Dear friends, comrades, and former colleagues,
In collaboration with the wonderful Sian Evans/ArLiS Women and Art Special Interest Group, Michael Mandiberg, and Laurel Ptak/Eyebeam Fellow, I am co-organizing an Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
happening at Eyebeam on February 1, 2014 from noon to 6 p.m. I am reaching out today to solicit your participation in the form of suggestions and satellite events.
Wikipedia’s gender trouble is well documented. In a 2010 self survey, Wikimedia found that less than 13 per cent of its contributors are female. The reasons for the gender gap are up for debate: theories include leisure inequality, how gender socialization shapes public comportment, and the contentious nature of Wikipedia’s talk pages. However, the practical effect of this disparity is certain. Content is skewed by the lack of female participation, with more articles on notable women absent on Wikipedia in comparison to
Encyclopaedia Britannica. This represents an alarming aporia in an increasingly important repository of shared knowledge.
In your work, have you come across Wikipedia articles on women artists/feminist artists that are woefully lacking? We would love to hear your suggested research materials and topics, as well as indications of articles in need of creation, expansion, and clean up.
So far, confirmed satellite events will happen at the Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC and at the Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives at The Banff Centre for the Arts in Banff, Canada. If you are interested in organizing a satellite event, please be in touch! You can reach us at: artandfeminismwiki@gmail.com
or feel free to reply to me directly. Also, please pass this along to anyone you think might be interested.
You can visit our tumblr or the Wikipedia Meet Up page
for more details. If you are in New York on February 1st, please join us at Eyebeam. We will provide tutorials for the beginner Wikipedian, reference materials, and light refreshments. For the editing-averse, we urge you to stop by to show your support. A closing reception for Eyebeam Open Studios will follow the edit sprint.
Hope all is well! Looking forward to hearing from you,
Jacqueline
