On Monday 20 October, Wikimedia UK joins forces with the British Library and the Wikimedia Foundation to explore the impact of AI on open knowledge and the wider information landscape. Fundamental to this landscape are contributions from humans, including professionals from media, research and cultural heritage, as well as the volunteers who contribute to the Wikimedia projects and other open platforms.

This day-long summit brings together experts and practitioners in the British Library’s Knowledge Centre to discuss the threats and opportunities at the intersection of AI, open knowledge and human rights. As we look to the future of information, how do we ensure that machine learning supports human learning, and build sustainability and information integrity into new models of content creation? 

At the heart of the event is the idea that the creation and curation of knowledge is fundamentally a human endeavour.

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The “Revisiting Cyberfeminism” event took place in Berlin from December 7th to 8th, 2024, with a follow-up session on 14th December. Organised by Wiki Riot Squad, Who writes his_tory?, and Athina Petsou, in cooperation with bildwechsel/GuterGrund GmbH and Khoj Studios, the event was financially supported by Wikimedia Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The primary goal was to revisit and update Wikipedia articles related to cyberfeminism, ensuring that the content reflects diverse experiences.

The concept of cyberfeminism, which emerged in the early 1990s, has been a critical framework for understanding and challenging the power structures embedded in technology and online platforms through a feminist perspective. This movement focuses on how biased technology can challenge or reinforce gender norms, questioning who controls information, who gets to participate, and how gender influences and is influenced by these dynamics. The December events were in Berlin and online, aiming to refresh and expand the discourse around cyberfeminism through collaborative efforts on Wikipedia. Among others we created and translated articles in English, German, French and Spanish Wikipedia, about Frauen+technik, Old Boys Network, etc.

I loved the fact that the event brought together different participants: artists, historical figures who were part of the Cyberfeminist movement in the 90s, wikipedians, students, researchers and theoretics. The Berlin event took place in an artist atelier and included a series of workshops, readings, and collaborative editing sessions. It was lovely to hear stories and have a look in the archival material of the different groups (-Innen, frauen·und·technik, Old Boys Network).

More importantly for me, the event was structured as a hybrid gathering, with participants joining both on-site in Berlin and online from various locations, including a parallel workshop hosted by Khoj Studios in New Delhi, following the tradition of the cyberfeminism movement itself.  

Cyberfeminism has historically been underrepresented in online spaces, and this event aimed to address that gap by bringing together diverse voices and perspectives. We also read poems from the archives and from contemporary poets working on cyberfeminist topics. The collaborative nature of the event allowed participants to learn from each other, share their expertise, stories and new ideas and create a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of cyberfeminism. Also, the intergenerational nature of the event is a good heritage on the online and in flesh feminist discourses.  The “Revisiting Cyberfeminism” event was more than just an edit-a-thon; it was a collaborative effort to engage in knowledge production that challenges the systemic biases inherent in online platforms and technological products. By updating and expanding articles on cyberfeminism, participants contributed to a more inclusive and accurate representation of feminist work in the technological landscape. Also, it was a chance to reflect on our own lives and work, discuss and connect. Hopefully, meeting you all again soon and on our new projects.

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Across the UK people are working to change things for the better. Campaigners, activists, and changemakers of all types are stepping up to address injustices, improve conditions in their communities, and draw attention to neglected issues. From the Post Office Horizon scandal, housing issues such as mouldy homes, and fighting the closure of local libraries, changemakers are grafting away on many vital issues, and are often at the forefront of holding those in power to account. 

Change is possible, but it is not easy work. It requires extraordinary courage, resilience and persistence. Changemaking is made tougher still because of the lack of good quality, freely available knowledge on how to go about it. From our many years of working with changemakers we know that it can be a struggle to know where to start. Today, we launch a toolkit to address these challenges and support those at the forefront of making change happen.

Through this unique collaboration, SMK and Wikimedia UK are committed to making knowledge open and freely available so it can help people campaign effectively. That’s why we’ve launched the Changemaker’s Toolkit, a free online training resource for campaigners, activists, and changemakers.  

