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@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 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.

--

Frances Kissling, visiting scholar

Center for Bioethics, UPenn

202 368 3954
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