User talk:Martha Saxton

Essay

Hi. I moved your essay to your user space because it is more a user essay than an encyclopedic article. It's certainly valuable for the encyclopedia, however, and I thank you for it. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 14:08, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

And, especially given your comments on Featured articles, you may be interested in my own classroom project. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 14:12, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Amherst project

I have read your essay and I am intrigued by your project. I am sorry that your view of Wikipedia's efforts to include information about women is not better, however. I know that the encyclopedia is flawed in many ways and its presentation of women's history is sorely lacking in many areas, so thank you for using the resources of your class to improve it! However, there are several projects that are aiming to improve these areas that I hope you are aware of. For example, the WikiProject to Counter Systemic Bias and the Gender Studies WikiProject. In my own experience, I have found it helpful to simply comment on articles that I am reviewing and note the kinds of imbalances that you are discussing. For example, I have asked for information on Zelda Fitzgerald as a writer here and asked that the tricky issue of naming be resolved. Here I have asked that the "Appearance" section be deleted from the Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe article and the naming issue also be resolved. In my own editing, I have focused on writing articles on women writers, for example, Mary Wollstonecraft, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, and now Mary Shelley. I am deliberately trying to boost Wikipedia's expansion of this topic. If you would like to discuss the issues surrounding the editing of these articles, I would be more than happy to. As you note in your essay, Wikipedia is becoming one of the most important references for people around the world, therefore it behooves us to make sure women and their history are properly represented. Thanks again for your classroom project! I wish I had known about it so that I could have helped you and your students. Awadewit (talk) 14:50, 22 May 2008 (UTC)