Wikipedia

Art+Feminism

Art and Feminism (stylized as Art+Feminism) is an annual worldwide edit-a-thon to add content to Wikipedia about women artists, which started in 2014. The project has been described as "a massive multinational effort to correct a persistent bias in Wikipedia, which is disproportionately written by and about men".[1][2]

Art+Feminism
StatusActive
FrequencyAnnually
Location(s)70 venues in 17 countries (2015)
Years active10
InauguratedFebruary 1, 2014 (2014-02-01)
Most recent2024 (2024)
Attendance1,300 (2015)
Organized bySiân Evans
Jacqueline Mabey
Michael Mandiberg
Laurel Ptak
Websitewww.artandfeminism.org Edit this at Wikidata

In 2014, Art+Feminism's inaugural campaign attracted 600 volunteers at 30 separate events.[2][1] The following year, a total of 1,300 volunteers attended 70 events that took place across 17 different countries, on four continents. Since then more than 20,000 people have taken part in over 1,500 events. This has led to the creation or improvement of over 100,000 Wikipedia articles.[2][3] The success of Art+Feminism comes from the collective efforts of individuals from various backgrounds such as scholars, Wikipedians, and librarians. These individuals play major roles in pushing their efforts, as society's further growing interest in gender equality within the technological sector. The importance of addressing issues relating closely to gender also aligns closely with the goals of Art+Feminism.[4]

Establishment

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Siân Evans, McKensie Mack, Michael Mandiberg, and Jacqueline Mabey (left to right).

Art+Feminism started when Artstor librarian Siân Evans was designing a project for women and art for the Art Libraries Society of North America.[5] Evans talked with fellow curator Jacqueline Mabey, who had been impressed by Wikipedia contributors' organization of edit-a-thon events to commemorate Ada Lovelace.[5] Mabey spoke with Michael Mandiberg, a professor at the City University of New York who had been incorporating Wikipedia into classroom learning. Mandiberg in turn talked with Laurel Ptak, a fellow at the art and technology non-profit Eyebeam, who agreed to help plan the event.[5] The team then recruited local Wikipedians Dorothy Howard, then Wikipedian in residence at Metropolitan New York Library Council; and Richard Knipel, then representing the local chapter of Wikipedia contributors through Wikimedia New York City.[5]

One reason for establishing the Art+Feminism project included responding to negative media coverage about Wikipedia's cataloging system.[6][7] The project continues to fill content gaps in Wikipedia and increase the number of female contributors.[8][9] Only about 17 percent of biographies on Wikipedia are about women and only about 15 percent of Wikipedia editors are female.[10] Efforts are being made to advocate and better the representation of not only cisgender women but there is also a push to include the voices of transgender and non-binary identifying individuals. There is also an emphasis to specifically fill content gaps on topics on the arts and feminism.[11] Kira Wisniewski was appointed Art+Feminism's executive director in 2020.[12]

Events

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Video from an Art+Feminism edit-a-thon at the Museum of Modern Art, 2015

Outside the United States, the 2015 event received media coverage at locations including Australia,[13] Canada,[14] Cambodia,[15] India,[16] New Zealand,[17] and Scotland.[18] Events continuously grow and take place in countries in various continents all over the world.[19] Inside the United States, the event received media coverage at the flagship location in New York,[20] and also in California,[21][22] Kansas,[23] Pennsylvania,[24] Texas,[25] and West Virginia.[26]

 
"Art+Feminism edit-a-thon Taiwan 2017" by Wikimedia Taiwan

Annually, many academic institutions in the United States hold Art+Feminism edit-a-thon events, pushing to encourage more women to edit on Wikipedia. These edit-a-thon events take place as collective workshops where students are encouraged to meet up together to edit in a collective space, whether in person or through virtual chatrooms.[27] Some of these institutions that participate in the Art+Feminism movement include Southern Methodist University,[28] Ohio University,[29] Yale University[30] University of Nevada,[31] and Cornell University.[32]

 
"Editing Wikipedia for Cornell University's Art+Feminism edit-a-thon March 6, 2020" by Unionpearl

Various forms of events are open to being held by anybody, which can include edit-a-thons, panels/conversations, and meet ups. These organized events can be held in virtual or in-person formats to encourage accessibility of engagement. Each event has its regulated guidelines stated by the organization.[33] Events typically concentrate annually in March, which is Women's History Month,[34] but their campaign lasts year-round.[35]

In 2020, due to concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held virtually, via the Zoom video conferencing app.[36] In 2021, the Art+Feminism campaign was again made virtual due to COVID-19 concerns.[37]

Although the project is global, director Kira Wisniewski lives in Baltimore and personally organizes events and collaborations with cultural organizations in that area.[38]

Content contributed by participants in the editing events is tracked in a coordinating forum on Wikipedia.[39]

Reception

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In November 2014, Foreign Policy magazine named Evans, Mabey, Mandiberg, Knipel, Howard, and Ptak as "global thinkers" for addressing gender bias on Wikipedia.[40]

