Hi everyone,
To celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the MACSYS Equity, People, and Culture Committee (EPPC) is running a Wikipedia edit-a-thon focused on improving and creating Wikipedia pages about women in STEM.
Currently, only 20% of biographies on Wikipedia are about women. This is a practical way to help close that gap, while also learning a useful skill: writing clearly for a broad audience using independent sources.
When: Wednesday, 11 February, 9:30 - 11:00 am AEDT, 8:30 - 10:00 am AEST
Format: This will be a morning tea / coffee / brekkie-style session. Everyone can participate on Zoom, but we encourage each node to meet in person if you have a critical mass. More on the meeting groups later.
Schedule:
9:30–9:40 quick intro + how the session works + choosing a target page/topic
9:40–11:00 editing / drafting time - everyone just working away on what they want.
You can work on:
improving existing Wikipedia pages (adding references, clarity, structure), or
drafting a brand new biography page for someone notable who doesn’t yet have one.
Register / enrol (Wikipedia Dashboard)
To participate, please enrol via the event page here
The Dashboard includes instructions, useful links, and optional lists of suggested people/pages to work on. Every word that we contribute as a group is recorded so that we can quantify our impact!
Before you come (optional but helpful):
Create a Wikipedia account: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:CreateAccount
Bring an idea of a woman in STEM you’d like to improve/create a page for - or choose from the “Women in Red” lists linked on the Dashboard event page.
Participants of all genders and career stages are welcome (staff, postgrads, undergrads).
Hope you can join!
Mike McDonald and the EPCC