Women with Altitude
editContext: There is an upcoming exhibition at Alpine Club (UK), marking the centenary of the Pinnacle Club, highlighting prominent female mountaineers from that last 100 years.
The depth of information on Wikipedia regarding notable female climbers and mountaineers is often very poor or non-existent. The AC librarian has suggested organising an editing session to improve some of the articles as a tangible positive outcome of the exhibition. Advice has been requested by them on how to approach such a project, ensuring Wikipedia policies are closely followed.
Wikipedia contains many editors keen to create new biographies of women, and we are extremely keen to collaborate with organisations who can bring their expertise and resources to this encyclopaedia of 6.2 million+ articles in order to address the gender imbalance here (only 19% or biographies are about women; yet up from only 15.5% in 2014).
Exhibition: Women with Altitude: 100 Years of Female Alpinism in the Pinnacle Club and Alpine Club
- Launch Event: Launch Alpine Club/Pinnacle Club Joint Exhibition
- Where: Alpine Club, 55 Charlotte Rd, London EC2A 3QF
- Opens: 9 November 2021, 17:30pm Presentations: 19:30 GMT (GMT=UTC)
- Closes: 8 January 2022 (see here)
Initial Questions:
- What do you see as the main aim of any Wikipedia-related activity? Is it to improve the small number of existing articles we already have about women climbers, or is it hoped to focus on creating new articles on notable women climbers that do not yet exist? Or both?
- What is intended audience of any activity? New users from the climbing community? Or existing Wikipedians? Or both? Might an introductory training session be required?
- How were the women in the Centenary Exhibition chosen? How many already have Wikipedia articles about them, and how many do not? Is there an accompanying publication which supports the Exhibition?
- What resources can you provide that could be used for people to work to improve existing biographies, or to demonstrate notability purposes for new pages? (access to books, journals, published archives, images?)
- Do you already have a list of women’s names for articles you feel need creating, or perhaps just improving?
- Are you aware how few articles about climbers on Wikipedia contain a photograph of the subject? We take copyright very seriously, so require image holders to be willing to release their photos for re-use. (That rarely seems to happen in the climbing field, but there is scope for this to be addressed and the issue publicised)
Suggestions for activities
edit- Simply provide basic guidance to one or two AC/PC staff or members on editing Wikipedia articles.
- 1 to 2 hour live or pre-recorded event: Introduction to editing Wikipedia (only time to cover the basics of editing for brand new users) See Wikipedia:How to run an edit-a-thon
- 24/48 hour editing event, focussing on missing notable climbers.
- 2 month event for duration of the exhibition (could even include competition(s) for most new articles, most articles improved or most translations made or most images uploaded. see WP:GLAM/DER for how we did this in relation to Derby Museum (where I worked in 2011).
- 1:1 Mentorship of individuals new to Wikipedia who are interested in working on women's Wikipedia articles.
- Get support/wider involvement from WikiProject Women in Red (which focusses on writing Wikipedia articles about women)
- Encourage club members to make images available under a Creative Commons commercial licence for articles with no pictures (Note: CC-BY-NA licenced images cannot be utilised by Wikipedia, or accepted on Wikimedia Commons (our sister image repository project))
Issues to cover
edit- Wikipedia can seem scary at first, but editing is really easy once the basics are understood. Many people look at Wikipedia biographies and some bemoan their limited coverage; few people feel confident or willing to help address this. But we need those with access to the resources to help improve this encyclopaedia. We can help them learn how!
- Notability - this is the biggie. Wikipedia has its own definition of what and who is notable, and who is not. See Wikipedia:Notability and Wikipedia:Notability (people). (Unfortunately Wikipedia:Notability (sports) doesn't relate to climbing, except where a person has participated in events such as the Olympics.)
- As much as one sector might know individuals who excel in their field, unless they have already been written about in reliable, published sources (climbing books, guidebooks, newspapers, journals etc), then Wikipedia cannot carry an article on that person. So, efforts have to be made to find those sources for each person thought to be notable and worthy of coverage on Wikipedia. Are they notable as a climber? or could they be notable in some other way? - it doesn't matter, so long as the 'notability bar' is reached. That sourcing should start before work begins on a new article.
- Sad fact: Climbers often only become 'Notable' when they die (see Martin Moran (climber), and Andy Nisbet, as examples), because only then do they tend to have detailed biographies written about them, or only then are people moved to create them. Wikipedia follows what reliable sources have already written - it cannot write about everyone, or help make them notable). Nor can we use user-generated content such as blogs, interviews with the subject, or online forum discussions. Articles/bios in professional books or journals, whether on or offline are ideal. Climbing guides may only briefly summarise their climbing achievements on a route-by-route basis, and biographies are not easy to source, especially where editors do not have access to subscription-only publications.
