Grants:Project/Rapid/Artexte MAC Art+Feminism edit-a-thon
artexte.ca• collectionsartexte.ca
Project Goal
edit- Recruit new editors, including special attention to individuals which are underrepresented in Wikipedia’s editor makeup (women, people of color, indigenous people, LGBTQ+ identified).
- Increase skills for existing editors
- Add or improve content on the work of artists and authors that are women, people of colour and people from the LGBTQ+ community.
Project Plan
editActivities
edit1. Are you doing one editathon or training or a series of editathons or trainings?
We are hosting two edit-a-thons, each with an optional pre-session training workshop and followed by a participatory discussion.
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.
We’ve created a program page for our 2019 events and for each event we are using the Wikipedia dashboard(spring, fall), in association with the Art+Feminism 2019 campaign, to track all contributions. Information about the events is also centralized on Artexte’s institutional website. We will use social media including Twitter, Facebook (ARTEXTE and Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MACM)) and Instagram to advertise the events. Both events will be included in the Artexte and MACM monthly newsletters, reaching many thousands of subscribers on a monthly basis. All communications include links to the event pages.
In addition to these modes of communication, we also aim to engage with other organisations and members of the community who are not currently part of our network and may be interested in participating in our event. To accomplish this, we will be advertising our event on other community cultural portals including la Vitrine Culturelle, Artère, Mur Mitoyen, Art Forum as well as other listservs including that of the Art Libraries Society of North America’s local chapter, and those of local universities (McGill University, Concordia University, Université de Montréal and Université du Québec à Montréal). We will also reach out directly to individuals and groups, including students, researchers and professors whose research interests intersect with the themes of the day.
3. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead the event?
This is the second year that Artexte and the MACM team up to organize the Art + Feminism edit-a-thon. Our team consists of experienced editors who will be present throughout the day to help guide and facilitate the event’s participants.
We are working through the Art+Feminism initiative and are directly collaborating with the Canadian Art+Feminism representative, who will be present at the event. We also have experienced editors, who have previously hosted similar events, who plan to attend and share their knowledge at our event.
4. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them?
We will provide training, through a presentation for beginner Wikipedians onsite. We also provide bilingual resources in our online toolbox, including a detailed editing manual in PDF format. All tools are accessible before and after the events. Participants will have access to Artexte’s specialized library collection that includes more than 30 000 documents specializing in contemporary Canadian art including more than 1300 digital publications available in open access. We will provide lists of artists as suggestions for pages that need to be created, augmented or translated. This information will be shared beforehand on our project page and event dashboard. In addition, a number of reference materials and artist files will be selected from the collection of the Médiathèque du Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. The staff who will have selected the materials from the MACM collection will be present alongside Artexte librarians to provide on-site research and editing assistance at all times. Participants are encouraged to bring their own laptops and powercords, and Artexte will make three public computers available to participants during the events.
5. How will you engage participants after the event(s)?
The edit-a-thon will be followed by a public discussion forum where participants will have the opportunity to engage with with invited guests and speakers, including local artists, writers and specialists involved in digital initiatives and the representation of women, LGBTQ+ identified and communities of colour in the arts. After the event, we will follow-up with participants by email to thank them for their participation. We will announce and celebrate the event results through social media and invite all participants to future edit-a-thons.
6. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?
Many successful edit-a-thons have been hosted in Montréal for the past 5 years thanks in large part to the Canadian Art+Feminism representative. After a successful first partnership between Artexte and the MACM in 2018, we are upscaling to two events for 2019 and look forward to continue fostering a space that encourages a continued practice of contribution to Wikipedia.
Impact
edit- Number of events : 2
- Number of participants : 80
- Number of new editors : 40
- Number of of articles created or improved : 80
- Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events) : 30
Resources
editWhat 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). During the event, participants will benefit from the assistance and mentoring of 3 experienced Wikipedians, as well as the expertise of 3 art historians and 2 librarians.
Artexte, located in a wheelchair accessible venue, possesses a specialized library collection holding more than 30 000 documents on Canadian contemporary visual art. Aside from a selection of suggested artist dossiers from the MACM and Artexte collections, participants have direct access to the entirety of the collection, as well as on-site reference assistance from Artexte librarians. Prior to the event, the library staff will be updating and developing new online and onsite training tools and tutorials in both English and French, which will then be made available to the Wikipedia community at large. We will be providing honorariums for 3 invited speakers for the public discussion forum that will follow the edit-a-thon. Speakers (3 x 150$ = $450) x 2 events = $900.
What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.
- Food and drink = $150 x 2 events = $300 USD
- Childcare (6 hrs + materials + insurance for an expected 10 kids and 2 babies) $600 x 2 events= 1200$ USD
Total amount requested : $1500 USD
Endorsements
editCommunity members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!
- I have participated to the previous event. It is well organized and it is a great opportunity to recruit new contributors to Wikipedia. Moreover, it helps to increase the number of pages devoted to women artists in Wikipedia. Guerinf (talk) 15:50, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
- Artexte is doing a great job throught Art + Feminism. They have my support. Benjamenta (talk) 17:37, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
- The edit-a-thon held by Artexte in 2018 was a great success and helped a lot of new editors gain confidence and skills required to continue editing in Wikipedia. I look forward to these two new events in 2019! Jaspermoon (talk) 03:16, 4 December 2018 (UTC)
- Artexte is a committed community partner in these projects and a natural host for these events. I participated last year and it was well organized with a positive atmosphere. Viola-ness (talk) 17:13, 4 December 2018 (UTC)