Beginning at 9 a.m. Feb. 1 in Neuberger Hall, room 293, Portland State will host its first Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon on Art and Feminism.
At the event, attendees will learn how to edit Wikipedia articles and get to work on increasing the number of female editors on the website. Female editors are highly encouraged to attend, but this is open to anyone.
Articles under the subject matter of art and feminism will be the main focus, but any article is open for editing.
The purpose of this event is to “bridge the gender gap” between the male-dominated culture of Wikipedia editors, as Dorothy Howard from the Metropolitan New York Library Council explains.
According to the event’s page on eyebeam.org, just in 2012 the female contribution to Wikipedia didn’t even reach 13 percent. In 2011 these Edit-A-Thon events began in the United Kingdom and have since made their way all over the states.
The feminist aspect of this movement is to get women more involved with the internet while celebrating female history and art.
Some of the editing can include cleaning up articles, checking reference links, adding new citations, adding photos or more data and adding in any further content.
Participants are even encouraged to create new articles involving women and art subject matter or to bring brand new article ideas to the table.
The events most often take place at museums and schools and welcome editors of any experience level.
Although there are sign-ups for attendance at PSU’s Edit-A-Thon, it is not necessary to sign up prior to the event. It is suggested to bring your own laptop and power cord to the event.
For those who have no experience editing on Wikipedia, there is a tutorial available, along with further event information on this webpage: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Portland/ArtAndFeminism_2014
