Wikimedia Girl Geek Dinner
Girl Geek Dinners are events run by groups of women who are interested in technology and engineering. There are GGD events, led by women but open to men as well, in cities around the UK and beyond. Wikimedia UK is partnering with these local groups to run free events to enlighten, inform and inspire women to take part in Wikipedia.
Manchester Girl Geek Wikipedia Editing Day
When: Saturday, 12th November 2011, 10am-4pm
Where: Manchester Digital Laboratory, Edge Street, Manchester
Who: Volunteers who took part included User:RexxS, User:HJMitchell, User:Julia_W (others? please add your names!)
Further details: event page on Meta
Feedback: Event Review: Wikipedia and You! (blog post by Manchester Girl Geeks)
Girl Geek Dinner 2: Manchester
When: Tuesday, 27th September 2011, 6.30-9pm
Where: The B-Hive, Manchester
Who: The event was led by Fiona Apps, otherwise known as User:Panyd on Wikipedia. Wikimedia UK Board member Mike Peel also attended.
Link: [1]
This was a packed room, with an audience of 28. The average attendee was a little different from Bristol in that they had never edited Wikipedia and were largely unaware of Wikipedia and why you should edit. Many didn't even know that you could edit without an account! Those who had tried editing were confused by many things which were not female-specific. The two biggest reasons being the knowledge of acronyms and essays required for editing and the interface. Many were impressed by the article creation wizard and suggested they would actually attempt to write articles using this system. They were also impressed by the Article Review system and wanted to learn more.
One big difference is that women were encouraged to tweet during the event with the hashtag #mancggd which was displayed on signs during the event. A Storify has been generated from selected tweets.
Audience feedback
- Freetext comments (all, anonymized)
- I have been drawn back towards wiki - will be reading more carefully from now on!
- Very Interesting
- Great speaker - Larger screen to see from back - interesting subject
- It was nice having people's thoughts and interactions and enthusiasm was great
Girl Geek Dinner 1: Bristol
When: Thursday 18th August 2011, 7pm-9.30pm
Where: Room 1.06, Merchant Venturers School of Engineering, Woodland Road, University of Bristol, BS8 1UB
Who: The event was led by Fiona Apps. Wikipedians User:Jezhotwells, User:MartinPoulter and User:Bs5er were on hand to provide one-to-one assistance.
This event was a joint venture between Wikimedia UK and Bristol Girl Geek Dinners. It was hosted by the University of Bristol and included a free buffet. The collaboration between Wikimedia UK and Bristol GGD goes back to Bristol Wiki Academy 1.
The audience had a clear but not overwhelming majority of women: men are welcome to Girl Geek Dinners, so long as they are invited or accompanied by a woman. Most attendees are publicly listed on the event's Eventbrite page. The format of the evening was a presentation, followed by a hands-on session in which the audience looked for articles they would like to edit. Finally, Fiona led a discussion about barriers to women's participation in Wikipedia, speaking about her own experience and about the research conducted by Wikimedia Foundation Chief Executive, Sue Gardner.
Publicity and coverage
- Announcement and further details on the Girl Geek Dinners blog
- Facebook page for the event
- Wikipedians meet Girl Geeks and eat cake: Bristol Wireless blog
- Jessica Cauchard's photographs from the event on Flickr
- Article in the Signpost which interviews Fiona - see also the comments at the foot of the page
Audience feedback
These are the (anonymised) free-text comments from the feedback forms:
- Thank you. Almost as applicable to men as women!! Since I've never edited either...
- Thanks for all the information. Never thought about editing till today!
- If Facebook can be WYSIWYG why can't Wikipedia?
- A very interesting presentation. I will definitely have a go at editing now
- Excellent Event! Didn't know about WikiProjects!
- Enjoyed Evening
- Main message should be that it's not hard to edit and anyone can edit
- Put bar charts up so everyone can see stats of age, gender, location...of Wiki contributors
- Very Informative
- I found out new elements about wiki. Would be interested in seeing how this can move forward in the community.
- I think some women want to get to know their audience before sharing, hence ivillage, mumsnet are being full of women's contributions rather than Wikipedia
- Thought it was very good, enjoyable, informative. I learnt this evening.
- Fiona was a great presenter
- Reason number #8 why women don't edit Wikipedia: addressing women as men -> has this been changed? It's a simple thing and it has a negative impact. Change it
- The talk was very enlightening. Thank you! Cake was very enjoyable
- Annoyed at slides for cutting screenshots at the edges
- Inspiring!
We also received requests for further training and offers of assistance, that we will follow up on.
Contact
For queries, contact Martin Poulter, Wikimedia UK (martin.poulter
wikimedia.org.uk)