We are pleased to announce Fisher Fine Arts Library’s Month of Wiki!
During the month of April, we invite you to participate in a series of three edit-a-thons to improve the coverage of marginalized artists and cultures and combat racial and gender bias on Wikipedia. Less than 10% of Wikipedia editors identify as women. Less information is known on the racial demographics of its editors: The Wikipedia page for “Wikipedians”does not provide this information, nor does the oft-cited 2011 Wikimedia Foundation reportinclude this analysis. Although the report does indicate a lack in diversity of its editors: “The data from the survey shows that the majority of Wikipedians hail from North America or Europe…” As Wikipedia remains the most popular general reference tool on the internet, this glaring omission of marginalized groups silences their voices, narratives, and histories.
Let’s change that.
Join us for our three-part edit-a-thon series on the following consecutive Fridays in the foyer of the Fisher Fine Arts Library. Each edit-a-thon will focus on illuminating the art and artists from African American communities and the African Diaspora; Latin America; and cis and transgender women and non-binary folks respectively.
4/5 1-4PM Black Lunch Table @Fisher
The Black Lunch Table (BLT) is a New-York based oral-history archiving project, and their “primary aim is the production of discursive sites, wherein cultural producers engage in dialogue on a variety of critical issues.” Join BLT for a communal updating of entries to improve representation of African American impact and history in the arts on Wikipedia.
Read more about BLT Wikipedia Edit-a-thons.
The #WikiArte (Wiki Arte y Cultura Latinoamerica) edit-a-thon is a global campaign to improve coverage of Latin American arts and culture and to counter geocultural systemic bias on Wikipedia. This event is co-sponsored with Penn’s La Casa Latina.
Read more about the WikiArte campaign initiative.
Art+Feminism is a global campaign to improve the coverage of cis and transgender women, non-binary folks, feminism, and the arts on Wikipedia. Since its establishment in 2013, the Art+Feminism movement has grown exponentially with 500+ events taking place around the world. This year, the project has been expanded to include correcting and developing the histories of gender non-binary artists and activists on Wikipedia. This event is co-sponsored by both the Penn’s Women Center and the Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality, and Women.
Read more about the Art+Feminism 2019 campaign.
These events are free and open to the public. All are welcome. No experience necessary; we will provide the training and reference materials! Please bring a charged laptop and power cord, ideas for entries that need updating or creation, and if possible, create a user account beforehand. Stay for part or all of the time. Attend one, two, or all three edit-a-thons!
Snacks, music, camaraderie, and good vibes will be provided!
Black Lunch Table has also inspired us to offer free portraits for local artists, which we’ll be providing in our Hechtman Recording Studio. Stay tuned for exact times!
We hope you will join us to help mobilize our communities’ collective knowledge of the arts!
*Guest post by Meaghan Moody, Teaching & Learning Librarian, Penn Libraries*
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