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;Ada Lovelace Day - a women in science editathon
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[[File:Ada_Lovelace.tif|thumb|right|160px|Ada Lovelace, considered to be the world’s first programmer]]  
[[File:Description-of-a-new-BrazilianParaportanus-and-key-to-the-species-of-the-genus-(Insecta-Hemiptera-ZooKeys-242-019-g001.jpg|thumb|right|220px|A description of a new species of Brazilian Paraportanus, uploaded by Open Access Media Importer]]  


''This post was written by Sarah Staniforth, Wikipedian and Wikimedia UK volunteer''
''This post was written by Dr Martin Poulter, Wikimedia UK volunteer and Wikipedian''


Tuesday 14th was this year’s Ada Lovelace Day, with people around the world dedicating events to Ada Lovelace, the mathematician who is often described as having been the world’s first computer programmer, as well as other women in science.
As part of [http://www.openaccessweek.org/ Open Access Week], I’d like to explore some overlaps between Open Access and what we do in Wikimedia, and end with an announcement that I’m very excited about.


Volunteers from Wikimedia UK took part in the festivities by hosting a women in science-themed editathon at the University of Oxford (specifically at Banbury St IT Services, a boon for those without laptops). Being a woman who is interested in addressing the deficit of females working on Wikimedia projects (around 90% of Wikipedia editors are men) and in STEM fields, I thought it’d be good to come along and help out with the event.
We who write Wikipedia do not expect readers to believe something just because Wikipedia says so. We cite our sources and hope that readers will follow the links and check for themselves. This is a kind of continuous quality control: if readers verify Wikipedia’s sources, then bias and misrepresentation will be winnowed out. However, we do not yet live in that ideal world. A huge amount of research is still hidden behind “paywalls” that charge startlingly high amounts per paper.


The afternoon began with an introduction by Oxford computer scientist Ursula Martin, followed by a training session to familiarize all attendees with the basics of editing Wikipedia. One special surprise during the tea break was an Ada Lovelace cake! The break was followed by the body of the editathon. Using the reference books provided , attendees were encouraged to work on the pages of Oxford-related women in science including Rosa Beddington, Marian Dawkins, Dorothy Hodgkin, and Louise Johnson. Before I knew it, it was the end of the editathon, which was unfortunate as I’d like to have stayed for longer! It was a pleasure to meet other Wikimedians at the event, as well as to see people without prior editing experience get involved.
Here in the UK, a lot of progress is being made in opening up research, thanks to the policies of major funding bodies including Research Councils UK and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. This is a difficult cultural change for many researchers, but Wikipedia and its sister sites show that a totally open-access publishing system can work. These sites also provide platforms that give that greatest exposure and reuse for open access materials.


Hopefully there’ll be more (and longer) get-togethers devoted to improving Wikipedia coverage of women in science, technology, maths, and engineering very soon!
'''Open Access in the Broadest Sense'''


<span class="plainlinks">[https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2014/10/ada-lovelace-day-a-women-in-science-editathon/<nowiki>[</nowiki>...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span>
There is much more to open access than being able to read papers without paying. The OA agenda is about getting the full benefits of research, removing technical or legal barriers that restrict progress. You may sometimes hear about “Budapest” OA, referring to the 2002 declaration of the Budapest Open Access Initiative which said that open access would “accelerate research, enrich education, share the learning of the rich with the poor and the poor with the rich, make this literature as useful as it can be, and lay the foundation for uniting humanity in a common intellectual conversation and quest for knowledge.”
<span class="plainlinks">[https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2014/10/using-wikipedia-to-open-up-science/<nowiki>[</nowiki>Read the full post here...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span>


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|events=<!--Aim to have between 8 and 10 events listed to avoid this section taking up too much or to little space-->

Revision as of 12:05, 24 October 2014

Cymraeg | English

Wikimedia UK

Open knowledge for all

Our website

If you'd like to see what Wikimedia UK is working on, our website is the best place for our community of volunteers, donors and members to stay up to date.

About Wikimedia UK

The Wikimedia projects are special: they are written and curated by thousands of volunteers. They are also supported by voluntary donations, through Wikimedia UK, the Wikimedia Foundation and other international chapters.

Wikimedia UK is a charity registered in England and Wales that supports and promotes Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects such as Wikimedia Commons. Our mission is to help people and organisations create and preserve open knowledge, and to help provide easy access for all. We do this by supporting volunteer editors and contributors ('Wikimedians'), by working in partnership with cultural and educational institutions, by hosting training sessions and editing events, and by acting to advocate the benefits of open knowledge generally.

There are several ways to get involved in the charity's work. You can become a member for just £5 per year. You can volunteer to work with us in a variety of ways, both online and offline. You can also make a donation (and if you're a UK taxpayer, we can claim Gift Aid). Subscribe to our Friends' Newsletter to stay in touch. Click the buttons below to learn more.

Volunteer

Contact us

General inquiries: infoatwikimedia.org.uk
Media: pressatwikimedia.org.uk

You can follow us on Twitter (@wikimediauk) or Like us on Facebook (WikimediaUK).

You can also sign up to the email discussion list for the Wikimedia community in the UK.

More contact details

Get Involved

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Join Wikimedia UK

Members play a key role in shaping the future of the Chapter. Membership is open to all and costs just £5 a year.

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Events

We organise dozens of events each year, including meetups, editing events, "Backstage Pass" events at museums, workshops and conferences.

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Volunteer

Participate in one of our ongoing outreach projects, working with the cultural and education institutions of the UK.

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Request a project grant to help you with your editing or outreach activities on any Wikimedia project.

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Donate to Wikimedia UK to keep Wikipedia running free from advertising and support our work getting more people and institutions working with Wikipedia and its sister projects.

We are always interested to hear from new volunteers. If you have an idea you'd like to help make happen, or time and skills you would like to offer Wikimedia UK, please get in touch on volunteeringatwikimedia.org.uk

Для української мови Вікіпедії ласка, відвідайте http://uk.wikipedia.org; для Вікімедіа Україна відвідайте http://ua.wikimedia.org
For the Ukrainian language Wikipedia please visit http://uk.wikipedia.org; for Wikimedia Ukraine please visit http://ua.wikimedia.org

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