Wikipedia Edit-a-thon Revisited
The Berkeley Center for New Media was thrilled to partner with the UC Berkeley Library, Academic Innovation Studio, DH at Berkeley, Environmental Design Archives, and American Cultures for the 2019 Art+Feminism+Race+Justice Wikipedia Edit-a-thon!
This year, participants edited 17 articles, adding 2,700 words, with over 70 thousand article views so far, and counting!
The program seeks to address Wikimedia’s well documented gender trouble, which through a lack of female participation has resulted in skewed content and an alarming absence of information in an increasingly important repository of shared knowledge.
Check out this fantastic article on the day from Adora Svitak!
From the article:
In some fields, having a Wikipedia page is equated to credibility, respect, and having “made it.” If the cultural cachet that comes from encyclopedia recognition is disproportionately meted out to men, that can have downstream effects on who gets profiled in the media and studied by academics, a vicious feedback loop. Editing to share information about figures like Maggie Baylis isn’t just about leveling the playing field; it’s about expanding what we know, making sure that someone who runs a search or goes down a Wikipedia wormhole isn’t inadvertently losing out on half of history.