- All that being said, Wikipedia even has its own project to encourage articles to be created about women, as we recognise that only 19% of biographies are on women, and that far more needs to be done. Any effort or collaboration to improve that percentage is to be welcomed. See WikiProject Women in Red
- Our sister project Wikidata could be an ideal way to gather sources and make data available before any Wikipedia article is attempted - see section below.
- Those with strong interests or expertise in a subject are most likely to have access to good sources that other editors may not, such as specialist books, guidebooks, magazines and journals etc.
- Avoid editing your own article. The username (Used by Beth?) needs to be changed asap (easily done at here) as it breaches our policy on having only one account per person, and suggests (rightly or wrongly) that more than one person could use it.). Then, only make uncontroversial changes or use WP:EDITREQUESTS.
- Identify names of potential articles not yet written (we call these 'Red linked' articles, as hyperlinks appear red if included in an article, whereas they are blue when the target page does exist)
- Identify existing articles that need improvement
- Identify articles that need images
- We protect living people with a policy called WP:NBIO, requiring all statements about people to be supported by reliable sources
- People should avoid editing article about themselves to avoid what we call 'Conflict of Interest' or COI. Whilst a friend or colleague may know tons about a person's achievements, Wikipedia can only include what is already published in the public domain, and we must write in our own words, and may not copy/paste copyrighted content from other sources.
- New articles can get a Did You Know...? slot on Wikipedia's Main page - this brings it many thousands of hits over a few hours. See WP:DYK for details of this scheme.
- We do already have a brief list of articles we know we would like: See the sortable table at Red list of rock climbers/mountaineers See Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red/Missing articles by occupation/Rock climbers & mountaineers (That page is automatically updated, so do not edit page directly. Instead, either add suggestions here on this page, or post a request to add it directly at the Women in Red page at "How to add names to Women in Red lists")
- What Key dates are coming up? Exhibition launch (9? November 2021); Exhibition Closes (8 January 2022) )International Mountain Day (11 Dec 2021); International Women's Day (8 March 2022)
Important note on using Wikidata as well as Wikipedia ...
- It is possible to use Wikidata to create data entries on any noteworthy Pinnacle Club or AC climbers, even if it seems unlikely we can create a full Wikipedia article about them. See the entry for Alison Hargreaves on Wikidata (HERE), and for a non-notable editor (Roger Bamkin) who does not have any Wikipedia page about them (HERE). This could be a way to tie up images and data about people for subsequent use. Unfortunately, I've no experience of using Wikidata, but its deployment across Wikipedia is certainly increasing.
Very useful advice on considering using Wikidata for less 'notable' women (from Siobhan Leachman)
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Hi Nick, I would HIGHLY recommend adding the women who currently aren't notable for the purposes of a Wikipedia article into Wikidata. This is particularly useful if the Alpine Club might have further resources on these women (photos; new routes etc) The reason I recommend this is because, like Wikipedia, Wikidata is used by a variety of search engines. As an example, a Google search now is likely to return a result for an appropriate Wikidata item even if the person searched for does not yet have a Wikipedia article. By placing these women into Wikidata it will give researchers a starting point to commence their research and would make any resources the Alpine Club/Pinnacle Club might have on these women much more easily findable and linkable. Another advantage for having this type of data in Wikidata is that then the women could be connected to their fellow climbers or partners, or to climbing expeditions that they participated in. I have recently done a bit of work with the botany community working out how to structure a research or collecting expedition item in Wikidata so that botanists who participated in the same could be linked to such events. (See https://cradle.toolforge.org/#/subject/scientific_expedition.) Climbing expedition data could be structured in a similar way. (This though is project creep in action as you are enquiring about the women climbers, and not the expeditions they participated in). Finally, I find that the women I work on often have lives that are very rich in activity. The women you will be working on in a project are unlikely to be just climbers, but there will be other important aspect of their lives that should also be highlighted. Wikidata is the perfect tool to bring together resources showing how rich and varied these women's lives were and are. So yes, in my view Wikidata should be factored into your project! S.L. See: |
Task ideas (on-wiki - during an event)
editDepending on the kind of support the AC wants from Wikipedia, there are various things that could be offered:
- Learn the basics of editing (often can take up much of an initial 1 hr session, leaving little time to work on a new article idea).
- Improve article written content (must be based upon reliably-published sources. New routes/biographies)
- Improve article referencing (are all sources included?)
- Find and add images to existing articles (must be correctly licenced)
- Improve article categorisations (are existing articles all adequately categorised to reflect women climbers, and to allow them to be found?
Task ideas (off-wiki)
edit- Encourage the identification and mobilisation of images for use in Wikipedia (could involve encouraging changing attitudes towards image use).
- Flickr or Commons image archive of CC-BY-SA images of modern and historic women climbers
- Employ or seek a local volunteer as a 'Wikipedian in Residence' to work with AC archives.
- Make selected scans of early AC or Pinnacle Club Journals available to Wikipedia volunteers.
