WikiWomenCamp/Agenda/Attracting female and writers through social networks

Participation

• Anja (facilitator)
• Nathalie
• Charlene
• Kounila
• Netha
• Lila
• Laura
• Susana
• Teresa
• Beatriz
• Al
• Kristina
• Anne

Discussion

Socialization

• Less confidence

Charlene : People around her are less confident because they think that University degrees are a measure of education and knowledge. Laura : Make women confident that they are competent enough. Encourage them to use the library and site references. There is a lack of motivating factors.

• Less educated

Susana : Women do not know the facilities by which knowledge could be revealed.

• No time

Laura : It is an issue of prioritization. People who are passionately interested in editing would find time to edit however busy they are. Susana: People do not see a reason for editing Wikipedia.

• No strong relation to technology

Solutions

• Do not judge women by their education. Respect the experience and expertise of women who work in diverse fields.
• Approach the technology with a more positive attitude.
• Women only workshops - facilities for interaction among women and chances for mentorship by women (kristina and Charlene)
• Social networking sites for helping people edit Wikipedia. Communities were newbies could be helped by experienced editors. (Netha)

Technology

• Wikicode

Charlene: Everything in Wikipedia is so very into technology that issues other than technology are not given due importance.

• Generic masculinum

Anja and Natalie: In languages like German and Spanish, there are words which are masculine, which do not have a feminine equivalent. The default sex is taken as male in most languages.

• No synchronous communication

Solutions

• Gender conform language/translation of the interface (Anja)
• Women only workshops to create more opportunities for communication among each other (Kristina)
• Creating gender specific training materials (Teresa).

Abuse, harassment

• Stalking
• Insults, threats

Laura : Abused on Wikipedia, but the complaint was not taken seriously. When complained, she was denied assistance because the authorities thought that it was the wrong place to complain at. There were personal and professional attacks too.

Solutions

• Have special contact persons for receiving complaints- Highly skilled people, preferably women for solving problems (laura)
• OTRS queue for harassment and other problems where public mediation causes problem. (Laura)
• Build a community of women so that the articles that look nearly complete may still be improved upon to have a gender neutral point of view.

Wikipedia atmosphere

• Don't know where to start
• Specific jargon
• Aggressive behaviour
• Strict rules

Laura : people do not add adequate references to the content they add and end up getting deleted.

• No mentorship
• Community makes you feel incompetent

Solutions

• Show people how to cite sources to denominate your knowledge.(Laura)
• Mentorship - more marketing, more visibility and more human approach