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Organized by Asia Art Archive in America and Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs of the New York Public Library and in collaboration with Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, the Art+Feminism: Wikipedia Edit-a-thon on Women in Art in Asia helped participants edit Wikipedia to create and improve articles about women artists and practitioners in and from Asia, including architects, designers, filmmakers, curators, and art historians. Books and research materials—as well as refreshments—were provided.
This Edit-a-thon was aligned with the Art+Feminism 2019 Campaign, “a campaign improving coverage of cis and transgender women, non-binary folks, feminism, and the arts on Wikipedia”. Following up on two previously organized edit-a-thons on women in art and exhibition histories, this event was part of an ongoing effort to contribute to discussions about the representation of art and visual culture in Asia on open-source knowledge platforms.
Preparation:
1. If you don’t already have one, create a Wikipedia account (tips on creating a username) prior to the edit-a-thon.
2. Enroll as an editor on the event dashboard.
3. Attend our Wikipedia editing tutorial in advance on March 9th at the New York Public Library. An experienced Wikimedian will be there to assist us with technical questions.
4. Bring ideas for creating or improving articles on Wikipedia. If you are looking for inspirations, you may start with the suggestions compiled by the AAA-A/NYPL team. You can find them on the event dashboard.
5. Choose an article to create, or an existing article to improve or translate. Wikipedia recently made a policy change: New editors cannot create pages. Your account must have been active for over ninety-six hours, and must have made at least ten edits to create Wikipedia articles. If you want to create new articles, please work on a draft and we can help you to publish them.
6. Depending on how much you want to create on the day, you may also wish to do preliminary research on your chosen article and bring a previously written draft to the event. We will provide books, articles, and other reference materials on the day, but please feel free to do your own research beforehand.
On the Day of the Edit-a-thon
The AAA in A and NYPL teams led two thirty-minute tutorial at the beginning of the session. Representatives from the Wikimedia NYC chapter were there to assist us with technical questions.
Participants brought a laptop, power cord, ideas for entries that need updating or creation, and reference materials. There were two main ways to contribute to the Edit-a-thon: improving existing articles and creating new ones. A list of suggested articles and topics were provided, and relevant reference books and online resources were made available.
Snacks and beverages were provided during the event. The editing-averse were welcome to stop by to show their support!
Edit-a-thon Schedule:
12:00 p.m. – Check in and Wikipedia Account Creation
12:15 p.m. – Wikipedia editing training session
1:15 p.m. – Wikipedia editing training session
2:00 – 4:30 p.m. – Open editing for participants
4:30 p.m. – Group sharing session and reception
Further information, instructional guides, and topic suggestions are available on our Wikipedia Dashboard.