Workshop Option 5: Wikipedia Inclusiveness Editathon.  
(Size limit 15.)
Presented by: Hannah August. Hannah is a feminist critic and Lecturer in the School of English and Media Studies at Massey Albany. She has published on topics ranging from Shakespeare to women’s experiences of being single in 21st century Aotearoa New Zealand, and has worked as a dramaturg for various theatre companies in both NZ and the UK. She’s also one of the organisers of today’s conference…

In the worldwide Wikipedia Editor Survey (2011) of all the Wikipedias, 91% of respondents were male, and the greatest number, or plurality, of editors resided in the United States. We also know that Wikipedia editors tend to be those with sustained access to technology and the internet, and with sufficient income to create ‘disposable’ (leisure) time to spend editing Wikipedia. Your average Wikipedia editor is most certainly not a woman of colour working three jobs to achieve a living wage.
This of course skews the information that is available on Wikipedia, because what is included is what is perceived to be of relevance by the majority of editors.
This “digital blind spot” particularly manifests itself in a gender gap, which makes it difficult for women to find their own predecessors. As editor-activist Sierra Carlson has commented, “the danger is that if information is not in the database, people may conclude that the missing information is not notable or valuable”. Editing Wikipedia to add notable women and their achievements thus becomes of itself an act of protest and inclusiveness.
In this workshop, you will learn some basic tools for Wikipedia editing, and be provided with resources about notable women artists whose achievements are absent or partial on Wikipedia. You will work in teams to start to change that situation.