We Can Edit
Building a Biography - simplified
Creating a Wikipedia Userpage

Info about the event

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Did you know that most volunteer Wikipedia editors are male (~85-91%), and that there are fewer and less extensive articles on Wikipedia about women and issues important to women? There are thousands of brilliant women who meet Wikipedia’s standards for notability but don’t yet have a page. In November 2014, just over 15% of the English Wikipedia's biographies were about women. Founded in July 2015, WikiProject Women in Red strives to increase the percentage, which has reached 19.59% as of 26 June 2023. But that means that of 1,947,344 biographies, only 381,470 are about women. Not impressed? "Content gender gap" is a form of systemic bias, and our meetups seeks to address it in a positive way.

Come and help us add more notable women to Wikipedia at our WAC editathon!

Your 1,2,3 to get started!

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  1. Create your Wikipedia account
  2. Once you have created your account join the Wiki dashboard
  3. Grab a cup of tea or coffee!

Schedule

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Join us as we help make Wikipedia better!

Events and resources after today

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Editing

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Questions about editing? Read the Wiki-editing FAQ!

Things to remember - anyone can edit BUT cite what you write!

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  1. Wikipedia is a tertiary source. Articles are backed up by facts from reliable, published secondary sources. Primary sources tend not to be used. A breadth & depth of quality sources helps demonstrates notability which is an important yardstick for articles staying on Wikipedia.
  2. Write with encyclopedic content in mind. Not academic essay. Strip back your writing to the facts.
  3. Write accessibly with a lay audience in mind. Any jargon needs explained the first time it is mentioned.
  4. Write with a neutral point of view. Split text up into sections with headings.
  5. Cite everything you write. Keep a note of urls (open access if possible), Journal articles DOI identifiers, Book ISBN numbers. Page numbers, volume numbers and book chapters should be included in your citation information too.
  6. Draft content in your sandbox draft space first. Wikipedia is a work in progress for sure but you can prepare articles or new sections for articles in peace in your personal draft space (the sandbox) and migrate it when ready.
  7. Write in your own words as much as possible. Even close paraphrasing counts as copyright violation. Short quotes can be included but need to be attributed.
  8. Links in the main body of the article should only be to other Wikipedia pages. You only need to add links when the term is first mentioned in the article. Linking every time is considered overlinking. Sites outside of Wikipedia should be linked in a separate section at the foot of the page with an External links heading. No more than 5-8 links to websites outside of Wikipedia - we are not a link farm!
  9. Images have to open-licensed to be allowed on Wikipedia. CC-0, Public domain, CC-BY, CC-BY-SA licensed images are allowed and are hosted on sister project, Wikimedia Commons. Open images can be searched for using search aggregator tools such as CC Search.
  10. Want to learn more? Go to our website, join/email Wikimedia UK or just mail me at ewan.mcandrew@ed.ac.uk with any questions or ideas for collaborations.
Long Boi, a celebrity duck in York has a page on Wikipedia but 1,000s upon 1,000s of notable women still do not. We can change that. #WeCanEdit!

Images and videos

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Wikipedia pages can feel a tad lifeless without an image or short video to help illustrate it. We can change that. We can edit!

Worklist

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Articles to create

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Cite what you write! 50-100 words or more written with a neutral point of view AND backed up with citations from reliable published secondary sources is enough to get a new article published. e.g. Example of minimum requirements Use the Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women to write your new Wikipedia page

  1. Ta-Kr-Hb Mummy in Perth museum [1] [2][3]
  2. Anne 'Annie' Johnston born Barra 10 Feb. 1886, died Barra 6 March 1963. Gaelic folklorist. Daughter of Catherine McNeil, and Angus Johnston.
  3. Euphemia Johnston born 1824 Inveresk, died after 1867. Lady’s nurse. Daughter of Jean Brackenridge, and James Alexander.
  4. Caroline Johnston born Alva, Clackmannanshire, 25 July 1849, died Alva 4 July 1929. Philanthropist.
  5. Christian Johnston born Edinburgh 12 June 1781, died Edinburgh 26 August 1857. Journalist and woman of letters.
  6. Bessie Stivenson - Stirling accused witch
  7. Jean Gordon (1670 to 1746) born into one of the gypsy tribes of Kirk Yetholm, died Carlisle 1746.
  8. John Kincaid (witch pricker) (witch pricker, 1660s)
  9. Elizabeth Stewart (singer), singer of traditional ballads and songs. [4][5]
  10. Janet Keiller (shopkeeper) n. Mathewson, born Dundee c. 1737, died Dundee 23 July 1813. Shopkeeper, associate in marmalade family.
  11. Elizabeth Keir n. Rae, born probably early 1750s, died Edinburgh 3 Nov. 1834. Writer, philanthropist.
  12. Dame Elizabeth Ker (‘Old Lady Buccleuch’), born c. 1478, died Catslak Tower, 19 Oct. 1548. Victim of a bloodfeud.
  13. Isabella Kerr (Isabel), n. Gunn, born Enzie, Banff, 30 May 1875, died India 12 Jan. 1932. Medical missionary.
  14. Jessie King (childminder), born Glasgow 27 March 1861, died Edinburgh 11 March 1889. Childminder.
  15. Mary King (bondager), n. Kerr, born Bellshiel, near Swinton, Berwickshire, 12 Dec. 1905, died Edinburgh 25 May 1998. Bondager and domestic servant.
  16. Mary Joan Knight, OBE, born Walton-le-Dale, Lancs., 27 Sept. 1924, died Perth 20 Dec. 1996. Theatre director.

Articles to improve

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Other ideas

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Here are some other useful links to help you with your editing:

Here are some ways to keep track of your edits:

After today

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Once you've learned the basics of editing using Wikipedia’s Visual Editor, I hope that you'll stay logged in and edit or create more articles. As a first step you may like to check out what What Wikipedia is not along with its 5 guiding principles: The 5 pillars.

Video guides to editing Wikipedia

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