Notes

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Group Work: Choosing our Topic

Group Members: Blogger192AC, Calstudent123, and Melinda.an

Group Sandbox: Calstudent123

Group Topic: Women's Rights

Potential topics: As a group, we first tried to narrow down the scope of our topic. We looked into women's rights in different countries such as India and Iran, since there were already articles on women's rights in Australia, Japan, Canada, and Russia linked within the page. However, we found that even though "Women's Rights in Iran" was not a category linked in the page, there is already an external page on it with extensive information. Thus, there was not much information we could contribute to make a greater impact.

Second, we looked at different women's rights topics such as the "Gender Pay Gap" and "Women's Suffrage". However, similar to the problem we ran into before, there was already so much information saturated on the topic. Even when we looked into "Gender Pay Gap" for various countries, we ran into problems such as sparse information on the internet, oversaturated information on the topics, etc

Third, we looked into various women's rights movements such as the "Body Positive Movement". With this topic, we are hoping to further narrow down to "Women's Rights in the Media", focusing on a particular hashtag (i.e. #FreeTheNipple, #HeForShe, etc). As of now, we will be developing our topics in this particular sector and hopefully provide relevant information from our readings, guest speakers, and class notes to contribute to Wikipedia.

After class, I decided to look into women's rights in different industries such as "Maternity leave" on my own. I was only able to find "Maternity leave" in the United States, so it might be interesting to look into maternity leave in underserved and underrepresented countries. I can see potential problems such as lack of information or information censorship. However, perhaps with enough digging, we could create its own individual page for the Wikipedia community.

My Part on the Group Work Entry: Popular Hashtags Used Within The Media

(Melinda.an): Actress Lina Esco, the founder of “Free the Nipple”, began the movement in an effort to spark discussions on gender inequality. While the name itself holds a comedic ring, “Free the Nipple” brings attention to more serious topics: taboo public nudity laws and sexist double-standards.[1] The movement argues that female nudity is not only about sexualization, but also about maintaining society’s male-dominated hierarchy. “Free the Nipple” alludes to the irony in the acceptance of female nudity in pornography and other acts of public shame, and its rejection as a form of non-sexual female power.[2] For example, Facebook moderators remove any content related to breastfeeding, labor, childbirth, and reproductive health. Moreover, it is it is completely illegal for women to appear topless in three states and otherwise socially unacceptable in the rest of the nation.[3]

Article Evaluation

Improvements on Tania Bruguera Wikipedia Page

I really enjoyed the simplicity of Tania Bruguera's Wikipedia page; however, I feel like there is a lot of room for improvement. For starters, there is so much MORE information on her work, present work, and life progress in the YBCA and her website. The Wikipedia page only captures a small part of Bruguera's accomplishments which makes this source limited in scope. I would recommend expanding the sources the page draws on to capture more detailed and accurate information. In essence, most of the topics in the page can be elaborated on, especially in terms of causes and effects. There is simply not enough information on her childhood and the maternal figure in her life, which makes it difficult to understand sources of artistic inspiration. Some transitions on the page are also abrupt and out of context, which makes it a little confusing when skimming through the section. There are also certain facts with 2-6 citations in the footnotes which makes it hard to identify the original source.

In terms of aesthetic appearance, Bruguera's page can definitely use pictures and videos - especially as she is an artist by trade. This would help the audience visualize her style progression throughout the year and the various political influences she has drawn on to best communicate her message to the Cuban community. I really want to know more about the tangible impact of her movements on a macro (global)/micro-scale and the emotional reactions she sparked through her works. Facts on her most recent accomplishments, such as #YoPropongo en Cuba, which was heavily covered in the museum, are not even on the page. This was extremely disappointing because I wanted to learn more about her most present work to understand what happens in the 2018 Cuban presidential elections. Additional statistics that measure the success of her movement and social media relative to others in the industry would be helpful as well.

Nonetheless, I do applaud the page for having a neutral and unbiased perspective. The claims are always backed by verifiable sources that are not swayed toward any particular position. The information given is detailed and free of grammatical errors with cited sources to back up the claims. I felt that each art piece and work also had a fair amount of information without over-representing any part of her life. Moving forward, I feel that the students in UGBA 192ac who visited her exhibit in YBCA could really help this page reach its full potential, as the most recent information ends in 2013.

  1. ^ Esco, Lina. "Founder Lina Esco: 'Free the Nipple' Is Not About Seeing Breasts". TIME.com. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  2. ^ Chemaly, Soraya (2014-04-22). "Why Female Nudity Isn't Obscene, But Is Threatening to a Sexist Status Quo". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  3. ^ "Here's How Many Nipples #FreeTheNipple Has Liberated So Far". Retrieved 2017-10-11.