The three introductory modules; Introduction to changemaking, Analysing the problem and planning for Change, and Communicating for Change, will enable you to develop your understanding of campaigning and changemaking, providing the  tools to allow you to reflect and plan. Our aim is to support you to campaign more confidently straight away, and to provide a framework to build your knowledge in the future. 

The Toolkit is based on SMK’s Campaign Carousel which draws on nearly two decades of experience training hundreds of campaigners and activists. 

‘SMK’s Campaign Carousel is a cutting-edge training programme shaped by expert campaigners. We provide practical tools and approaches that allow new campaigners to hit the ground running. Our training supports these new campaigners to make powerful, impactful change by giving them the guidance they need across all of the different aspects of campaigning. From social media, to understanding social change, to working with the legal system, and much more- our Campaign Carousel supports campaigners to become powerful forces for change.’ – Kathleen Christie, Head of Programmes, SMK

At Wikimedia UK we pride ourselves on being experts on knowledge equity, committed to the ideal of a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. With thousands of contributors to open knowledge through Wikipedia and its sister projects, we have a network of supporters who will benefit from a better understanding on how to campaign on the wide variety of issues that are important to them.

‘Within the Wikimedia movement sits a great potential for making change in the world, across a huge range of societal issues: misinformation, shrinking civic space, decolonisation and knowledge equity. Members of the Wikimedia movement are, or have the capacity and aptitude to become changemakers  if supported with the right tools and knowledge. This project brings together two communities – Wikimedians and changemakers – so they can benefit from each other’s expertise. Wikimedians get access to social change knowledge to increase their effectiveness, SMK is able to support changemakers with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to work effectively and create change.’ Daria Cybulska, Director of Programmes and Evaluation

The overlapping interests between our organisations are clear, and we’re grateful for Wikimedia Foundation’s grant to help make  a long-standing ambition a reality. It’s a modest start, but an important one and a foundation we intend to build on.

‘Working with Wikimedia UK on these new resources has been a fantastic experience and fascinating to combine our different perspectives on social change and develop this Toolkit. It’s never been more important to find new ways to support those who are working to create change in our communities, and we are thrilled to share our tools and approaches with a wider audience. It’s the first step towards a long-held ambition for SMK.’ Shaan Sangha, Knowledge and Insight Manager, SMK

The ambition is to add to the Toolkit over time, providing changemakers with a comprehensive library of free campaigning resources. We’d love your feedback on how the Toolkit works for you and what else you would like to see added. You can email us at volunteering@wikimedia.org.uk

Further information

The Changemakers Toolkit includes:

Introduction to Changemaking – Provides an introduction to how change happens and the many routes through which campaigning and activism can have an impact. Covers foundational tools including the Social Change Grid, 12 habits, and introduces the topic of social power.

Analysing the Problem and Planning for change – Digs further into how to understand the problem you want to address and your solution, using the Problem Tree tool. Introduces approaches to planning campaigns, and identifying your allies and people you need to influence.

Communication for Change – How to achieve an impact with your communications by understanding who you’re speaking to, what you need to say to connect with them, and how you can reach them.

There is a version tailored for Wikimedians available on metawiki. Modules are Introduction to changemaking, Analysing the Problem and Planning for Change, and Communicating for Change. 

Rob Abercrombie, Deputy Chief Executive, SMK

Daria Cybulska, Director of Programmes and Evaluation, Wikimedia UK

The post Announcing the Changemakers’ Toolkit: your go-to, free training resource for campaigners, activists, and changemakers of all kinds appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

On Sunday 26th November we were delighted to host our 2023 Community Meeting. It was a chance for our community to gather online, share the work that’s taken place over the last year, recognise that work through the UK Wikimedian of the Year awards, and find out more ways to get involved. 

We were welcomed by our Chief Executive Lucy Crompton-Reid, and then we launched into a series of Lightning Talks.

Lightning Talks

Dr Sarah Rogers, from the Royal College of Nursing’s History of Nursing Forum, told us about the Nurses in Red project.

Alexander – Patient Zero – told us about his journey with Wikipedia, from a young editor to one of the most active 10,000 editors on English Wikipedia.

