[Gendergap] Supporting Campus Ambassador programs [Fwd: Issue of Copy-Pasting]

[Michael J. Lowrey]

On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 9:30 AM, Sarah Stierch <sarah.stierch at gmail.com> wrote:
> I took some time last week and actually went through the "female" editors
> (many of the students openly identify their real names and/or genders)
> participating in class programs.
>
> 1) Most don't edit Wikipedia after the class is over - and this goes beyond
> gender. I determined this by studying their user contributions and also
> using a tool to examine contributions and gender for specific WikiProjects
> (specifically WP:Public art which developed as a program with students
> before the Campus Ambassador program existed)
> 2) A nice amount of them generally get slaps on the hand for their lack of
> understanding on "How Wikipedia Works"
>
> I'm not sure if this means that something in the system is broken (i.e.
> we're not educating students and professors on how Wikipedia works write,
> we're not providing ongoing outreach - which seems to be a problem in a lot
> of areas of WP outreach...), that the students genuinely have no interest
> (and that's fine, they are "forced" to do it, after all), or what..


A few weeks back, a local women's college asked for a campus
ambassador, and they ended up with Protonk and me, because we were
what was available. My wife recalled the joke that had been made
during our Campus Ambassador training: that (judging by the experience
levels of the people in the room) becoming an active Wikipedian turned
you male and bearded. None of us was happy about the underlying
reality, but the joke underlined the reality in a non-threatening way.

-- 
Michael J. "Orange Mike" Lowrey

"When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food
and clothes."
     --  Desiderius Erasmus