“Learning how to edit and create Wikipedia pages was such a joy because my efforts were put towards a cause I deeply care about.” *
In celebration of Pride Month, Wiki Education is hosting a free Wiki Scholars course focused on expanding Wikipedia’s coverage of notable LGBTQ+ people. Through this project, Wiki Education will train a diverse group of academics, scholars, and university students how to contribute content to Wikipedia and better represent influential LGBTQ+ figures to the public. Thanks to generous funding, we are seeking participants, especially faculty or graduate students in the LGBTQ+ community, to join us in making Wikipedia more representative.
Background
Wikipedia celebrated its 20th birthday on January 15, 2021, marking two decades of pursuing its vision of giving every single person on the planet free access to the sum of all human knowledge. In those 20 years, the volunteer community that ensures Wikipedia’s quality has made over 1 billion edits to more than 6 million topics. Despite these impressive accomplishments, Wikipedia still suffers from content gaps, especially regarding its collection of biographies.
Only 20,517 biographies on English Wikipedia—out of 1.8 million—identify the subject as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. That’s barely 1%. Wiki Education aims to bring more diverse voices and content to Wikipedia, helping the encyclopedia truly represent human history and knowledge. This course presents an opportunity to increase public awareness of LGBTQ+ contributions while bringing more diverse voices to Wikipedia.
ENROLLMENT CLOSED
Course details: Apply by June 23, 2021
- Course dates: July 1 – August 5, 2021 (6 weeks)
- Time commitment per week: 1 hour weekly collaborative meeting, 2 hours independent work
- Class meeting time: Thursdays, 9:00–10:00am Pacific (12:00–1:00pm Eastern)
- Goal: Selected participants will develop at least one Wikipedia biography of a notable LGBTQ+ figure currently underrepresented on Wikipedia.
Cost
We have received generous funding to support several participants through this training process. We invite all interested scholars to apply for these seats, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community.
Expectations of participants
- No experience with Wikipedia is required or expected.
- Available for virtual meetings on Zoom, weekly for one hour.
- Participants commit a minimum of 3 hours/week, including a one-hour weekly class and independent work.
- Participants will make significant contributions to at least one Wikipedia page by the end of the course.
- Participants must have access to the internet and a computer.
- Participants will fill out a short survey at the end of the course.
- Select participants will get the opportunity to be featured on Wiki Education’s blog.
“It was incredibly satisfying to help create a page for someone I so respected.” *
ENROLLMENT CLOSED
Our course helps participants develop crucial skills:
- Familiarity with open access tools
- Digital literacy
- Tech skills
- Critical media literacy
- Communication skills
- Collaborative writing
- Consensus building
- And more!
Testimonials
“I’ve been really surprised and happy by how many people in the Wikipedia community have reached out to thank me for my work on this. It feels really validating that people care about trans representation on the site, and understand the importance of updating images to reflect people’s identities.” Read more…
“I was excited to try my hand at editing articles that I felt could have an impact in the community by elevating voices of People of Color in science. I chose to edit articles on Shirley Malcom, Melina Abdullah and Lori White, which taught me a lot. It was a really powerful experience to participate in this collective day of action, and I was glad to utilize Wikipedia editing skills for this purpose.”Read more…
“Another component that we truly valued were the discussions about structural inequities that lead to the underrepresentation of women and minority scientists among biographical articles on Wikipedia. We found that a particularly striking aspect is how social inequities due to gender, class, racial and ethnic marginalization are aggravated in the representation of minorities among Wikipedia editors, featured scientists in the media, as well as in perceptions prevalent in society of which accomplishments are worth revering.”Read more…
CUSTOMIZED OPTIONS
Interested in enrolling 10 or more participants from the same institution in an online course? Email partner@wikiedu.org for course buy-out and other customized options.
Contact us or join our mailing list
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