UPDATE, March 16:
While in-person events will not be held, online components of the 2020 Art+Feminism Wikipedia edit-a-thon still will go on as scheduled on March 20. For Zoom details and a schedule of presentations, visit https://tinyurl.com/A-F2020PennState.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Technology meets art on Friday, March 20, when a Penn State wikistorming event, the 2020 Art+Feminism Wikipedia edit-a-thon, invites members of the public to learn about and participate in (re)shaping knowledge on Wikipedia.
The sixth annual daylong event is part of a worldwide effort of satellite edit-a-thons scheduled to take place in March at universities and museums, including locations in Amsterdam, Paris, Moscow, Brussels and Berlin.
Penn State’s edit-a-thon is sponsored by Penn State University Libraries, the College of Arts and Architecture, School of Visual Arts, Art+Feminism and the Graduate Art Education Association (GAEdA). Interested participants are welcome regardless of level of technology knowledge or experience.
Participation in the event will help raise the visibility of women and gender nonbinary artists, two traditionally unrepresented or underrepresented communities online.
Karen Keifer-Boyd, professor of art education and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, is coordinating the Penn State Art+Feminism edit-a-thon, which she calls an “empowering” effort. She has been involved in similar collective efforts to edit Wikipedia entries. “We would like the public to join us from afar via Zoom video conferencing for the presentations on the half-hour throughout the day, and by adding articles and information about artists, feminist curatorial practices, feminist art pedagogy and other topics absent from Wikipedia,” she said.
Keifer-Boyd was encouraged by alumni to bring the annual Art+Feminism wikistorming event to Penn State, after coordinating the first one at Penn State in 2014. “I was hooked and have coordinated the annual event each year since, joined by many others who believe in the work. I love to witness participants beam with accomplishment as they make their first edits in (re)shaping knowledge,” she said.
"This year, Mary Elizabeth Meier, a 2012 alumna with a doctorate in art education, and doctoral candidate Leslie Sotomayor, a 2015 alumna with a master's degree in art education and a bachelor of fine arts degree in art, who are faculty in art education at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, will join with their classes via Zoom.”
Kimberly Henrikson, 1988 alumna with a bachelor of arts degree in art history, has participated in the event remotely via Zoom and said, “I strongly believe in supporting efforts to increase the visibility of women and gender nonbinary artists. Because Wikipedia often acts as an initial resource for reference, rightly or wrongly, about artists, providing educational opportunities like these which expand the technical skills and knowledge needed to contribute to the online content is invaluable for improving the coverage of traditionally unrepresented or underrepresented communities,” she said.
Kimberly Henrikson, 1988 alumna with a bachelor of arts degree in art history, said, “I strongly believe in supporting efforts to increase the visibility of women and gender nonbinary artists. Because Wikipedia often acts as an initial resource for reference (rightly or wrongly) about artists, providing educational opportunities like these which expand the technical skills and knowledge needed to contribute to the online content is invaluable for improving the coverage of traditionally unrepresented or underrepresented communities,” she said.
For more information about the Penn State Art+Feminism wikistorming event, including Zoom details and a schedule of presentations, visit https://tinyurl.com/A-F2020PennState.