Great blog by Keilana! Feel free to ping me if you'd like to write your
own blog about your project - all languages and projects welcome!!!
-Sarah (See below)
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/12/18/wikiproject-women-scientists-invites-…
Starting a WikiProject is a pretty big undertaking, what with sorting
out the templates, tagging thousands of articles, and recruiting new
members. But I have to say, startingWikiProject Women Scientists
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_scientists>with Sarah
Stierch has been one of the most rewarding experiences I've had in my 5
1/2 years contributing to Wikipedia.
<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Aedes_aegypti.jpg/320px-Aedes_aegypti.jpg>
Biologist Anne Bishop studied the "Aedes aegypti"
I had never consciously noticed the gender gap
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/27/nine-out-of-ten-wikipedians-continue-to-be-men/>
until
it was pointed out to me that, as a female Wikipedian, I was a pretty
rare commodity. That was a bit of a wake-up call, and I started to think
about the systemic bias inherent in Wikipedia, a reference work largely
compiled by white males from the Western world.
On Ada Lovelace Day
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace_Day#Commemoration>, I decided
to create an article about biologist Ann Bishop
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Bishop_%28biologist%29> as my
contribution, which was quickly promoted as a /Did you know.../
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Keilana#DYK_for_Ann_Bishop_.28biologist.29>
and
became a Good Article
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Good_articles> a couple of weeks
later. Throughout that process I realized just how many female scientist
articles were missing, even among the erstwhile ranks of the Fellows of
the Royal Society
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society>.
I also realized that, as motivated as I was, I couldn't write those
articles alone. Thus, a WikiProject was born, and since then, it has
gathered 15 members!
I want to take a second to invite you to join the project! We have a
fairlyactive discussion page
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Women_scientists>where
plenty of people are happy to answer questions. The silver lining of
systemic bias is that there's a lot of work to do and a lot of ways that
people can contribute. A common public opinion is that "if it's not on
Wikipedia it doesn't exist" -- so, to our readers, many important,
influential scientists "don't exist."
Let's change that! Go to Wikipedia:WikiProject Women scientists
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_scientists> to
join us!
/Wikipedia User:Keilana <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Keilana>/
* Copyright notes:Aedes aegypti"
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aedes_aegypti.jpg%22>byMuhammad
Mahdi Karim
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Muhammad_Mahdi_Karim>, underGNU
Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License_1.2>,
from Wikimedia Commons.
--
*Sarah Stierch*
*/Museumist and open culture advocate/*
>Visit
sarahstierch.com
<http://sarahstierch.com><<
