FII Wiki Project

FII Wiki Project is a campaign of Feminism In India (FII) to promote and encourage women editors in India to edit on Wikipedia on topics related to women, gender and feminism. FII Wiki Project conducts monthly Wikipedia edit-a-thons to increase the representation of women and people from marginalised genders in India. We attempt to close the gender-gap on Wikipedia by focusing on editors who are women and from marginalised genders and topics related to the same. FII is a digital intersectional feminist platform to learn, educate and develop a feminist sensibility among the youth. It is required to unravel the F-word and demystify all the negativity surrounding it. FII amplifies the voices of women and marginalised communities using tools of art, media, culture, technology and community.

What we do

FII Wiki Project started organising Wikipedia edit-a-thons in October 2016 and since then organises one edit-a-thon every month on a Saturday. Every month, FII Wiki Project identifies a specific theme, and announces a Wikipedia edit-a-thon on our website and social media channels. Then a list of names are prepared a week before the edit-a-thon. This list has names of those women who either have stub pages on Wikipedia or absolutely no representation on Wikipedia.

These edit-a-thons are attended by the FII team, as well as members from our social media community who are often first-time editors. However, we have started to get repeat attendees. We also often conduct edit-a-thons in collaboration with specific organisations, like Punjabi Wikimedians, queer rights organisation Gaylaxy Magazine, Breakthrough India, CIS-A2K, the Swedish Embassy in New Delhi among others. Past themes have included Indian Women Artists, Indian Women Poets, Indian Women In Science & Tech, Famous Indian Trans People, Gender Rights Organizations In India among others.

The first half of the edit-a-thon is dedicated to understanding the eco-system of Wikipedia. The participants are taught the rules of Wikipedia editing, and then begin to research and edit on their chosen Wikipedia pages. Participants use online resources as well as books and academic journals for references. Our previous edit-a-thons have included Wikipedia pages being created and edited in English, Bengali, Malayalam, Punjabi and Swedish.

Participants are required to bring their own laptops. FII Wiki Project provides them with a stable internet connection, as well as refreshments and lunch over the course of the day.

A report of all our Wikipedia Editathons can be found on the FII website here.

Why we do it

Our vision is to increase the representation of Indian women, trans and non-binary people on Wikipedia, as well as the number of women, trans and non-binary editors on Wikipedia.

According to a study conducted in 2011, only 9% of the editors at Wikipedia were women. And the percentage for India is even lower, just 3%. Wikipedia recognises the systemic gender bias that is created because of factors such as these and thus enables its diverse range of users to edit and create Wikipedia pages, with reliable and authentic sources.

Our Wikipedia Editathons also train our participants on how to edit, equipping them with the skills of research, citation, editing, and formatting on Wikipedia.

Impact

In March 2017, FII Wiki Project, Punjabi Wikimedians and the Swedish Embassy in New Delhi organised a Wikipedia edit-a-thon on Indian women in Science. The edit-a-thon was well received by the Swedish Foreign Ministry and the following year they announced a pan-embassy editathon. Together with Wikimedia, the Swedish diplomats hosted #WikiGap edit-a-thons in 54 embassies in 2018.

In her speech, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström at #WikiGap Stockholm mentioned how FII Wiki Project's initial editathon with the Swedish Embassy in New Delhi encouraged the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to launch the #WikiGap campaign across all of their embassies.

Videos

Policy

Media coverage

We have received a lot of media coverage for our wikipedia Editathons, from both national and international publications.

The Day Wikipedia Got A Queer Feminist Makeover In Delhi – Youth Ki Awaaz (24 November 2016)
Let’s Bring More Indian Women Scientists on Wikipedia, Shall We? – The Quint (20 February 2017)
WIKIPEDIA EDIT-A-THON – Stockholm Internet Forum (8 March 2017)
EMBASSY MADE SPACE FOR WOMEN – ON WIKIPEDIA – Swedish Foreign Policy News (19 April 2017)
Tearing down the digital gender divide – LUSH UK (24 July 2017)
Writing women into history: feminist Wikipedia Edit-a-thons in India – Access Now (25 May 2017)
Bashing out the bias, word by word – DNA India (31 July 2017)
Here’s how India Helps its Women in Tech – The Better India (18 August 2017)
With a series of Wikipedia Edit-a-Thons, Indian women are finally getting their due online – Quartz Media (20 September 2017)
Mind The Gap – Caravan India (1 December 2017)
Making Wikipedia – and Society – More Gender Representative – The Wire.in (1 March 2018)