Grants:Project/Rapid/AWM/Symposium 2017/Report

Report accepted

This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2016-17 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

To read the approved grant submission describing the plan for this project, please visit Grants:Project/Rapid/AWM/Symposium 2017.
You may still comment on this report on its discussion page, or visit the discussion page to read the discussion about this report.
You are welcome to Email rapidgrants at wikimedia dot org at any time if you have questions or concerns about this report.

We report on the success of the AWM Symposium Editathon.

Goals

Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went?

The meetup page and Programs & Events Dashboard page for the Symposium edit-a-thon list many of the attendees and articles created.

We held the edit-a-thon in the UCLA Mathematics Department lounge. The corridor leading to the lounge is lined with portraits of famous men in mathematics; multiple participants in the edit-a-thon observed that this highlighted the need to publicize information about women mathematicians.

We had fewer participants than we had hoped because conference attendees were scattered throughout the building, but people who did seek out the edit-a-thon were engaged and created high quality content. Most edit-a-thon participants stayed for a full two-hour session block. Some photos of participants are on Wikimedia Commons.

Recruit new editors

The majority of the edit-a-thon participants had not edited Wikipedia before. Sara del Valle, one of the AWM Wikipedia Visiting Scholars, skyped into the morning edit-a-thon session and shared resources for new Wikipedia editors.

Increase skills for existing editors

Jami Mathewson provided expertise on measuring edit-a-thon participation and adding images to Wikipedia, and helped edit-a-thon participants communicate the notability of their subjects.

Ed Dunne, the Executive Editor of Mathematical Reviews, attended the morning session and shared information on using the MathSciNet database as a reliable source for different types of information about women in mathematics, such as their most cited paper, research area, or mathematical "genealogy".

Add or improve content on women in mathematics

In preparation for the Symposium, we significantly expanded the Women in Red list of mathematicians, including names from sources such as winners of AWM awards, recent Fellows of the American Mathematical Society, and notable women featured in Mathematically Gifted and Black. During the edit-a-thon, most participants focused on creating new articles about women mathematicians, by themselves or in pairs.

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets.

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
1 event	1 event	We held the edit-a-thon!
30 participants	15 participants	We had fewer casual participants than expected.
20 new editors	9 new editors	We had fewer casual participants than expected.
15 new articles	10 new articles	Though we would have preferred more participants, we created more articles per participant than we expected.

Learning

Projects do not always go according to plan. Sharing what you learned can help you and others plan similar projects in the future. Help the movement learn from your experience by answering the following questions:

What worked well?

Mathematicians pick up Wikipedia syntax quickly! Many of our participants went directly from making their first Wikipedia edit to creating a new article. Bringing AWM members together to learn a new skill gave them a comfortable space to make mistakes, ask questions, and learn from each other. They expressed excitement when creating their first stub articles, and several reported an interest in learning more and contributing on their own. Attendees created ten new pages on women mathematicians during the edit-a-thon.

What did not work so well?

We held the edit-a-thon in the UCLA math department lounge. This was a comfortable place to work, but it was not in a central location for Symposium attendees, so we weren't able to recruit as many casual participants as we had hoped.

While we were planning the edit-a-thon, the AWM arranged to host two Wikipedia Visiting Scholars. Unfortunately, neither of the Wikipedia Scholars were able to attend this event in person.

What would you do differently next time?

Choose a location that people can stumble upon.

Finances

Grant funds spent

Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on.

Plane flight and 1 night hotel for Ursula: $569.26.

Plane flight, ground transportation, 2 nights hotel, registration for Marie: $819.40.

Coffee and snacks for the event: $65.

We spent less on snacks than we had anticipated because we were able to purchase our own snacks rather than going through university catering. Ursula's lodging expenses were lower because she was able to spend Friday night visiting friends outside Los Angeles.

Remaining funds

Remaining funds have been used or will be used for other approved mission-aligned activities. This use has been requested in writing and approved by WMF.

Do you have any remaining grant funds?

Yes, we have $296.34 remaining.

We will use these funds to support a women in math on Wikipedia meetup at the Joint Math Meetings (JMM) in January 2018. Holding a meetup will strengthen the community of mathematicians interested in Wikipedia. The JMM is the world's largest annual gathering of mathematicians, and thus the natural venue for such an event.

Start date: 1 December 2017. End date: 31 January 2018.

We are reserving a conference room with WiFi for this meetup as part of the AWM's JMM presence.
Snacks and candy for meeting participants: $25

* 200 Wikipedia globe stickers: $40 (4 packs of 50) +$2.40 shipping = $42.40

- ~~We will give these out at the AWM's booth to advertise AWM's collaborations with Wikipedia and encourage attendance at the meetup.~~

* Meetup cards: $39.98 (2 packs of 50) + $7.25 shipping = $47.23

- We will print 100 business cards with meetup time and location on one side and the name of a woman in math on Wikipedia on the other. We will give these cards out at the AWM's booth prior to the meetup.
Student meeting registration: $71*3 = $213
- We will coordinate with AWM Student Chapters to identify undergraduate or graduate students who will attend the JMM, participate in our meetup, and bring information about Wikipedia back to their chapters.

Total request: ~~$280.40~~ $285.23

The funds remaining from this grant in the amount of $76.11 were deducted from another grant payment for Grants:Project/Rapid/AWM/Symposium_2019.

Anything else

Anything else you want to share about your project?

AWM members and leadership are excited about collaborating with Wikipedia and sharing the articles we have created. Ursula has joined the AWM Media Committee to communicate information about women in math on Wikipedia on an ongoing basis. We look forward to hosting more edit-a-thons in the future.

An article about the edit-a-thon appeared in the July/August 2017 AWM Newsletter (p. 15).