WikiWomen Camp 2023 COT
New Delhi [India], October 23: The 3rd edition of WikiWomenCamp, a global convening of volunteers who contribute to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia knowledge projects (known as “Wikip(m)edians) who identify as women, concluded with resounding success in Gurugram, India yesterday.
Organized by volunteers, with support from the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that hosts Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, and the International Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad (IIIT-Hyderabad), the three-day camp provided an enriching experience for participants to map out gender-related knowledge gaps on Wikimedia projects and explore tangible solutions to address them.
The event brought together about 100 women from 30 countries and thought leaders to learn and collaborate on the roles and future of women in the Wikimedia movement. The participants represented diverse linguistic backgrounds, cultures, and communities, making it a truly global and inclusive gathering.
Free knowledge platforms such as Wikipedia are a key source of raising awareness on women-related topics and providing reliable information on notable women throughout history. As the overall percentage of women participants on the internet remains low, it is essential to encourage more equitable gender representation on free knowledge platforms, and on the internet at large.
“Women contribute to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects in a range of ways, including in specialized groups, motivated by the needs and the conditions of the sections of the world in which they live,” said Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight, Member of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. “All these groups, efforts, and contributions combined, through WikiWomenCamps and other means, contribute to the best development of women’s representation and participation in the Wikimedia movement that is possible to achieve.”
One of the core focus areas of the camp has been to develop a two-year engagement plan, co-created in collaboration with Wikimedians. This plan outlines a number of initiatives to support the growth and engagement of women, including mentorship programs, training workshops, and community events. The camp also increased strategic knowledge and capacity development skills among participants, fostered collaboration and networking, and raised awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
“We are immensely honoured to have been a part of WikiWomenCamp 2023, an event that truly showcased the spirit of collaboration and empowerment within the Wikimedia ecosystem,” said Dr Radhika Mamidi, Associate Professor, Language Technologies Research Centre at IIITH. “The capacity development and strategy cohorts helped participants to gain skills, improve their understanding of thematic and regional communities, and their intersectionalities, and come together as one to build the future of Wikimedia movement. We look forward to continuing our journey in fostering a more inclusive and diverse Wikimedia environment.”
For more information about WikiWomenCamp and the Wikimedia Foundation, please visit this link.
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge freely. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects; build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content; support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible. The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.
About IIIT-Hyderabad
The International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) is an autonomous research university founded in 1998 that focuses on the core areas of Information Technology, such as Computer Science, Electronics, and Communications, and their applications in other domains through inter-disciplinary research that has a greater social impact. Some of its research domains include Visual Information Technologies, Human Language Technologies, Data Engineering, VLSI and Embedded Systems, Computer Architecture, Wireless Communications, Algorithms and Information Security, Cognitive Science, Robotics, Building Science, Earthquake Engineering, Computational Natural Sciences and Bioinformatics, Education Technologies, Power Systems, IT in Agriculture and e-Governance.
Media contact
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