Wikipedia invites you to the 2023 Mexican Women Artists Editatona

Nine years ago the Wikimedia Foundation, the legal representative of Wikipedia, made a survey to determine the profile of the people who edit the page. The results were revealing since the average profile of those who prepare these reviews are white men from the global north with bachelor’s and master’s degrees, in addition to every ten people who edit Wikipediaonly one is female.

From that, an evaluation was made of how this impacted Wikipedia in Spanish and found that out of every 100 biographies that existed in Spanish only 12 were of women, in addition the profiles were mostly actresses, models, singers, there was also a block of iconic women such as Frida Kahlo or Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, but it was found that there was no representation for all women, that is how it was born editatona.

In interview for The EconomistCarmen Alcázar, director of Wikimedia Commons and founder of the editatona explains that “fortunately we all have networks of women and we began to tell our friends, they in turn told other friends and the word began to spread, that’s how we started the Editatonas, with professions in Mexico City, then in other cities in the country and then in other countries.

On this occasion, the Editatona Mexican Women Artists In it, information on women artists from various disciplines will be shared. The event is part of the global Art+Feminism campaign, which has been running since 2014 with the participation of more than 20,000 people in more than 1,500 events around the world to create and improve more than 100,000 articles on Wikipedia. In Mexico, the first event was held in 2016, regarding the exhibition If you have doubts… ask. A retrocollective exhibition by Mónica Mayer.

The 2023 version will be carried out with the theme Collective Action and is organized by art historians Karen Cordero Reiman, Cecilia Noriega Vega and Alejandra Gorráez Puga, researcher Yuruen Lerma, artist Mónica Mayer and Wikimedia México, in collaboration with the area of Public Programs of the University Museum of Contemporary Art and the Rosario Castellanos Chair of Art and Gender of the UNAM.

How to take part?

The Editatona Mexican Women Artists 2023 It is open to all women, it will be held on Saturday, March 18, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the MUAC Agora. To participate, it is mandatory to register and take the training, which will be given online on Saturday, February 25, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

The training is a conceptual and technical introduction to the Editatona, with a duration of two hours divided into two parts. This preparation allows those interested in participating to better understand the objectives of the meeting, acquire the knowledge to prepare and expand Wikipedia entries on women artists in Mexico, and learn to use the tools to carry out research and compile sources before the edition session. . In addition, the training teaches Wikipedia guidelines and provides the essential technical elements for editing on the platform. “Wikipedia requires having sources that give veracity to what is being written and the encyclopedic relevance is also demonstrated, if there are few references, the articles can be eliminated.”

That is why strategies are drawn up. The first part will be taught by Mónica Mayer, Karen Cordero, Cecilia Noriega, Yuruen Lerma and Alejandra Gorráez Puga. The emphasis will be on explaining and contextualizing this initiative and its history in Mexico. In addition, the criteria for editing entries will be presented from a feminist perspective and a list of possible entries to work on during the Editatona will be drawn up.

The second part consists of an editing workshop in Wikipedia Given by Tania Solá, Wikimedia Mexico Community official. In this module, the rules and policies of this digital encyclopedia will be shared, the technical part of the edition will be explained, and there will be time for each participant to practice from their computer or device. Finally, the initiatives promoted by Wikimedia to close the gender gap in the encyclopedia will be discussed.

“The advantage of editing in company is that you have several Wikipedians to whom you can ask questions, you have advice and at the end a meal and talk are organized. This is something very special because you are editing Wikipedia to make Mexican women visible on the main Internet reference site and we also learn a lot from others that you may not have heard of before, precisely because of the invisibility we suffer, this is a win-win”.

To participate in the Editatona it is necessary to register through a form found at the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc2Hj1Ms_Lfrn8GsoJQKlPYm6qd-IOAECHf8YCIYOlxfLzp6Q/viewform

All participants must have a computer, Internet access and a Wikipedia account.

Contact for event information:
wikiton.mujeresartistas@gmail.com | campusexpandido@muac.unam.mx

Twitter: @campusexpandido | Facebook: MUAC – Expanded Campus

nelly.toche@eleconomista.mx