2025:Program/Collaboration Over Competition: 1,000 Articles in One Year Through Asynchronous Gender-Focused Campaigns

Session title: Collaboration Over Competition: 1,000 Articles in One Year Through Asynchronous Gender-Focused Campaigns

Session type: Lightning talk

Track: Lightning Talk Showcase

Language: en

In 2024, Wikiesfera launched thematic campaigns, an innovative online and asynchronous format designed to close the gender gap while fostering sustained engagement within our majority-female community. Each campaign, running for about two weeks, focuses on a carefully curated theme aligned with our strategic goals, providing a list of articles to translate—including biographies, organizations, and cultural concepts. Using Wikimedia’s Event Registration tool, we centralize participation and promote the initiative through newsletters, social media, and community channels. Beyond their impressive figures, these campaigns have been enthusiastically embraced by our editors, encouraging autonomous participation beyond traditional edit-a-thons. By coordinating efforts within a set timeframe, we have strengthened engagement and expanded our feminist community. As we continue to introduce new themes monthly, even through summer, we see these campaigns as an opportunity to reach and inspire a broader Wikipedia audience to contribute toward closing the gender gap.

Description

In 2024, Wikiesfera launched thematic campaigns, a new online and asynchronous format designed to close the gender gap, increase the number of women editors, and enhance editor retention. These campaigns provide a sustainable way for our majority-female community to stay actively engaged beyond in-person meetings while continuing to create high-quality content. Each campaign lasts approximately two weeks and is centered around a specific theme aligned with our feminist and strategic priorities. We curate a list of articles to translate and improve, covering biographies, organizations, key concepts, and other cultural elements that have historically been underrepresented on Wikipedia. By using Wikimedia’s Event Registration tool, we centralize participation, making it easy for editors to join and track their contributions. The campaigns are promoted through our newsletter, Telegram chat, social media, and Spanish Wikipedia page, ensuring wide accessibility and engagement. While the impact in numbers is remarkable—1,000 articles created in just one year—the true success of these campaigns lies in their reception within the Wikiesfera community. Providing structured yet flexible opportunities to contribute has empowered many editors to work autonomously, shifting participation beyond traditional edit-a-thons or scheduled meetings. This model has encouraged sustained engagement, leading to a stronger sense of belonging and a more active and committed feminist editing community. A key strength of the thematic campaigns is their ability to increase editor retention, one of the biggest challenges in Wikimedia projects, particularly among women editors. Many new contributors initially join during edit-a-thons but struggle to find ongoing engagement opportunities. By offering consistent, well-organized thematic projects, we have successfully encouraged editors to return and continue contributing. The campaigns also provide a low-pressure, non-competitive environment, reinforcing Wikiesfera’s core value of collaboration over competition. Another significant aspect of this initiative is its potential to reach a broader audience beyond Wikiesfera. While our primary focus is on strengthening our existing community, we also recognize the opportunity to engage other Wikipedia editors who may not yet be connected to Wikiesfera but share an interest in closing the gender gap. These campaigns create a bridge between our established feminist editing space and the larger Wikimedia community, fostering new alliances and broader participation. Looking ahead, we plan to continue running these campaigns, launching a new theme each month, even through the summer. This ongoing structure ensures that our efforts to amplify women's voices in Wikipedia remain active and sustainable. Additionally, we aim to refine our strategies to further increase editor retention, explore new ways to measure impact, and adapt the model for other Wikimedia communities interested in feminist approaches to content creation. Through this session, we will share our experiences, challenges, and successes in organizing thematic campaigns as a sustainable and scalable model for gender-focused Wikipedia engagement. We invite participants to explore how similar initiatives can be implemented in other communities, contributing to a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable Wikipedia for the future.

How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 – Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?

Our session aligns directly with Wikimania@20’s themes of Inclusivity, Impact, and Sustainability by showcasing how thematic campaigns provide a gender-inclusive, high-impact, and sustainable approach to closing the gender gap on Wikipedia. By designing campaigns that encourage women’s participation in a collaborative, non-competitive environment, we foster inclusivity not only in content but also in editor engagement. These campaigns have successfully empowered a majority-female community to contribute autonomously, addressing both the lack of representation of women on Wikipedia and the barriers that discourage women from continuing to edit. Additionally, by offering an accessible and flexible format, we extend opportunities beyond our immediate network, engaging a wider community of editors committed to knowledge equity.

What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Everyone can participate in this session

Resources

• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimania_2025_Lightning_talk_-_Collaboration_over_competition_-_Wikiesfera.webm
• https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1zuDdwu1Nsjj6syPkgDG1J8pzUAgikyzR/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=115827120842545291512&rtpof=true&sd=true

Speakers

• Zapipedia

I became a Wikipedia editor in June 2019. Since then, I’ve been contributing to the Spanish and Asturian Wikipedias, as well as Wikidata, with a strong focus on bridging the gender gap. I’m also a mentor and tutor on Spanish Wikipedia (eswiki), helping newcomers become confident contributors.

As an organizer and core team member of Wikiesfera, I coordinate edit-a-thons and training sessions aimed at enhancing representation and participation. I’ve led various activities and taken part in several community events. Since the end of 2021, I’ve also been collaborating as a Product Ambassador for the Wikimedia Foundation, supporting Spanish-speaking communities and working with development teams to promote tools and strategies that make Wikipedia more inclusive, diverse, and user-friendly.