- Arrange some form of 'Backstage Pass' event for London-based Wikipedia editors to see the Exhibition, selected items from the AC/PC archives and material related to notable climbers. (Could lead to collaboration with local editors.)
- Live video support for Wikipedia editing sessions in AC Library.
Advertising
editAny collaboration between climbers, climbing clubs and Wikipedia should be well advertised if participants are needed. A few initial ideas
- AC and Pinnacle Club websites
- WP:ALPS
- WP:MOUNTAINS
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Climbing
- WP:WOMRED and Twitter @WikiWomenInRed
- add other ideas here...
Potential new articles
editSources need to demonstrate all new articles meets WP:NBIO. New users are best advised to create and submit a Draft article via the Articles for Creation process.
Add suggested names below. (Ideally dates, nationality, and any links to sources)
- Jill Lawrence [1] (p167, Women Climbing 200 Years of Achievement Birkett & Peascod 1990)
- Gill Price
- Angela Soper [2][3]
- Lilian Bray
- add other names below...
See also: sortable list at WikiProject Women in Red/Missing articles by occupation/Rock climbers & mountaineers (expandable copy below:)
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Articles meriting expansion
editThe following Wikipedia articles are known to already exist on Pinnacle Club or female AC members, but are short and worthy of improvement:
- Pat Kelly (climber) - Start class
- Gwen Moffat - C class
- Dorothy Pilley Richards (sources in article) - Start class
- Eleanor Winthrop Young - Start class
- E. H. Young - Start class
- Nea Morin - Start class
add other names here...
Articles needing a photo
editadd other names here...
Finding existing articles (by Category or by List)
editWe have a manually edited list of articles about climbers. See: List of climbers and mountaineers
By contrast, 'Categories' automatically show all those articles which have had a category template added to the bottom of their page. Parent categories have sub-categories within them. We strive to add a person to the most appropriate sub-category. Below is shown a very much shortened tree of Category:Climbers. (Full tree here).
- Category:Climbers
Note: It is often worth matching the List article entries against the Category entries to see if there has been an omission from one or the other.
To help us find and improve especially short articles (called 'Stubs'), we also have Category:Climbing biography stubs which lists all these short pages, in the hope someone will be motivated to expand them. Once expanded, the 'stub template' should be removed from the article.
We also have groups of editors who congregate around one or more specialist areas. We call these WikiProjects. See
- WikiProject Climbing
- WikiProject Mountains
- WikiProject Mountains of the Alps
- WikiProject Women in Red (working specifically on enhancing women's biographies)
Editing tips
edit- Infoboxes: Consider using either
{{Infobox mountaineer}}or{{Infobox climber}} - Add
{{WIR}}to TalkPage to tie it in to Women in Red and gain further attention.
- thus
{{WikiProject Biography |living=no |class= |importance= }} {{WikiProject Climbing |class= |importance=}} {{WIR}}
Homework
editAC:
- Send list of notable names (and key sources)
- Identify the one person you'd like to focus on first (either to improve or to start from scratch)
- Create a unique user account each. Email me the account names
- Edit your Userpage and say a few words about your interests in editing Wikipedia (I can then send you a welcome message with a few helpful starter links in it for you to try out yourself)
- Arrange date for a live Zoom training session on basic editing and one of the notable people (or starting a new draft article, if you prefer). Oct 22nd is the first Friday morning I can do, though earlier days in that week are possible for me.
- Published Sources: If not online, can any source pages be scanned and emailed to me? Relevant page plus the fronstispiece giving the citable information would help.
- Decide which of the types of editing activities we discussed that you'd like to do, and over what time period you'd like to run them.
- Collate any specific questions you might have for me in advance of an editing session.
NM:
- Send welcome message with Tutorial link to both new user accounts.
- Make list of key tasks for training session.
- Make contact with any Wikipedia groups, dependant upon what activities the AC have decided upon.
- Try to visit Sticklebarn next week and take photos of all the exhibition panels. (will I need permission to take photos?)
Flickr:
Wikis:
Online training
edit- Key policies WP:5P Notability/Verifiability/Reliable sources/Collaboration
- Creating an account (mention account creation limit)
- Key elements of every page
- Userpages - say a few words about your interests. Declare any COI
- Talk pages / Sandbox / Watchlists
- Editing an existing article - 2 editing tool options.
- Making small changes Preview & Edit Summary
- Adding a citation WP:REFBEGIN
- New Articles Sandbox Drafts WP:AFC
- Uploading and Using Images in Articles
External links
edit- Alpine Club
- Alpine Club Journal (searchable back to 1930)
- Pinnacle Club
- Pinnacle Club 100 Year Exhibition Website (will this be permanent? Will it be webarchived?)
- International Mountain Day (11 December 2021)
- add other ideas here...
- Himalayan Database (downloadable)
- Helpful into to WIKIDATA and its relevance for noteworthy women who may not meet Wikipedia's higher Notability criteria.