Slide show sa cworkshop apr23

Wikis 101...Or, how to get from Seneca Falls to Wikipedia

A Workshop sponsored by UUCF Social Action Committee

Seneca Falls, NY

The Wikipedia Logo “W”

in many languages

Workshop Overview: A little Wiki history Why the link to Seneca Falls? What can we do? How?

EditingCreating

Questions and practiceWhat next?

A little Wiki history

Social definition:

A “wiki” is a tool for - collaboration, - information sharing- content management

Technical definition:

“wiki” is a type of software to run a website that anyone can edit

Fun definition:“Wiki”: Hawaiian for “any idiot can edit”

In the beginning 1995 - Ward Cunningham invented a new type

of website software It allowed anyone to modify the site’s content

Ward gave his software a catchy

name: “WikiWikiWeb”

…PS: “Wiki” actually does have

something to do with Hawaiian

buses

http://www.flickr.com/photos/grenade/177953735/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/19490596/

Here’s how it was announced

The Wiki Takes Off! The wiki was invented “In order to make the exchange of

ideas between programmers easier”*

… but was soon discovered as a way to easily share content as well as ideas

And very soon, Wiki communities began to grow

Creating new ways to use Wiki

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiWikiWeb

Aha! Wiki inspired the founders of the Nupedia

encyclopedia project, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, to use it as a basis for an electronic encyclopedia.

Wikipedia launched in January 2001

Today, thousands of Wiki’s - Wikipedia the most famous and biggest of all

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

A recap: A Wiki is a type of website that allows users to

easily edit and change some available content Two parts:

“wiki engine” (software) users – edit content and develop the wiki

community

Tonight, we hope to make

you Wiki users Yes, you!

Why the link to Seneca Falls?

We’re honoring Women’s History month…

Seneca Falls Convention, 1848

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, whose home

was in Seneca Falls, NY; she was the

“intellectual founder” of women’s rights

movement

Lucretia Mott – a Quaker minister

and fellow organizer of the

Convention; gave the moral basis

for equal rights

Susan B. Anthony, Quaker, turned

Unitarian in Ellery Channing’s

congregation; gave the movement its

“organizational heft.”

Birth of Fight for Women’s rights Seneca Falls - the first public

meeting ever for women’s rights “Declaration of Sentiments” Goals were

Suffrage Economic rights Gender equality

We’re the beneficiaries

Significant progress, but not worldwide Uneven results everywhere

In technology, for instance

Gender gap in tech jobs More men than women are online

Especially in poorer areas/countries Sexist comments in social media

“#thatwoman” - “revenge porn” Even Wikipedia has a gender imbalance

Wikimedia is the non-profit that “owns” Wikipedia and many other Wikis

Its own surveys say: ~ 13% of contributors are femaleCoverage of articles about women isn’t

very good

Why the “gender problem”?

Different communication styles, men versus women?Wikipedia rules insist on “NPOV”. Is “just the

facts” more a male style?

Do women prefer more interaction?Wikipedia is “fully public”, compared to

Facebook, with its privacy controls, dialogue

… thoughts from an article by Susan Herring, Prof. of Liguistics at Indianna U,

quoted in NYTimes, 2.4.2011

Rev. Carl: “The stories we tell matter!”

…if we want to change how or what knowledge is on Wikipediawe can edit it ourselvesand reach out to other communities who are

not currently included there

WikiWomen's Collaborative Formed in 2012 Goal: get more women involved in editing

Wikipedia each month Method: small groups learn and do

Wikipedia

(in a nutshell)

What is it? “The free encyclopedia”But also: Related to wiki-dictionaries, textbooks and

citizen journalism A reference desk

Wikipedia basics Content is GNU/GFDL licensed: free as

in beer and free as in speech Open to all and editable by anyone Edit anonymously or with an account Funded mostly (>80%) by

individual donations to the Wikimedia FoundationSmall budget, 4 paid employees

Why is Wikipedia special? People world-wide use it Astonishing size It’s remarkably good Fundamental change to information

production, dissemination, and authority:

You’ve never seen anything like this before, ever

And did you know? Wikipedia is multi-cultural And multi-lingual

English

German

Japanese

The fun stuff: How to Edit a Wiki

How does it work? A wiki page starts more or less empty Wiki pages are connected by internal hyperlinks Every page should be connected

No ownership of wiki content – anyone can work on any piece

To begin editing: Log in – or not

Click to Edit a page

You can see all edits, anytime

You can even look at each edit

Remember:

You can’t break it You can always go back Security levels can be set and tweaked Many people contributing

a small amount can get

a lot done

Questions?

And thoughts… !