Communications of the ACM
A Symptom of a Larger Problem For Women in STEM
Maia Weinstock (left) and Anne Fausto-Sterling (center) organized an "edit-a-thon" at Brown University to help address an imbalance on Wikipedia.
Credit: The Associated Press
Brown University professor Anne Fausto-Sterling and university graduate Maia Weinstock recently organized a Wikipedia "edit-a-thon" with the goal of adding more information about female scientists.
Part of the issue surrounding the lack of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is the lack of recognition for women who have done pioneering work in those fields. Fausto-Sterling and Weinstock gathered dozens of students and some faculty members to train them on how to add and edit pages. They also provided lists of suggestions for women to add, entries to clean up or those who needed more detail, along with links to source material. "You're helping change what everybody else gets to see on a particular topic," Weinstock says.
The researchers also hope to increase the number of women who contribute to Wikipedia, as fewer than 20 percent of Wikipedia editors are women. The researchers held the event to coincide with Ada Lovelace Day, an annual observance started in Great Britain in 2009 to highlight women in technology.
From The Associated Press
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