produced on Lady Lovelace.)
This year, however, things will be a little different...and all thanks
to a couple of tweets.
Back in June, my friend Kendra tweeted
<https://twitter.com/KendraSerra/status/209780321707753472> that she was
set to attend something called AdaCamp <http://dc.adacamp.org/>. "Yay
women in open technology and culture!" she added as a brief descriptor.
The sponsoring organization was the Ada Initiative
<http://adainitiative.org/>, which I hadn't heard of at the time. But
there were two Ada Lovelace references in one tweet, so my geek radar
was off the charts! I had to check it out.
I now know that the Ada Initiative <http://supportada.org/what-we-do/>
is a wonderful organization aimed at supporting women in open technology
and culture---and in encouraging more ladies to join in these often
male-dominated arenas. The group's definition of "open technology and
culture" is pretty broad, by the way; it includes anything from
open-source programming and other computer stuff (LINUX, etc.) to open
education and publishing (MOOCs, TEDEx, etc.) to open or common creative
works (Wikipedia, Creative Commons) to open or remix culture projects
(mashups, vidding, and about a zillion web memes).
This all sounded great to me, so I applied to AdaCamp, and in July I had
the pleasure of joining Kendra at the two-day event in Washington D.C.
It was the first "unconference
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference>" I'd ever been to. In a
nutshell, that meant the participants came up with the session topics
pretty much on the spot. It was a refreshing way to do things, and the
energy and support from everyone in attendance was remarkable. Of
course, there is something undeniably uplifting that happens when you
bring close to 100 women together in one room...but to learn from and
share experiences with ladies of such interesting and diverse
backgrounds made the event that much more special.
Fast forward a few months to last week, when I happened upon another
(re)tweet <https://twitter.com/WikiWomen/status/253174202000101376>,
this time from fellow AdaCamper Sarah Stierch (who, I might add, was one
of the most delightful cheerleaders in all of AdaCamp). This tweet told
of an event being held in London within a few days of Ada Lovelace Day
(Oct 16th), an edit-a-thon of Wikipedia articles on women in the STEM
fields. This wasn't the first I'd heard of Wikipedia edit-a-thons
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_run_an_edit-a-thon>,
where people gather to update and add to Wikipedia articles, usually on
some particular topic. But it was certainly the first that I'd heard
where the focus would be on lady STEMmers.
So my only question was...was there one happening in the States? I did a
little digging, but couldn't come up with anything. And that's when I
decided I'd just have to host one myself! Fortunately, I live in a major
college town (Cambridge/Boston, MA) and I have friends who work at a
number of local universities. Kendra, the woman whose tweet first
alerted me to AdaCamp, is currently a fellow at the Berkman Center for
Internet and Society <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/>, and she assured me
she could find me a room at Harvard University, where Berkman is housed.
So with her help, and with guidance from Sarah, a Community Fellow
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SarahStierch> for the Wikimedia
Foundation <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home>, a U.S. Ada
Lovelace Day women-in-STEM edit-a-thon
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Ada_Lovelace_Edit-a-thon_-_Ha…>
is officially happening!
So far we've put together a great lineup of volunteers to help us add to
and create new pages on women who've been left off of the world's
premiere online encyclopedia. And believe me, there are /many/ important
women missing from the pages of Wikipedia---or who are not included in
Wiki lists of important contributors to the various STEM fields. This
is, perhaps, not so surprising when you consider that only about 10
percent of Wikipedia editors are female
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/27/nine-out-of-ten-wikipedians-continue-t…>.
In fact, in addition to bringing attention to the plight of women
STEMmers this Ada Lovelace Day, I hope very much to encourage women in
particular to attend our gathering so that they can learn how to
contribute more regularly to Wikipedia. This will be a key step in
helping ensure that the world's most popular encyclopedia is written
with a more representative voice for the millions who use it every day.
To help me with this goal, I've received some excellent tips from local
and regional Wikipedians, some of whom will be on hand to provide
tutoring and guidance to newbie editors!
Anyway, there are a few spaces left for our Ada Lovelace Day Wikithon ,
so if you live in the Boston area and would like to stop by, check out
our event page
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Ada_Lovelace_Edit-a-thon_-_Ha…>
and register! For anyone else who'd like to participate remotely, we
would love to have your help. I anticipate this will be an amazing way
to celebrate Ada Lovelace and the pioneering legacy she left behind!
Thanks again to Sarah Stierch and the Ada Initiative for inspiration;
Kendra Albert for helping me get things going; and the folks at Ada
Lovelace Day (especially Suw
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suw_Charman-Anderson>), who got this whole
thing started 4+ years ago. I look forward to seeing some of the rest of
you on the 16th, either in person or online!
