Submissions:2023/WikiProject Women in Religion Panel Discussion and Report

This submission has been accepted for WikiConference North America 2023.

Etherpad

Title:

WikiProject Women in Religion Panel Discussion and Report

Theme:

Recent Changes, Education, Equity / Inclusion / Community Health, Open Data, Research / Science / Medicine, Technology

Type of session:

Presentation

Abstract:

The Women in Religion User Group is an initiative to create, update, and improve Wikimedia content pertaining to the lives of cis-gender and transgender women who are notable as scholars, activists, and practitioners in the world's religious, spiritual, and wisdom traditions. As of July 2023, our project has added or improved more than 300 Wikipedia articles and almost 9,000 Wikipedia articles have been categorized under our WikiProject banner. (See our Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Religion page.) Since its founding, its members have worked on regional projects in Australia, India, and Kenya and have contributed to Wikidata, WikiCommons, and WikiQuote.

One of our most noteworthy projects is the publication of three volumes of monographs (see Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Religion/Women in Religion series), for the purpose of increasing content about women in religion in the general scholarship in order to provide secondary sources for Wikipedia editors and contributors. The first volume, Claiming Notability for Women Activists in Religion (2020, https://books.atla.com/atlapress/catalog/view/40/66/320-3), was edited by Colleen D. Hartung, Wikiproject Women in Religion's co-founder, and consists of ten biographies of women underrepresented in Wikipedia and in academic literature. Volume two, Challenging Bias against Women Academics in Religion (2021, https://books.atla.com/atlapress/catalog/view/46/182/894), also edited by Hartung, focuses on female academics (teachers, professors, theologians, and scholars). Our most recent volume will be published in the summer of 2023 and focuses on knowledge creation and equity, and contains biographies about women important in the history of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, which published it.

We have also presented at about a dozen conferences and conducted virtual monthly editathons, one for our general members and the other for our members in Kenya who are also members of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians. In the summer of 2023, four WikiProject Women in Religion members conducted a study using Artificial intelligence large language models to ascertain their usefulness in editing Wikipedia articles and biographies, in preparation for a presentation they will make at Wikimania 2023.

Our presentation will report on these and other activities, focusing on the third monograph volume and on our ongoing AI study. We will introduce the Women in Religion User Group and its activities. The presenters will speak about (1) the genesis and goals of the Women in Religion User Group; (2) The series of edited volumes and their relationship to knowledge equity on Wikipedia; (3) How our User Group supports the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians in Kenya; and (4) The prospects of using augmented AI to accelerate the production of articles and Wikidata items about women in religion.

Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16sNds0SuWPSpSaEDr65roi9V1pVU0qAecah3LX_jd-E/edit?usp=sharing

Author name:

Rosalind Hinton, Christine Meyer, Clifford Anderson, Jere Odell, Hilary Ward Schnadt, Colleen Hartung, Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight

E-mail address:

jeredodellgmail.com

Wikimedia username:

Jaireeodell

Affiliated organization(s):

Estimated time:

15-30 min.

Special requests:

We will need equipment for a PowerPoint presentation.

Have you presented on this topic previously? If yes, where/when?:

Our team of presenters have presented about the Women in Religion Usergroup and WikiProject at several conferences, including at Wikimania. We have also presented at the Parliament of the World's Religion and at the American Academy of Religion conference. One of our presenters made a presentation about Wikipedia and our project for her MA thesis.

Okay to livestream?

Livestreaming is okay

If your submission is not accepted, would you be open to presenting your topic in another part of the program? (e.g. lightning talk or unconference session)

Yes