[Wikimedia-l] Brazilian Wikipedia editing workshop in homage to International Women’s Day

[Everton Zanella Alvarenga]

*After learning the basics needed to create a Wikipedia article, the
participants improved existing articles related to feminism, as part of a
celebration of International Women’s Day*

[image: Primeiro mutirão de edição da Wikipédia para e com
mulheres]<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Primeiro_WikiMulheres.jpg>

Primeiro mutirão de edição da Wikipédia para e com mulheres

Para aproximá-las do universo “wiki,” os voluntários dos projetos

Knowledge is power: no one should doubt that. Although the possibility of
contributing knowledge to the biggest encyclopedia of the world, Wikipedia,
is free and open for anyone, about 91 percent of its editors are men. What,
then, is the prospect for women in this story?

In order to engage women in the “wiki” universe, volunteers of the
Wikimedia projects in Brazil, with the support of the Wikimedia Foundation,
organized a workshop about Wikipedia and other Wikimedia
projects<http://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/chapter:Dia_Internacional_da_Mulher/2013>
and
proposed a joint effort for editing the encyclopedia in homage to International
Women’s Day <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day>. The
meeting took place on March 2nd at The Hub <http://saopaulo.the-hub.net/> and
gathered men and women interested in learning and practicing the editing of
Wikimedia projects.

About 15 people attended the event, where they discussed the criteria for
writing and publishing a Wikipedia article, the sources that may be
considered reliable and the collaborative dynamic of editing. At the end of
the workshop, the group dedicated themselves to improving articles related
to women and feminism: “Women’s Rights” and “Grace Hopper” (“Direitos da
mulher” <http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direitos_da_mulher> and “Grace
Hopper”<http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper> in
Portuguese) were two examples of such contributions.

“The steps for editing an article are simple, and from what I have observed
in the meetup, anyone can learn them quickly,” said Fernanda Campagnucci,
from Ação Educativa <http://www.acaoeducativa.org.br/>, who edited the
article about women’s rights, her first contribution to the project. “But
we live in a society where the sharing of knowledge is unequal and the
technology is still often considered part of the masculine universe. It is
this vision that we need to break.”

To discuss and overcome the lack of women collaborating on Wikipedia, the
Wikimedia movement maintains a page (Gender
Gap<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_Gap>)
to gather information, references and ideas on the subject, in addition to
promoting activities like this workshop. With the goal of increasing
women’s participation in the project, new women editors are encouraged to
join mailing lists <https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap>
 and online communities<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_Gap#Projects_within_Wikimedia_communities>
.

The Wikimedia movement in Brazil expects that this initiative in Sao Paulo
will inspire volunteers from other regions of the country to help the event
become regular every March, extending the debate about women’s
participation in Wikipedia and lowering the gender gap. You can
contact the Wikimedia
volunteers in Brazil <http://br.wikimedia.org/> to obtain more information.
Everybody is welcome to participate and organize upcoming events!

*Fernanda Campagnucci (NGO Ação Educativa)*
*Translation by Tom and Cristiana Gonzalez*

   - See more photos of the edithaton
here<http://br.wikimedia.org/wiki/Dia_Internacional_da_Mulher/2013#Fotos>


http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/08/wikipedia-editing-workshop-in-brazil-honors-international-womens-day/

Happy women's day!

Tom

-- 
Everton Zanella Alvarenga (also Tom)
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful
than a life spent doing nothing."