December Wikipedia Edit-a-thon Event

Group photo

A diverse and enthusiastic group of 20 Fordham students, professionals, and Wikipedians participated in a successful Wikipedia edit-a-thon on New York Heritage and Women of the African Diaspora. Hosted by Wikipedia for Educators at Fordham in partnership with AfroCROWD, Women’s Activism NYC, and Wikimedia NYC, the event took place on December 6 at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus.

About

Wikipedia for Educators at Fordham is an open group comprised of Fordham faculty, students, and staff, and NYC residents that supports and promotes the use of Wikipedia in the classroom, organizes edit-a-thons on campus, and promotes Wikipedia events in the community.

Wikipedia is the fourth most visited website online. But it lacks diverse race and gender content, which reflects the homogeneity of its editors. In a 2011 survey, the Wikimedia Foundation found that fewer than 10 percent of its contributors identify as female (See Gender bias on Wikipedia).

Participation in Wikipedia in the Classroom enables the Fordham community to engage with the greater NYC Wikipedia community and:

share scholarly expertise to evaluate articles, analyzing the content and quality of sources
increase digital citizenship skills
publish to the web and contribute to the largest knowledge-base on the planet
address both gender and content gaps

From the event

Participants sign in at the registration desk

At the end of the event, participants shared what they worked on; shown here are Jim Henderson and Nayo Simmons.

We were excited to have both first-time Wikipedia editors and experienced coaches attend the event, for a total of 16 participants. Kim Dramer, from New York Women, created a new article on Dorothy Creole with the help of Jim Henderson, from Wikimedia NYC. And Alice Baker, founder of AfroCROWD, began an article for Farah Tanis, the New York City-based feminist activist.

Other new Wikipedia editors added sources, references, and disambiguation pages to existing articles.

Pauline A. Toole Commissioner, New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS), photo by Jim Henderson

Get involved!

Wikipedia for Educators will be holding more edit-a-thons this spring semester (dates to be confirmed):

NYC Digital Humanities Week, February 8
Art+Feminism, March 1
National Women’s History Month, March 6 and 7 (Partners: NYC Activism and Monumental Women)
Pi Day/STEM March 14
Poetry Month March 29

To learn more or to get involved, visit the Fordham Wikipedia for Educators website. If you have questions you can contact Kristen Treglia, at treglia@fordham.edu.