In March 2017, Abigail Cain wrote on Artsy and spoke about how this impactful and powerful initiative helps to incentivize women to come together to become editors and improve articles. Cain also notes how Art+Feminism has globally grown as a whole and that Art+Feminism events are being organized by large museums and art organizations. [41]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "101 Women Artists Who Got Wikipedia Pages This Week". ARTnews. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  2. ^ a b c "Art+Feminism's 2015 Wikipedia Edit-a-thon Adds 334 Articles on Female Artists". ARTnews. 2015-03-11. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  3. ^ Chernick, Karen (August 9, 2020). "National Museum of Women in the Arts to Host Wiki Edit-a-thon Focused on Women of Color". The New York Observer. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  4. ^ Evans, Siân; Mabey, Jacqueline; Mandiberg, Michael (September 2015). "Editing for Equality: The Outcomes of the Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thons". Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America. 34 (2): 194–203. doi:10.1086/683380. ISSN 0730-7187.
  5. ^ a b c d Feinstein, Laura (2 March 2015). "Mass Wikipedia Edit To Make The Internet Less Sexist". magazine.good.is. Good Worldwide. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  6. ^ Lapowsky, Issie (5 March 2015). "Meet the Editors Fighting Racism and Sexism on Wikipedia". Wired. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  7. ^ Filipacchi, Amanda (24 April 2013). "Wikipedia's Sexism Toward Female Novelists". The New York Times. New York. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  8. ^ McGurran, Brianna (18 February 2015). "MoMA to Host Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon to Tackle Gender Imbalance". The New York Observer. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  9. ^ Krasny, Michael (13 March 2015). "Wikipedia's Gender and Race Gaps: Forum". Forum. KQED-FM. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  10. ^ "As it happened: Wikipedia edit-a-thon".
  11. ^ "Pacific Northwest College of Art". pnca.willamette.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  12. ^ "Art+Feminism". Retrieved 2020-08-11.
  13. ^ Ford, Clementine (6 March 2015). "Where are all the Australian feminist writers on Wiki?". dailylife.com.au. Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  14. ^ Botelho-Urbanski, Jessica (9 March 2015). "Celebrating women's success? There's a wiki for that". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  15. ^ Murray, Bennett (7 March 2015). "Wiki activists help to write Cambodian women's history, Post Weekend, Phnom Penh Post". The Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  16. ^ Shruthi, H M (7 March 2015). "Edit-a-thon for women to bridge Wikimedia gender gap". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  17. ^ O'Neil, Andrea (6 March 2015). "Blessed are the 'geeks' shaping history | Stuff.co.nz". Stuff (company). Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  18. ^ Malcolm, Bob (5 March 2015). "Dundee to join in global feminism arts campaign". deadlinenews.co.uk. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  19. ^ Cain, Abigail (2017-03-27). "Art+Feminism Is Helping Female Artists Gain Equal Representation on Wikipedia". Artsy. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  20. ^ Schuessler, Jennifer (6 March 2015). "MoMA to Host Wikipedia Editing Marathon, to Improve Coverage of Women in the Arts". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  21. ^ Bos, Sascha (4 March 2015). "East Bay Schools to Host Art and Feminism Wikipedia Edit-A-Thons". eastbayexpress.com. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  22. ^ Morlan, Kinsee (2 March 2015). "Wikipedia's women problem". sdcitybeat.com. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  23. ^ Rodriguez, Lisa (27 March 2015). "Kansas City Edit-A-Thon Aims To Close Gender Gap On Wikipedia". kcur.org. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  24. ^ Marshall, Amy Milgrub (23 February 2015). "College of Arts and Architecture to host 'Edit-a-Thon' to improve Wikipedia Cove". news.psu.edu. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  25. ^ Kallus, Megan (4 March 2015). "UT School of Information to host feminist Wikipedia Edit-a-thon". The Daily Texan. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  26. ^ Board, Glynis (3 March 2015). "Wiki Gender Gap to Be Discussed in Morgantown | West Virginia Public Broadcasting". wvpublic.org. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  27. ^ "Events". Art + Feminism. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  28. ^ Anderson, Julia. "Research Guides: Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon Workshop: Overview". guides.smu.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  29. ^ spellman (2023-03-02). "University Libraries to host its annual Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon". Ohio University Libraries News. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  30. ^ "2023 Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon | Yale Library". library.yale.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  31. ^ "Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon | Calendar | University of Nevada, Las Vegas". www.unlv.edu. 2024-02-06. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  32. ^ Newberry, Susette. "LibGuides: Art and Feminism: Home". guides.library.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  33. ^ "Art+Feminism Event Types". Art + Feminism. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  34. ^ Cain, Abigail (2017-03-27). "Art+Feminism Is Helping Female Artists Gain Equal Representation on Wikipedia". Artsy. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  35. ^ "Art+Feminism Annual Campaign". Art + Feminism. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  36. ^ Landry, Katelyn (2020-05-14). "Can a Virtual Edit-a-Thon make Wikipedia More Inclusive?". Houstonia Magazine. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  37. ^ "Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon 2021". Art+Feminism. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
  38. ^ Kopf, Suzy (19 July 2022). "Kira Wisniewski Works to Make Wikipedia a More Equitable Space". Baltimore Magazine.
  39. ^ Ghorashi, Hannah (10 March 2015). "Art+Feminism's 2015 Wikipedia Edit-a-thon Adds 334 Articles on Female Artists". ARTnews. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  40. ^ staff (November 2014). "A World Disrupted: The Leading Global Thinkers of 2014 | Siân Evans, Jacqueline Mabey, Michael Mandiberg, Richard Knipel, Dorothy Howard, Laurel Ptak". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  41. ^ Cain, Abigail (2017-03-27). "Art+Feminism Is Helping Female Artists Gain Equal Representation on Wikipedia". Artsy. Retrieved 2024-03-09.

"2018 Wikipedia Edit-a-thon: Art + Feminism". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved March 26, 2022.

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