Richard Davies told us about the work he’s been doing in the Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons coverage of the Welsh town of Wrecsam (Wrexham).

Becky Male told us about her work on the Hunger Strike Medal article, and how this led to a surprising discovery about the collection of Suffragette Pennies at the Glasgow Women’s Library.

Jonathan – WereSpielChequers – told us about the process of becoming an admin on English Wikipedia, and how the project needs more admins.

And Gill Ryan told us about the project that she ran in partnership with Perth Library this year on the Women of Perth.

In memoriam

In the last few years, we’ve sadly lost a few members of the UK Wikimedia community, and so we took some time to recognise the contributions that Lisa Lodwick, Jo Pugh, Richard Haslam, Les Barker and Richard Lawson made to the movement. They will be very much missed. 

UK Wikimedian of the Year Awards

Next we announced the winners of the UK Wikimedian of the Year Awards. For the full details of who won the awards, the fantastic work they’re doing, and who received an honourable mention, you can see this blog.

UK Wikimedian of the Year: Nick Sheppard

Partnership of the Year: Royal College of Nursing’s History of Nursing Forum – Nurses in Red

Up and Coming Wikimedian: Heidi Berg 

Opportunity Fair

And finally we closed with something new for us; the Opportunity Fair. Here we had a selection of projects with which we’d invite our community to get involved, as well as a range of ways that Wikimedia UK can support the community.

Protests & Suffragettes are looking for translators of articles they’ve been creating and improving about Scottish Suffrage/ttes, as well as help improving those articles – more information on their project page, or contact sara.thomas@wikimedia.org.uk.

Nadege Forde-Vidal, Historian & Community Project Developer at Sankofa London Schools is also looking for assistance, in the shape of after-school workshop leaders: www.sankofalondonschools.co.uk / nadege@sankofalondonschools.co.uk 

The National Library of Scotland uploaded a large number of Scottish Chapbooks to Wikimedia Commons / Wikisource during lockdown, with staff proofreading that work. There are still a number of these to be proofread and transcribed, and they can be found here. If you’d like to know more about how to become involved, or are interested in learning more about Wikisource, please contact sara.thomas@wikimedia.org.uk.

Dr Richard Nevell, Programme Manager, talked about Wiki Loves Monuments and Wiki Loves Earth – we’re in need of assistance with Wikidata for Wiki Loves Earth, and a campaign organiser or organisers for Wiki Loves Monuments – if you’d like to know more please contact richard.nevell@wikimedia.org.uk.

Dr Lucy Hinnie told us about Let’s Connect, a peer learning group for any Wikimedian who is part of an organised group – there are regular events and a whole host of resources, and they can be found through their meta page. Lucy’s slides are here.

Karla Marte, our Programme Evaluation Coordinator, explained our Project and Volunteer Grants, and how they can support individual volunteers – there’s more information about this on our website where you can see examples of past grants, and there’s also an online application form.

Last but not least, our board member Rod Ward told us a little about the Community Development Committee, a new Board subcommittee, whose purpose is to advise the board on community and volunteer issues generally, and to consider any community-related matters that may be delegated to the Committee by the board.

Join us

If you’d like to hear about future UK community events and how you can get involved please sign up for our newsletter, or join our membership to help govern the charity.

The post WMUK 2023 Community Meeting – videos and opportunities appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

Attending the World Literacy Summit 2023 at Baliol’s College in Oxford was a dream come true for me, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the accommodation support from Wikimedia UK. As a passionate advocate for literacy and a Wikimedian, I was thrilled to be surrounded by like-minded individuals who share the same passion for promoting literacy for all.

Throughout the conference, I had the privilege of meeting literacy ambassadors and advocates who are spearheading interesting projects and programs to make literacy accessible to everyone. I was inspired by their dedication and learned so much from their experiences.

One of the highlights of the summit was my encounter with Frank Schulenburg, the executive director of WikiEducation US & Canada. His presentation on the work of the organization and how Wikipedia fosters information literacy in higher education classrooms was truly insightful. After the presentation, we had a productive conversation over coffee where we discussed how some of the programs and initiatives could be adopted for WikiEducation projects in Nigeria.

