Developed by Meg Menke for a workshop at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick, "From Seneca Falls to Wikipedia"

1. Wikis 101
...Or, how to get from Seneca Falls to
Wikipedia
A Workshop sponsored by
UUCF Social Action Committee

2. Seneca Falls, NY

3. The Wikipedia Logo
“W”
in many languages

5. Workshop Overview:
 A little Wiki history
 Why the link to Seneca Falls?
 What can we do?
 How?
Editing
Creating
 Questions and practice
What next?

6. A little Wiki history

7. Social definition:
A “wiki” is a
tool for
- collaboration,
- information sharing
- content management

8. Technical definition:
“wiki” is a type of
software to run a
website that
anyone can edit

9. Fun definition:
“Wiki”: Hawaiian for
“any idiot can edit”

10. In the beginning
 1995 - Ward Cunningham invented a new type
of website software
 It allowed anyone to modify the site’s content
 Ward gave his software a catchy
name: “WikiWikiWeb”
…PS: “Wiki” actually does have
something to do with Hawaiian
buses

11. http://www.flickr.com/photos/grenade/177953735/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/19490596/

12. Here’s how it was announced

13. The Wiki Takes Off!
 The wiki was invented “In order to make the exchange of
ideas between programmers easier”*
 … but was soon discovered as a way to easily share
content as well as ideas
 And very soon, Wiki communities began to grow
 Creating new ways to use Wiki
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiWikiWeb

14. Aha!
 Wiki inspired the founders of the Nupedia
encyclopedia project, Jimmy Wales and
Larry Sanger, to use it as a basis for an
electronic encyclopedia.
 Wikipedia launched in January 2001
 Today, thousands of Wiki’s - Wikipedia the
most famous and biggest of all
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

15. A recap:
 A Wiki is a type of website that allows users to
easily edit and change some available content
 Two parts:
“wiki engine” (software)
 users – edit content and develop the wiki
community
 Tonight, we hope to make
you Wiki users
 Yes, you!

16. Why the link to
Seneca Falls?
We’re honoring Women’s History month…

17. Seneca Falls Convention, 1848
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, whose
home was in Seneca Falls, NY; she
was the “intellectual founder” of
women’s rights movement
Lucretia Mott – a Quaker
minister and fellow organizer
of the Convention; gave the
moral basis for equal rights
Susan B. Anthony, Quaker, turned
Unitarian in Ellery Channing’s
congregation; gave the movement
its “organizational heft.”

18. Birth of Fight for Women’s rights
 Seneca Falls - the first public
meeting ever for women’s rights
 “Declaration of Sentiments”
 Goals were
Suffrage
Economic rights
Gender equality

19. We’re the beneficiaries
 Significant progress, but not worldwide
 Uneven results everywhere

20. In technology, for instance
 Gender gap in tech jobs
 More men than women are online
Especially in poorer areas/countries
 Sexist comments in social media
“#thatwoman” - “revenge porn”
 Even Wikipedia has a gender imbalance

21. Wikimedia is the non-profit
that “owns” Wikipedia and
many other Wikis
 Its own surveys say:
~ 13% of contributors are female
Coverage of articles about women isn’t
very good

22. Why the “gender problem”?
 Different communication styles, men
versus women?
Wikipedia rules insist on “NPOV”. Is “just the
facts” more a male style?
 Do women prefer more interaction?
Wikipedia is “fully public”, compared to
Facebook, with its privacy controls, dialogue
… thoughts from an article by Susan Herring, Prof. of Liguistics at
Indianna U, quoted in NYTimes, 2.4.2011

23. Rev. Carl:
“The stories
we tell matter!”
 …if we want to change how or what
knowledge is on Wikipedia
we can edit it ourselves
and reach out to other communities who are
not currently included there

24. WikiWomen's Collaborative
 Formed in 2012
 Goal: get more women involved in editing
Wikipedia each month
 Method: small groups learn and do

25. Wikipedia
(in a nutshell)

26. What is it?
 “The free encyclopedia”
But also:
 Related to wiki-dictionaries, textbooks and
citizen journalism
 A reference desk

27. Wikipedia basics
 Content is GNU/GFDL licensed: free
as in beer and free as in speech
 Open to all and editable by anyone
 Edit anonymously or with an account
 Funded mostly (>80%) by
individual donations to the
Wikimedia Foundation
Small budget, 4 paid employees

28. Why is Wikipedia
special?
 People world-wide use it
 Astonishing size
 It’s remarkably good
 Fundamental change to information
production, dissemination, and
authority:
 You’ve never seen anything like this
before, ever

29. And did you know?
 Wikipedia is multi-cultural
 And multi-lingual

30. English

31. German

32. Japanese

33. The fun stuff:
How to Edit a Wiki

34. How does it work?
 A wiki page starts more or less empty
 Wiki pages are connected by internal hyperlinks
 Every page should be connected
 No ownership of wiki content – anyone can work
on any piece

35. To begin editing: Log in – or not

36. Click to Edit a page

37. You can see all edits, anytime

38. You can even look at each edit

39. Remember:
 You can’t break it
 You can always go back
 Security levels can be set and tweaked
 Many people contributing
a small amount can get
a lot done

40. Questions?
And thoughts… !