Hi Carol,
From what I've seen of both men & women I've been in contact with recently, some really like Wikipedia but when it comes down to editing don't know where to start in that they have not got an idea in mind already to start their editing from. They might also be perfectionists who feel they can't contribute till they have some perfect idea.
For myself personally I tend to have these little 'inspirational' moments where I'll be out or I'll be talking to someone and it will occur to me to see if the Wikipedia entry is up to date or complete so for me it stems from from these moments. Now I'm runnng Women4Wikipedia I have been struggling to juggle running the campaign and editing Wikipedia! I have managed to add my first biography of a living person and some other bits and pieces.
I think for people who are new to Wikipedia and decide to edit due to an issue they feel strongly about, their fervour may be a double-edged sword. These people my be at most risk of their experience not living up to their hopes in that their strong opinion might imply that there are other people with equally strong opinions on the same topic on Wikipedia and facing this while also learning the syntax and everything else can result in them feeling overwhelmed.
The most common comment to me though is that women have just not thought to do it before. These women don't cite any concerns about Wikipedia- one has to be informed about Wikipedia to have heard of the reputation for conflict that has been doing the media rounds. With a bit of help and support through learning the ropes, many women I talk to on Twitter don't have a problem with the idea of editing Wikipedia and of course some have alredy done so.
Just thought I'd add my feedback to the topic.
Rosie http://women4wikipedia.net
Message: 3 Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:15:28 -0500 From: carolmooredc@verizon.net Subject: [Gendergap] What motivates women to edit?? To: Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org Message-ID: 4D758330.1000904@verizon.net Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
What Motivates Women - especially to write and edit? I think finding motivations many women share and tapping into those to encourage women to start and keep editing is key to this project
I'm an atypical task oriented political organizing/writing maniac, so I'm not the best judge :-) I know many women are busy with home duties and myself have found the last 10 years that elder dog/new young dog care and barter-for-rent-housekeeping certainly have taken up a lot of my time.
So I know it must be more for women with husbands, kids, elderly parents, etc. If I was working more than very part time (plus collecting social security), I wouldn't have the time.
But for those who can squeeze in a few hours a week, what might be their biggest kick/motivator for writing about topics of interest? If the motivation is strong enough, even dealing with the male culture and/or dominance problem is easier psychologically for those who inadvertently or purposively venture into articles where lots of garrulous males hangout.
Since many women (overly?) motivated by ?selfless motives,? ?Women: make the world a better and smarter place - edit Wikipedia!? Just a thought, based on part of my own motivation.
Anyway, feel free to brainstorm on this topic more with your own personal female motivation! :-)
Carol in DC
I hadn't thought of editing before until I saw an awful article on myself and on a group I was involved with, so I did start as activist promoting a cause in my first couple articles for the first year or so til I started to understand how wikipedia works.
Another woman wrote on the facebook page a relevant comment: "So (another chicken-and-egg problem) one way to get more women to participate is to increase coverage of topics women are more likely to feel they can contribute to. Whatever those are... :-)"
So increasing number of articles women in general might like helps.
Also, get people in the habit by just encouraging minor edits to start, even just grammar or spelling or wikilinks. Frequently when I watch a movie I search for background in the Wikipedia article. Sometimes I make minor corrections. I'm sure others use it for similar purposes.
Maybe appeal to the "straighten this mess out" motivation many women feel (in fact that's how I describe part of my motivation on my user page). Little habits can become big ones.
Maybe a banner every couple hours (or during high traffic times) that say something like: "Hello, visitor! See a spelling or grammar mistake in an article? Feel free to jump in and correct it. Making editing wikipedia a habit!" Or something snappier. And a certain percentage of those will be women who otherwise would not think of editing.
CM
On 3/7/2011 11:56 PM, Collective Action wrote:
...
I think for people who are new to Wikipedia and decide to edit due to an issue they feel strongly about, their fervour may be a double-edged sword. These people my be at most risk of their experience not living up to their hopes in that their strong opinion might imply that there are other people with equally strong opinions on the same topic on Wikipedia and facing this while also learning the syntax and everything else can result in them feeling overwhelmed.
The most common comment to me though is that women have just not thought to do it before. These women don't cite any concerns about Wikipedia- one has to be informed about Wikipedia to have heard of the reputation for conflict that has been doing the media rounds. With a bit of help and support through learning the ropes, many women I talk to on Twitter don't have a problem with the idea of editing Wikipedia and of course some have alredy done so.
Just thought I'd add my feedback to the topic.
Rosie http://women4wikipedia.net
Message: 3 Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:15:28 -0500 From: carolmooredc@verizon.net Subject: [Gendergap] What motivates women to edit??
Carol writes:
Also, get people in the habit by just encouraging minor edits to start, even just grammar or spelling or wikilinks. Frequently when I watch a movie I search for background in the Wikipedia article. Sometimes I make minor corrections. I'm sure others use it for similar purposes.
Maybe appeal to the "straighten this mess out" motivation many women feel (in fact that's how I describe part of my motivation on my user page). Little habits can become big ones.
Maybe a banner every couple hours (or during high traffic times) that say something like: "Hello, visitor! See a spelling or grammar mistake in an article? Feel free to jump in and correct it. Making editing wikipedia a habit!" Or something snappier. And a certain percentage of those will be women who otherwise would not think of editing.
My response:
I've noticed a fair amount of regular female editors do, or at least started out doing, exactly this sort of wikignome stuff. It parallels a similar abundance of women in such positions, particularly in book and magazine publishing-especially the former, where a lot of the editors who do the real work of editing (i.e., the stuff that authors deeply appreciate and thank them for profusely when accepting awards. Or should), as opposed to acquiring editors who often get photographed for gossip columns leaving lunches at trendy, pricy restaurants), are women.
One can speculate as to why this is so, but that's for another time and forum. I think Carol has a point and a great idea that we should try to work with.
Daniel Case
On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 9:56 PM, carolmooredc@verizon.net wrote:
Maybe a banner every couple hours (or during high traffic times) that say something like: "Hello, visitor! See a spelling or grammar mistake in an article? Feel free to jump in and correct it. Making editing wikipedia a habit!" Or something snappier. And a certain percentage of those will be women who otherwise would not think of editing.
This is an interesting idea, and not one that we've tried out with any regularity. We did a very brief push for new editors immediately after the fundraiser this year, but didn't do much.
___________________ Philippe Beaudette Head of Reader Relations Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
philippe@wikimedia.org