During the summit, I had the opportunity to present my Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom project in East Room 14. It was a great feeling to share my work with the attendees and receive positive feedback. I also attended the plenary session at the Sheldonian Theater, as well as several tracks on World Literacy presentations. These sessions were highly informative and engaging, and I gained a wealth of knowledge about literacy programs and initiatives from around the world.

For me, some of the sessions that stood out were those that focused on the intersection of technology and literacy, and how we can leverage digital tools to make literacy more accessible and engaging for all. Another session that left a lasting impression on me highlighted the importance of promoting multilingual literacy and preserving endangered languages.

The World Literacy Summit 2023 was an enriching experience that reminded me of the transformative power of literacy. It reinforced my commitment to promoting literacy for all and ensuring that every person, regardless of their background, has access to the tools and resources they need to succeed.

As I return to Nigeria, I am excited to bring back the knowledge and ideas I gained from the World Literacy Summit and continue working towards free knowledge for all. I want to express my deepest gratitude to Wikimedia UK for their support throughout my stay in Oxford. I look forward to staying in touch and collaborating on future projects that will advance the cause of literacy around the world.

WikiHugs

Bukola James

User:Bukky658

The post Empowering literacy advocacy: a Wikimedian and certified trainer’s experience at the World Literacy Summit with support from Wikimedia UK appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

The State Of Open Conference brings together organisations, communities and advocates of open data, technology and knowledge. This year, Wikimedia UK was excited to attend SOOC23, where we spoke with attendees from across the sector about our particular role in the open knowledge movement. It provided us with a great opportunity to network with like-minded individuals, learn about emerging trends and technologies, and gain new insights and perspectives. 

Keynote speakers included the Labour MP and shadow science minister Chi Onwurah, Google’s vice-president of Infrastructure Eric Brewer, and Open UK CEO Amanda Brock. Representing the Wikimedia Foundation was Movement Advocacy Manager Franziska Putz, who took part in a panel discussion on the relationship between open data and diplomacy. We were also delighted to hear from Jimmy Wales, who gave a fascinating keynote lecture on Wikimedia’s role in open-knowledge sharing and the challenges that both the Wikimedia projects and open knowledge sector faces today.

A particularly enjoyable aspect of this conference was the diverse range of topics covered, including cutting-edge developments in open software and hardware, best practices for team collaboration and the ethical considerations of open technology. Attendees were able to choose from a variety of sessions, workshops, and keynote speeches, allowing them to tailor their experience to suit their particular interests.

In addition to the educational aspect, this conference was a fantastic chance to connect with others, providing a chance for Wikimedia UK representatives to meet new people and form meaningful connections with potential collaborators or volunteers. After three years of largely online working, this event provided an opportunity to learn from industry experts, connect with peers, and gain exposure to the latest technologies and trends. 

Although Wikipedia is a globally recognised and utilised resource, many attendees we spoke with were not aware of the specific work that Wikimedia UK undertakes to contribute to the open knowledge movement. Therefore, it was great to be able to speak with those unfamiliar with our organisation and to discuss our work in the fields of cultural heritage, information literacy, and open knowledge advocacy. Our efforts sparked numerous questions and discussions regarding how Wikimedia can help shape the future of open technology and how to get involved with our projects.

Whether we were talking with experienced industry professionals or students just starting out, the conference was a highly  positive and rewarding experience, and it was great to speak with others who recognized the benefits of open collaboration and knowledge sharing.  As a first-time attendee representing Wikimedia UK at a conference, I was struck by the passion for open technology felt throughout the community. The commitment to advancing and promoting this sector was evident, and the experience reinforced the critical role that Wikimedia plays in this field. I was delighted to see the overwhelmingly positive response from many of the attendees towards the important work that we do.

Thank you to everyone who supported us during SOOC23, especially our volunteers Ian Watt and Navid Nezafati!

The post Wikimedia UK at SOOCon23 appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

I’m a big fan of the Archaeology Data Service (ADS). Its online library is packed with digitised articles, books, and reports. Looking in from the outside I have seen its content grow and become ever more useful.

