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