--
*Sarah Stierch*
*/Museumist and open culture advocate/*
>>Visit sarahstierch.com <http://sarahstierch.com><<
Hi everyone!
Just an FYI that there is a Developers Camp taking place in Banglore
taking place November 9-11! The event is being mainly organized by
WikiWoman Alolita Sharma[1], the Engineering Program Manager at WMF. I
know she'd be delighted to see more women there :)
Everyone is welcome, check it out:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Bangalore_DevCamp_November_2012
And if you know of any women who are attending and would want to blog
about their experience, do let me know - I'd love to have a multilingual
blog about their experience :)
Sarah
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alolita_Sharma
--
*Sarah Stierch*
*/Museumist and open culture advocate/*
>>Visit sarahstierch.com <http://sarahstierch.com><<
Hi folks,
Do we have a comprehensive list somewhere of all of the edit-a-thons
that are happening for Open Access week [22-26 Oct] and/or Ada
Lovelace day [16th Oct]? There's a lot going on!
If there's not a list yet, maybe folks can just reply to the mailing
list letting others know about their events and we can try to put a
list together.
best,
Phoebe
--
* I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers
<at> gmail.com *
by Jennifer Geigel Mikulay
http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/10/12/learning-from-wikipedia/
Learning from Wikipedia
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/10/12/learning-from-wikipedia/>
Students regularly use Wikipedia, and so do teachers. Whether we're
looking for information related to a class project, seeking an
illustration for a paper, or reading background material so we can
better understand an assigned text, free knowledge shared digitally is
now a major component of education. Because Wikipedia is such a
ubiquitous and influential source of information for my students, I feel
quite annoyed when I find gaps in coverage and participation.
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SpiritofCommerce1881.jpg>
Alverno College students use Wikipedia to share information about
Milwaukee public art.
Missing information is what initially motivated me to become an editor.
I wanted my students to be able to find information easily about public
art, about the monuments and sculptures they walk past everyday on
campus, in city parks and in their home towns. After writing a few short
articles about sculptures I knew well, I realized that trying to fill
the gaps myself would be a long, lonely process. Then I realized that my
students could help.
Since 2008, I have used Wikipedia regularly in my courses. Working in
collaboration with editors involved with WikiProject Public Art
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Public_Art> and
WikiProject Lights Camera Wiki
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Lights_Camera_Wiki>,
my students and I have developed hundreds of Wikipedia articles about
public artworks, and we've created and contributed more than 50 short
videos
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Videos_by_Alverno_College_Advanc…>
through Wikimedia Commons to illustrate article content.
My deepening involvement with Wikipedia as a movement put me in touch
with another gap: gender. Fortunately, my students also help with that.
I've now introduced close to 100 students to editing Wikipedia, and all
of them are women. (One of my students was even previously featured on
this blog
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/12/30/milwaukee-brise-soleil-video-featured-…>!)
My students are not typical Wikipedia editors--and not just because of
their gender. Many are working women who have returned to school after
starting families and careers. Many are graduates of under-funded public
school districts that lag in access to digital technology. Many do not
have their own computers and rely instead on smartphones and campus
labs. While all are familiar with what Wikipedia is, none of them has
prior experience editing it, and few have participated in online
communities beyond Facebook.
Getting students started editing Wikipedia is easy, but keeping those
students connected to the open knowledge movement as active contributors
is more challenging. To participate consistently, students need
motivation, opportunity and encouragement. For an initial editing
experience, a class project provides the motivation of a focus and
deadline, a computer lab offers the opportunity of access and the
close-knit community of a classroom provides the structure and
encouragement.
Alverno College <http://www.alverno.edu>, where I teach now, contributes
a unique support in the form of its innovative ability-based curriculum.
At Alverno, students work to develop eight core abilities, including the
problem solving skills they need to navigate new technologies and the
habits of effective citizenship they need to engage in the "good faith
collaboration" <http://reagle.org/joseph/2010/gfc/> that Wikipedia's
norms require. Beyond my classroom at Alverno, students receive support
through initiatives like the Wikipedia Education Program
<http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program>, Campus
Ambassadors, and the Wikipedia Teahouse
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Teahouse>.
A few of the women who learned to edit in my classes are barnstar
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Barnstars> rock stars and I like
to think that many more are getting ready to shine. Today, I'm motivated
to teach with Wikipedia because I want to learn how to better support
women to share their expertise and build community around their
intellectual interests. I'm grateful to the organizers of the
WikiWomen's Collaborative
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiWomen%27s_Collaborative> for
bringing needed attention and resources to the vexing problem of gender
inequity among editors. I'm optimistic that this effort will bring me in
contact with models to inspire my students to continue editing and fill
the gaps. Keeping women active as editors is one important way to create
a more welcoming environment within the movement.
