Grants:Project/Rapid/AWM/Joint Mathematics Meetings 2020

statusfunded
AWM/Joint Mathematics Meeting 2020
We will hold two drop-in edit-a-thon sessions at the Joint Mathematics Meetings 2020 to improve the representation of women in mathematics on Wikipedia.
start dateNovember 1
end dateFebruary 28
budget (USD)750 USD
grant typegroup
non-profit statusYes
granteeLittleDart
contact(s)• denise.rangel.tracy(_AT_)gmail.com
organization (if applicable)• Association for Women in Mathematics
website (if applicable)Association for Women in Mathematics


Review your report

We will hold a women in mathematics edit-a-thon at the 2020 Joint Mathematics Meeting (JMM) in Denver, CO. JMM is the largest meeting of mathematicians in the world with thousands of attendees in the mathematics fields. Attendees range from undergraduate students to top level professors and researchers. We have the goals of expanding Wikipedia's representation of women in mathematics and recruiting new editors with mathematical expertise.


Project Goal edit

Choose one or more of the following goals. You can add or delete goals as needed.

Recruit new editors

With over 6000 people attending the 2017 JMM and more projected in 2020, this conference is an excellent event to recruit new editors that have expertise on mathematics and mathematicians.

Increase skills for existing editors

Some of AWM members and attendees have contributed to Wikipedia before, including some from Wikipedia Fellows program. However, with so much information about policies and procedures, learning how to edit Wikipedia can be daunting. This event will bring experienced Wikipedians together with novices, creating an opportunity to re-engage new editors with in-person support.

Add or improve content

We will be focusing on both biographies for female mathematicians and pages about their contributions to mathematics.

Project Plan edit

Activities edit

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:

1. Are you doing one editathon or training or a series of editathons or trainings?

The conference is a 4 day event held in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, CO. We will have two 2 hour edit-a-thons sessions on different days.

2. How will you let your community know about the event? Please paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions.

The edit-a-thon will be promoted on the AWM webpage. We also plan to promote it on our social media accounts. In addition, AWM will have a table at the conference exhibition hall and will hand out advertisement material about it. In addition, JMM has a program and app that will list the event.

3. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead the event?

The lead organizer of this event recently participate in the Wikipedia Fellowships program where they gained experience and guidance in editing Wikipedia. Several other past Wikipedia fellows have expressed interest in attending. In addition, we have the guidance of longtime editor Marie Vitulli. It is unclear if she will be able to physical attend the conference, but she provides many resources including a template for biographies of women mathematicians, Vitulli's sandbox.

4. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them?

Most participants will bring their own laptop and there will be internet available to them. We will be reaching out to local AWM chapters about providing loaner laptops to also have available. JMM participants are research mathematicians and typically have experience writing about technical subjects and using mark-up languages. We will update and build on the previous edit-a-thon's list of potential articles as well as ones found on the WikiProjects Women in Red.

5. How will you engage participants after the event(s)?

We will encourage participants to join the WikiProjects Women in Red and Women Scientists to continue adding and improving content on women in mathematics. We hope this event encourages other experienced editors to run their own edit-a-thon at their local university.

6. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?

This will be a similar event to past AWM symposium edit-a-thons held in 2017 and 2019. We hope by continuing these types of events at major mathematics meetings we will create a growing network of mathematician editors.

Impact edit

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets:

  1. Number of events:
    • 2
  2. Number of participants:
    • 30
  3. Number of new editors:
    • 15
  4. Number of of articles created or improved:
    • 20
  5. Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events)
    • minimal

Resources edit

What resources do you have? Include information on who is organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).

The lead organizer has prior experience creating new Wikipedia articles and improving existing articles through Wikipedia Fellows. We also have the resources of the past AWM symposium edit-a-thons in 2017 and 2019.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.

  • $550 Room/Equipment/Internet fee at conference center
  • $650 Partial coverage of hotel/registration/flight cost for the organizer(s)
  • $540 Conference registration fee for some (under)graduate student attendees
  • $150 Coffee and snack for participates
  • $50 Printing of advertisement material

TOTAL: $1940

Endorsements edit

Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!


  • The Association of Women in Mathematics endorses this project.