I hoped to write this yesterday, just didn't get there. I attended this
webinar, and I have to say I thought it was very well done. Deanna
spent the first half of the session talking about some of the culture of
Wikipedia; things like neutral point of view, collaboration, the dangers
of edit warring, and the like. She also touched on the various roles
you can fill on Wikipedia, not just article creation but
"wikignome"-ing, copyediting, mediating, fomatting, etc. out of the
Welcome to Wikipedia booklet available on the Bookshelf
(
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/Bookshelf). She did caution us, though,
about spending all of our efforts in wikignoming and copyediting, "We
don't want to be the secretaries of Wikipedia!"
(that being said, my Not-WMF-opinion is that copyediting and the like
are GREAT ways to get one's feet wet on Wikipedia. It allows you to
learn how Wiki-markup works, start learning how articles are formulated,
and can help introduce all the concepts that make a good article that
can prepare you for writing your own first article.)
The second half was a real how-to, showing how to create an account and
then taking us into her sandbox on the English Wikipedia and showing how
to use the text editor there on basic things like italic and bold text,
creating links (both links to other WP articles, and to outside sites),
and references. There were lots of spots for questions along the way,
and I got to help Deanna out a bit with questions.
I can't give a good estimate on how many attendees there were; the
platform they used didn't give a full participants list, but I'd wager
it was around the 20-25 person range which seemed about right. Deanna
hopes that once everyone who attends the seminars gets a chance to
create an account and play around a bit that all the participants can
get together and start working together on women related Wikipedia
articles. I think that would be a really great activity and a great way
to get more women involved in Wikipedia.
I'd say if you're looking to do something similar, Deanna's webinar
would be a good template to follow, especially the idea of a reconvening
at a later date to begin working together on an article that needs some
extra help. Again, my Not-Official-Opinion is that having a mentor
would be a big help to learning one's way around the projects, and what
better way than to do it with a bunch of like-minded folks?
The session was recorded, and once I find out where it is being housed,
I'll let everyone know so you can see how it worked out.
Thank you, Frances for telling us about the webinar, and thanks to
Deanna and the folks at WAM! for putting it on!
(fyi, there's another one on Sunday; I'm not sure if there's space left
but there may be if you're interested in attending! I'll be at that one
as well.)
-Christine
---------
Christine Moellenberndt
Anthropologist/Community Associate
Wikimedia Foundation
christine(a)wikimedia.org
On 3/21/11 9:05 AM, Frances Kissling wrote:
Thought you'd all like o see this effort
Women Write Wikipedia: A How-To Webinar
Have you ever looked something up in the Wikipedia? Obviously, right?
But: have you ever /edited/ anything in the Wikipedia? Bet the answer
is "no," and that's a crying shame! Wikipedia, as you know, is quickly
becoming the go-to reference point for our collective history. But,
over 80% of Wikipedia's editors are men--which means that women's
opportunities to document history and knowledge are passing us by.
In this hour-long online workshop, WAM!Bassador of Technology Deanna
Zandt <http://www.deannazandt.com/> will teach you the basics of
editing a Wikipedia page, as well as the cultural norms that you'll
need to know to be a good Wikipedian. It's time to make sure that all
genders are represented in our brave new history!
FREE. Choose from either
Wednesday, March 23 at 2PM ET
or
Sunday, March 27 at 2PM ET
To register, email Rachel <mailto:rachel@womenactionmedia.org>.
--
Frances Kissling, visiting scholar
Center for Bioethics, UPenn
202 368 3954
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