The ADS hosts a lot of data about people, places, and publications. Wikidata is an open source database in the Wikimedia network of websites; founded in 2012 it has grown to include a huge amount of information. Both sites continue to grow, and there are some points where they can complement each other.

Back in 2020, I got in touch with the ADS to ask if they could share a spreadsheet of their identifiers for individuals so that I could add them to Wikidata. Adding ADS identifiers to Wikidata entries on individual archaeologists means it would be possible to find out what information Wikidata has on these people. For the ADS, it means they can import other identifiers such as Open Researcher and Contributor IDs (ORCIDs – maintained by researchers) and International Standard Name Identifier (ISNIs – used by libraries and archives). The process of reconciling the two datasets would help with the quality of both, highlighting inconsistencies or duplications.

As a (slightly late) celebration of Wikidata’s 10th birthday, below I’ve explained some of the ways in which Wikidata has helped illuminate the ADS, and the process I followed to add the information.

What is a Wikidata item

If you’ve not come across Wikidata before, the obvious question is how is it meant to be used? The website is designed to be machine readable, so rather than containing information in prose it’s broken down into discrete ‘statements’. This means the information in Wikidata can be picked up by the likes of Google, and Wikidata can be a centralised hub for standardised information for the Wikimedia projects.

Wikipedia is available in 300+ languages which presents a maintenance challenge. For example, when a census is released Wikipedia editors have to update thousands of pages; if the data is stored centrally that makes the process dramatically easier. That’s just one application of Wikidata, other possible uses include creating interactive timelines, like this one showing folks in the ADS with a known birth and death date, and automating brief summaries of topics.

Whereas Wikipedia has articles, Wikidata has ‘items’. Each one is about an individual topic. For this blog post, that means a person can have an item about them, and a publication can have an item. They can then be linked together. Wikidata’s inclusion criteria are broader than Wikipedia’s, so you don’t need to have a Wikipedia article to end up in Wikidata. Crucially, people with Wikipedia pages will have more detailed items in Wikidata. Just take a look at the item for Ian Hodder (who has Wikipedia articles about him in 19 languages) compared to the one for Peter Arrowsmith (no Wikipedia page).

A closer look at the data

The ADS hosts scans of reports from a host of archaeological service providers in the UK and articles in county journals. Even when documents aren’t available, they still host some meta-data about the publications. As a result their data leans heavily towards British archaeologists.

You can see that when querying Wikidata’s country of citizenship data. The above buddle chart shows the citizenship for people in the ADS with an article on the English Wikipedia. 733 people are citizens of the United Kingdom, and 506 are citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, though there is undoubtedly a lot of overlap. The next most common countries are the USA (115), Great Britain (65), and France (43) [full results]. You can look more widely to include anyone in the ADS dataset on Wikidata, even if they don’t have an article about them. The pattern is very similar, with the same five countries at the top.

Wikipedia’s content has a gender gap: as of 24th October 2022 the English Wikipedia has 1.9 million biographies and 19.36% are about women. This is based on what is recorded in Wikidata – it’s all interconnected. Narrowing it down to archaeologists, the English Wikipedia has 5,129 biographies and 22.15% are about women. So archaeology isn’t doing too badly in the context of English Wikipedia. 1,869 of these archaeologists with biographies on the English Wikipedia have an identifier in the ADS and 22.79% are about women. The actual number will increase over time as further matches are made and new articles are created, but this likely represents the majority of the matches that can currently be made.

If we widen the search to include all the people in the ADS with a Wikidata item, 4,641 have a gender and 24.09% are female.

Given the UK focus of the dataset, it’s not surprising that the ten most common places of education from people in the ADS (where Wikidata has information, for people with articles in English) are all in the UK. You have to go down to 18th to find a university from outside the UK (Harvard).

Where people work is heavily skewed towards universities. Looking at just people in the ADS who have articles on the English Wikipedia, universities account for nineteen out of the twenty most common workplaces. Archaeologists in universities are more likely to end up with Wikipedia articles than folks in commercial archaeology or the museum sector. If we drop the requirement of having an article on the English Wikipedia, the results have more variety. Because people outside academia are less likely to have articles, the data available for people in commercial archaeology will be much poorer.

