Wikimedia UK, MRC and the Royal Society organised a Women in Science themed editing event on Friday 11 October 2013 in London to celebrate Ada Lovelace Day.
Date: Friday 11 October 2013; in two parts - editathon runs 13.15-18.00; panel 18.30-20.30.
Participants: The editing session was for Wikipedia newcomers to learn how to edit or anyone wanting to contribute. Female editors particularly encouraged to attend. Panel open to anyone interested in Women in Science topic.
Photos from the day: see here. Some from the Royal Society can be seen here
Agenda
Conference room:
13.15 – Lunch for editors
13.45 – Introductions, presentation of the Wikimedian of the Year award for the Royal Society
14.00 – Guidance on how to edit Wikipedia
15.00-18.00 Editathon, including refreshment breaks
18:00-18:30 - break, with an opportunity to see the ‘Scientists’ exhibition at the Royal Society
Dining Hall:
18.15 reception
19.00-20.30 talks and discussion with Professor Uta Frith and Professor Tom Welton, Head of Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London and Athena SWAN Gold award holder. We opened by summing up the achievements of the editathon (Mel Nunn and Edward Hands), and move onto the talks about Women in Science.
At the workshop, representatives from Wikimedia UK explained how Wikipedia works and answer questions about editing and improving Wikipedia articles. There was access to the Royal Society's printed and online collections and staff were on hand to introduce the resources and provide guidance on finding information.
The day began with a tutorial on how to edit Wikipedia, and the attendees were able to put this into practice straight afterwards, creating and editing articles.
In the evening, we had talks and a panel discussion, on women's experiences in science, diversity in the scientific workforce more generally, together with how under-representation can be tackled in the future. This was open to anyone who registers whether or not they attended the editathon.
We have been granted free open online access to the Royal Society's biographical memoirs and all of the journals for 24 hours on 11th October (midnight to midnight BST) available to anyone at all - http://royalsocietypublishing.org/. (Terms and conditions will still apply [1], in particular section 6 on prohibited use).
MRC has created a guide on how to search for biographical information for this series of events, see here.
Useful resources for editing articles about the Royal Society Fellows are here.
Plenty of opportunity for new articles and expansion at List of female Fellows of the Royal Society. As of 6 October 2013, there were 15 Fellows and 3 foreign members without articles. This list is largely the work of KTC, who we were fortunate to have as one of our trainers on the day. After this event, all the female Fellows had Wikipedia articles!
Royal Society has opened its online resources for 11th October midnight to midnight BST - no paywall. This was available to everyone, from anywhere in the world - the fact we promoted within the community. http://royalsocietypublishing.org/. Particular journals are here - [2]. T&C still apply (see [3], in particular section 6 on prohibited use), however for one day everyone will be an “authorized user”.
Various books and journals available from the Royal Society's library
MRC digital resources accessible on the day on discs
The Wellcome Library - online resources can be accessed for free if you go to the library and register in person. There was a member of staff from the Wellcome Library to help
There were c. 20 pre created accounts that in-person participants can use
MRC has created a guide of how to search for biographical information for this series of events see here.
There were c. 40 people present during the evening part of the event.
Further information
For further information about the programme, please contact equalityanddiversityheadoffice.mrc.ac.uk or Daria Cybulska at daria.cybulskawikimedia.org.uk, 0207 065 0994.
headoffice.mrc.ac.uk or Daria Cybulska at daria.cybulska