2019:Diversity/How to narrow the Visual Gender Gap

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Diversity/How to narrow the Visual Gender Gap

Lessing · Sunday 10:30 - 11:00

Notes · Live stream · Video

How to narrow the Visual Gender Gap. Recording of the session.

Title

How to narrow the Visual Gender Gap

Description

It is well known that the gender gap affects the neutrality, the credibility, and the completeness of Wikipedia. In this lecture I will show that we have only tried to narrow only four types of gender gaps, and have neglected to address the fifth one. The four types are:

1. Quantitative (content) - a lower number of articles about women than about men.
2. Quantitative (editors) - a lower number of female editors compared to male. We have tried to increase the number of female editors in various ways in order to address gaps 1 and 2.
3. Linguistic - using biased language (this is harder to fix as it arises from the core of the language) and thus it is more difficult to address but not impossible.
4. Cultural - the effect of cultural bias on the articles, which is very difficult to address.

The fifth gender gap which we have hardly ever addressed is the visual one. We have done a lot of research on the problem of the Wiki editor and its affect on the gender gap, but we have not addressed the visuals of the Wikipedia articles in this regard. I.e., how the "looks" of an article effect the above gaps. I have devised a scale to measure the visual gap across various Wikipedias, and in this lecture I will present it and suggest solutions.

Relationship to the theme

This session will address the conference theme — Wikimedia, Free Knowledge and the Sustainable Development Goals — in the following manner: Narrowing the gender gap will enhance the diversity of writers of wikipedia.

Session outcomes

At the end of the session, the following will have been achieved: Small changes done to various Wikipedia languages which will make Wikipedia more friendly towards female readers.

Session leader(s)

• Deror Avi

Usernames

• Deror_avi

Affiliation/country

• Board Member - Wikimedia Israel

E-mail contact

• deror_avi @ yahoo.com

Session type

Each Space at Wikimania 2019 will have specific format requests. The program design prioritises submissions which are future-oriented and directly engage the audience. The format of this submission is a:

• Lecture

Length of session

If other than 20 minutes, specify how long

• 30 min

Supporting work

Optional:

Requirements

The session will work best with these conditions:

• Room:

A lecture hall, a projector + screen

• Audience:

All attendees (newbi's and veterans)

• Recording:

Appropriate for filming by a single fixed-location camera, sharable on the internet, with a free-licence.

• Date:

Please not on Shabath (not on Saturday)

Gallery

Commons category

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