The ADS doesn’t just have entries for archaeologists. Historians, geneticists, and numismatists all appear in their dataset. The ADS even has an entry for Billy Bragg. Yes, that Billy Bragg. I double checked just in case. So aside from archaeologists, what professions do people in the ADS dataset have? For this bit, let’s look at everyone in the ADS with a Wikidata entry, not just people with articles on the English Wikipedia. It’s not surprising that a historian is the most common job amongst the dataset.

Steps to make it work

Back in 2020 the ADS provided a spreadsheet of their data, with columns for given name, surname, initials, date of birth, date of death, ORCIDs, ISNI, and the ID in the ADS database. For most people in the data set, it was a matter of name and ID in the ADS database.

The first step was adding this data to a tool called Mix’n’match. It’s a staging area before Wikidata, where information can be matched to what already exists. The idea is to add a new ID to Wikidata items where they already exist and to create new items where they don’t exist yet. If in doubt, create a new item in Wikidata. They can always be merged later if it turns out there is a duplicate.

Mix’n’match does some automated matching based on IDs such as ORCIDs or ISNIs, and then suggests some possible matches based on names and information such as dates of birth and death.

With more than 55,000 people in the spreadsheet, there is a lot to get through. There were some 1,500 matches that were low-hanging fruit but it has taken more than two years to get nearly 7,000 matches. The approach has been to use Mix’n’match to confirm suggested matches and to manually add ADS IDs to Wikidata items; the latter is done when I’m confident I’ve found a match. The Mix’n’match suggestions were very, well, mixed so I came up with some custom searches to try to narrow things down. I looked for people who published in the field of prehistoric archaeology but who don’t have an ADS ID, antiquarians with no ADS ID, French archaeologists with no ADS ID, people who published in the Sussex Archaeological Collections with no ADS ID (and other journals with an extensive back catalogue on the ADS), and variations thereof. As it turns out, there are quite a few of each who don’t appear to be in the ADS.

Soon, there will be the decision about what to do with the remainder. Should 48,000 names be imported to Wikidata with little more than an ADS ID and we trust that they may be enriched over time? It’s a possibility, but I’ve not considered it much yet. It has the most value for Wikidata where it can be linked to another item. For now at least, the ADS have a bunch of new ORCIDs, INSIs, and Wikidata IDs they can enrich their site with, and a few entries they may want to merge.

The more information there is in Wikidata – the more sourced statements about where people went to school or university, where they worked, and so on – the more useful it becomes, and you can help add information. New to Wikidata? The University of Edinburgh have a short introductory video to get you started.

The post The Archaeology Data Service and Wikidata appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

Over the last 18 months we’ve been working with the Scots Wiki community and Marco Cafolla, running editathons to improve the quality of the Scots wiki. The community has done a huge amount of work, as documented here, including a lot of article deletion in order to address the issues that came to light in August 2019. However, what the Scots wiki needs in the long term is more editors. As we know from our work with Celtic Knot, working on a minority language Wikipedia can feel like a huge task, but many hands make light work!  

At the end of last year we surveyed previous editathon participants. In response to what folks said, we’re extending the two day editathon to a week-long writing drive. We’ll also be including two evening sessions for collaborative editing – one on Tuesday 18th, 7-9pm, and one on Thursday 20th, 7-9pm. They’ll be held on Zoom, so please sign up through those Eventbrite links to get the joining info.

For January, we’ll be focussing on articles about languages, and on stub articles. There’s also other tasks for those who are less confident with their written Scots to help out with, such as adding images, or references.  And of course, we highly recommend the Scots Language Centre’s collection of resources for anyone wanting to improve their written Scots!

Sign up on the dashboard and then drop by Scots wiki any time over the next week (17th-23rd January)!  You can see the on-wiki event page here.

The post January Scots writing drive appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

Our webinars will cover open knowledge, the digital skills gap, digital preservation and how WMUK is addressing those issues through this project. Participants will be provided with access to resources and materials to take back to their organisations, and the opportunity to follow up with the project and engage in partnership.

