Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Women in Red/Meetup/12

I just stared a very minimal stub for Emily Winthrop Miles, who among many other things, is described as a photographer. If anyone here is interested in expanding that section it would be great. Emily is a fascinating person and the article as it is does not really show this. Hope to see you there, Einar aka Carptrash (talk) 16:27, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

Moved conversation here from WiR Ideas Cafe

Women Photographers

• 1-31 May
• possible sponsor
• Redlink lists: Wikipedia:WikiProject Women/Women in Red/Women photographers

@Rosiestep: Wikipedia is very weak on Africa. So I would welcome the opportunity to help out with the biographies of women from the Middle East and North Africa, both those involved in contemporary art and others from the cultural scene. As we have two intensive months on artists and writers coming up, we could perhaps devote just the first two weeks of May to this. I suggest you post these suggestions on the Events page where we can also discuss how to reschedule Women in Photography.--Ipigott (talk) 18:25, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

Photography has been on the schedule for many months. "[T]wo intensive months on artists and writers" says to me that we need to diversify our topics. Why can't we kill two birds with one stone and do photography and include MENA photographers? If the photography curator can provide images for a later editathon, it might be a reason to postpone, but I see no reason to keep toppling subjects that have been planned in advance. JMO. SusunW (talk) 19:39, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

OK, if you think we can cope with two in one month, I can go along with that too.--Ipigott (talk) 21:25, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

I love having the edit-a-thons. They keep me focused. We have a good list of photographers, like SusunW mentioned. Also, the Art+Feminism is also focused on activism, too right? The list I put together for Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red/LBT Women has a lot of African activists. :) Megalibrarygirl (talk) 21:38, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

This is my thought. Why not post more than one meetup page in a month? If only 1 or 2 or 3 people want to participate in that event, and create 2 or 4 or 6 new articles, we have gained much. First, Wikipedia has gained new articles. Second, WiR has gained new contributors. Third, Wir, may have gained new members. You mention "major contributors". Where is the downside of offering secondary options to major, minor, or new contributors?

As for MENA, the Guggenheim will focus on MENA artists. But I'm not convinced that m:Iranian Wikimedians User Group will focus only on artists or women. Each editor chooses. If I come across a Maltese or Afghan woman writer or ethnologist, I can contribute that article to a MENA event (We don't have to put a square peg in a round hole.). And, as I've learned in middle age that I am not unique, I know that others would share this view.

I remember sitting with the A+F folks in October 2015 in Washington D.C., and making a plan for WiR's collaboration as an online node for March 2016. I told Michael, Jackie, and Sian that WiR would be glad to collaborate, but how would they feel if WiR takes a broader approach -- includes feminists, activists, social reformers? They were very quick and gracious to say, "sure", "yes", "of course", although I doubt anyone had asked them that before. I want WiR to be that nimble... if someone else has an idea... go for it. I've been thinking about this a lot, and I firmly believe that in order for WiR to become a movement, we have to empower others from around the world who want to replicate our secret sauce: our brand and our scope. We have to be open to facilitating multiple events, in multiple languages at any given time. We have to encourage others to create meetup pages, send out invites, develop redlists, and so on. Amazing, that in less than a year, we've gotten to this point! Also, I think it may be time to elect some "Core Coordinators" (following the MILHIST and A+F models), in order to oversee the brand. I am responding to you here, but I'm also going to cross-post this on the WiR talkpage for greater visibility. --Rosiestep (talk) 14:58, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Hear! Hear! @Rosiestep: Totally agree. I think flexibility is the key and I don't see why we cannot combine events and/or topics. We reach a much broader group if we have diverse criteria and combining possibly disparate areas allows us to cover disparate populations, making us much more inclusive. I love that we don't just focus on eliminating one bias, but many. We are adding diversity to the encyclopedia too and that can only improve the encyclopedia. As we write about women we tackle misogyny; edithons about black women, indigenous women tackle racism and cultural diversity. Art+Feminism the way we have structured it covers all classes, from working class women to those in the leisured upper classes, which I think is imperative. We don't talk much about classism on WP, but it certainly exists, as it does in most encyclopedias. I think no matter the topic/topics, we'll attract those who are interested in it. I don't really know that we need separate sign up sheets, why can't we just do one per month with diverse topics? Don't understand what "Core Coordinators" are, can you elaborate? SusunW (talk) 16:23, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

@SusunW and Rosiestep: Then I withdraw all my previous suggestions/comments on this. I too had originally suggested having both the MENA modern artists and the photographers in May. But on re-reading the exchange (now on the events page), I thought I should give some support to the comment Susun made:

"Photography has been on the schedule for many months. Two intensive months on artists and writers" says to me that we need to diversify our topics. Why can't we kill two birds with one stone and do photography and include MENA photographers? If the photography curator can provide images for a later editathon, it might be a reason to postpone, but I see no reason to keep toppling subjects that have been planned in advance. JMO. SusunW (talk) 19:39, 23 February 2016 (UTC)"

I seem to be having a really bad day today, misunderstanding everything. I think in future I'll just concentrate on the content and leave other considerations to all you dynamic girls. Please accept my apologies.--Ipigott (talk) 16:38, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Ipigott absolutely no need for apologies of any kind. You are an amazing supporter and contributor and I think we are much better for your input and insights. My concern in the comment before was that I did not want to replace photography with artists. I see zero reasons why we cannot do both. SusunW (talk) 16:46, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

@Ipigott: totally agree with Susun. No apology necessary. Your opinion and contributions are valuable. --Rosiestep (talk) 02:56, 2 March 2016 (UTC)