Wiki-editathon

Less than 17% of Wikipedia’s biographies (including scientists) are about women (Wagner, 2016). Not only are the women chosen to be the subject of a Wikipedia article more ‘notable’ than men, but these articles also present linguistic and topic biases based on gender. Moreover, article editors are predominantly male, reinforcing the gender inequalities on Wikipedia. For example, Donna Strickland did not have a Wikipedia page until she won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics because she was not considered “notable” enough beforehand, despite a long history of scientific achievement leading up to her national recognition. In 2018, CSHL WiSE, in collaboration with CSHL’s Library and Archives, and with support from Wikimedia NYC, hosted an event to teach all members of the CSHL community how to create and improve the Wikipedia articles of women scientists.

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