You need only attend one webinar: sessions are free, open and no prior Wiki experience is required. We hope to see you there!

Webinar dates

Friday 8 October at 10am; [Eventbrite]
Thursday 14 October at 2pm; [Eventbrite]
Friday 15 October at 10am; [Eventbrite]
Thursday 21 October at 2pm; [Eventbrite]

Follow us on Twitter for project updates, and you can contact the team at connectedheritage@wikimedia.org.uk

The post Connected Heritage webinars appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

In July 2021, #WCCWiki marked an important milestone. The initiative, designed to improve the online representation of those who identify as women and non-binary, held its fiftieth Wikipedia editathon. Since 2016 when the initiative began, our community has come together each month to edit Wikipedia pages for women and non-binary people, share resources and practical tips for editing, and to offer training for those new to the task. Organised through the Women’s Classical Committee UK, #WCCWiki has done fantastic work in transforming the online representation of classicists who identify as women and non-binary, and helping to challenge Wikipedia’s intractable gender gap. Classics is very broadly conceived, including historians, archaeologists, theorists, translators, poets, and others who work on the ancient world.

But the implications of our success reach far beyond one platform. #WCCWiki has spread awareness and understanding of Wikipedia and why it’s so important, especially to those invested in knowledge transfer, as much of our community is. We have upskilled classicists to use and improve Wikipedia, tools which have then been transferred into classrooms around the world. We have built an activist network based on solidarity and dynamic action, and we have demonstrated how hard-won research skills really are transferable and can make a huge difference to environments beyond grant applications and writing articles.

Before #WCCWiki got started, the heritage of women and non-binary people in classics, both historical and contemporary, was a largely unrepresented online demographic. An estimate in 2016 found that only 7% of biographies of classicists on Wikipedia featured women. #WCCWiki has worked hard to make this demographic a highly visible and accessible part of classics.

We’ve created or edited more than 450 Wikipedia pages for those classicists who identify as women and non-binary, including path-breaking foremothers who were only referred to on their husband’s pages, such as Dr Miriam T. Griffin, Dr Annie Ure, and Professor Leslie Brubaker. One of our long-standing members, Richard Nevell, calculated that, as of 28 July 2021, 17.7% of the total of biographies of classicists on Wikipedia feature women. This is a significant rise from December 2019 when the number of biographies of women classicists was 16.3%. With every month, the proportion of Wikipedia biographies featuring classicists who identify as women or non-binary continues to increase.

Our pace of change means that on average every other day, a page for a woman or non-binary person is created or edited. #WCCWiki articles have featured regularly on Wikipedia’s front page and an increasing number have achieved Good Article status. #WCCWiki franchises have been inspired internationally, from Durham in the UK, to Winnipeg in Canada, to Ohio in the US. Our Wikipedia pages have been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, and we have boosted their impact on social media, mainly on Twitter, where posts have reached 50,000+ people.

Richard’s calculations demonstrate the huge leaps #WCCWiki is taking, especially in comparison with Wikipedia in other languages. 34% of new articles about classicists on the English Wikipedia created between December 2019 and July 2021 feature women, which is twice that of the German Wikipedia, and triple that of French. Whilst #WCCWiki edits and creates pages in a variety of languages, English does predominate. Richard’s stats reveal the gender bias on Wikipedia without initiatives like #WCCWiki working against them.

Initiatives like #WCCWiki and the Wikiproject Women In Red are still essential in tackling Wikipedia’s gender gap. Between 84% and 91% of Wikipedia editors are male, and only around 19% of biographical pages feature women overall. At 17.7%, the representation of those classicists who identify as women and non-binary still lags behind the more general gendered trend. So, there is much more to do. Everyone is welcome to join us online as we edit together on or around 22^nd of each month, 13.00-15.00 GMT+1. For more information, check out our Project Page, and #WCCWiki on Twitter. Now we’re looking forward to our 100^th editathon, come and join the party!

The post Celebrating #WCCWiki at 50! appeared first on Wikimedia UK.