I've been doing my part in addressing
the gender gap in en.Wikipedia, and this week marks a
major accomplishment for me in this area and for me as
an editor. [[Maya Angelou]] is now a featured
article.
I've been literally working on Angelou's article for
years; my very first edit of it was early in my
WP-editing career, in September 2007: [diff
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maya_Angelou&diff=prev&oldid=158867180].
It took this long mostly because I do have a life,
most of the time. When I came across it, I realized
that Angelou's work and life was sorely
underrepresented and not at all comprehensive, way
before I came to understand the gender gap in this
project. I also realized that in order to do the
subject justice, I needed to become a MA-expert,
something I definitely was not at the time. I
realized that at the very least, I needed to read
her six autobiographies, and while I was at it,
write articles about them. Only one article existed
at the time: her first autobiography [[I Know Why
the Caged Bird Sings]], which was in
a pitiable state. A year's worth of research, a lot
of assistance from some of the most premiere editors
in the project, and 3 FACs later, it became an FA.
In the ensuing years, I created and wrote
articles about Angelou's five remaining
autobiographies (one is a FA, the others are GAs),
some ancillary articles about her other works, and a
couple of lists. ([[Works of Maya Angelou]] is
currently up for FLC.) After I completed the
article about Angelou's final autobiography, I
worked to get her bio up to snuff, and it had a
relatively easy FAC, my first FA to pass in its
first candidacy. I think that was due to the fact
that the article was truly prepared before it was
submitted. For anyone who wants to drive an article
through the FAC process, that's my advice: make sure
it's ready to be reviewed, and do not use FAC (or
GAC, even) to review it. There are other places for
that, so use them before bringing it to FAC.
My next goal is to create a Maya Angelou Featured
Topic. There are some things that need to be
accomplished before that; my goal is to get there
before Dr. Angelou's 85th birthday in April. I'm
certain, at the very least, that her bio will on the
front page. Ironically, this is the week I started
researching the article about another elderly and
important woman: [[Joan Ganz Cooney]], co-creator
of Sesame Street.
Christine
Username: Figureskatingfan