/Jennifer Geigel Mikulay
<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jgmikulay>, Alverno College, Milwaukee/
* Copyright notes: "SpiritofCommerce1881"
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SpiritofCommerce1881.jpg> by
Ilona Gonzalez, under Public domain
<http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm>, from
Wikimedia Commons
--
*Sarah Stierch*
*/Museumist and open culture advocate/*
>>Visit sarahstierch.com <http://sarahstierch.com><<
Dear All,
We are having an edit-a-thon next Saturday that is related to an annual
week-long broadcast of classical music works voted by the public. The works
chosen are broadcast in the form of a Countdown with expert commentary and
public engagement. These annual votes also result in a series of WP
articles. This year, one of the compositions that has been selected is
by Cécile Chaminade<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9cile_Chaminade>,
whom I expect will be the only female composer to be represented on the
list. In fact, out of 1100 choices over 11 years, there have been only two
other women. (They are Elena Kats-Cherni, who has two places, and Ann
Carr-Boyd). As there was no article about Chaminade's selected composition
- Concertino for flute and orchestra -
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concertino_for_flute_and_orchestra_%28Chaminad…>I
have started one.
*If anyone would like to help improve this article or create more about
Chaminade's other works (the list is on her bio article), that would be
great. *
Information about the edit-a-thon is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Sydney/October_2012
The WP list article for which Chaminade's work was selected is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_100_Music_of_France_%28ABC%29
The article showing the summary results of the Countdowns for the last 11
years is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_100_Countdowns_%28ABC%29
Whiteghost.ink
Dear all,
It gives me pleasure to inform you that the first Wikipedia Women
Workshop<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Women_Workshop_in_Mumbai>is
being organized in Mumbai, India on 4th November 2012. Women of any
age,
profession or educational background are invited to attend. The workshop is
hosted by Wikimedia Mumbai community and the members of Wikimedia India
Chapter <http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Main_Page>. The event will involve
learning the basics of Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia and Wikimedia
Commons. The event is aimed to increase the participation of women editors
in Wikimedia projects.
If you are interested in attending, please sign up here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Women_Workshop_in_Mumbai#P…
Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/events/439128679462671/
Thanks!
--
Netha Hussain
Student of Medicine and Surgery
Govt. Medical College, Kozhikode
Blogs : *nethahussain.blogspot.com
swethaambari.wordpress.com*
Hi All,
There is a fight about misogyny going on here in Australia at the top
level. Our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has ripped into the Leader of the
Opposition over continued sexism from both him and especially from radio
"shock-jocks". [1]
There's a short section in the Gillard biography about sexism (general and
particular) but it's hard to write in a way that's neutral. [2] The issue
has been simmering for a while but now it has blown up. There are entirely
new articles appearing as a result of the controversy, particularly about
the radio announcer who said Gillard's father had "died of shame" over his
daughter. [3]
(Background: her father did recently die. I recall seeing him on
television saying
that he was - unsurprisingly - very proud of his daughter.)
So, articles are running on WP hot at the moment (in contrast to our own
Press which is not giving it as much attention as it is receiving
internationally).
*The New Yorker* says: "Gillard cut through the disingenuousness and
feigned moral outrage of her opponent to call him out for his own personal
prejudice, hypocrisy, and aversion to facts" [4] *
Jezebel* reported this under the heading "Rants". [5]
[1] Video of Gillard's address to the Parliament. :
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-09/julia-gillard-attacks-abbott-of-hypoc…
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Gillard#Prime_Minister<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Gillard#Prime_Minister>(footnotes
45-50)
[3] For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Jones_shame_controversy
[4]
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/10/julia-gillards-misog…
[5]
http://jezebel.com/5950163/best-thing-youll-see-all-day-australias-female-p…
Whiteghost.ink
Hey folks,
For anyone interested in gender and Silicon Valley, I heartily
recommend The Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social
Network, by Katherine Losse. She was employee #52 at Facebook,
starting in 2005, and the book is a memoir of her time there. She has
a kind of classic liberal-arts grad student hipster take on things --
very much an outsider, looking in.
I'm reading it now, and very much enjoying it :-)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Boy-Kings-Journey-Network/dp/1451668252
Thanks,
Sue
--
Sue Gardner
Executive Director
Wikimedia Foundation
415 839 6885 office
415 816 9967 cell
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
https://donate.wikimedia.org/
