Wikipedia:GLAM/CJH/Outcomes

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Women in Jewish History Edit-a-thon

The Women in Jewish History Edit-a-thon, held on May 4, 2014, was a great success! The first public edit-a-thon held at the Center, this event was a big step in the efforts of Wikipedians working at the Center for Jewish History and its partners as well as other Wikipedians and GLAM professionals to expand coverage of Jewish women on Wikipedia.

The event was organized as a collaborative effort of several staff members of the Center and its partners, headed by User:Lange.lea. Among the twenty-two attendees were five seasoned Wikipedians, six fairly experienced Wikipedians, and at least seven new editors. One Wikipedian could not come in person and participated virtually. Participants included staff members of the Center and the Leo Baeck Institute as well as members of Wikimedia New York City. Others attendees came out of interest in Wikipedia or the topic of Jewish women. One Wikipedian brought his grandmother, and they worked on articles together.

Before the event, a meetup page was created on Wikpedia (Women in Jewish History Edit-a-thon), where participants were encouraged to sign up as attendees. An official announcement was also placed on the website of the Center for Jewish History. News about the event was shared via email blasts, listservs, and social media, reaching out to the GLAM community, Wikipedians, and the Center community.

During the event, participants were encouraged to edit pages relating to women in Jewish history. A list of possible articles to edit and articles to create was provided to participants on the event meetup page (Women in Jewish History Edit-a-thon), although participants were also welcome to edit other pages as well. A reference assistant from the Center was also among the attendees and helped others find relevant resources for their work. Participants were asked to bring their own laptops, and wifi was provided. A projector was set up in the room for editing demonstrations. Photographs taken during the event by one participant have been released on Wikimedia Commons: Photographs from the Women in Jewish History edit-a-thon.

By the end of the event, thirteen new pages were created and four further pages were expanded with references, biographical information, and infoboxes, and at least seven new editors joined Wikipedia.