happiness and food

I like to begin all my posts with a little background – and why not? It helps me build the connect and set the stage for what I want to share. So here I go – again! One fine morning around 20 days back while I was quickly going through our daily, on the last page – there was this news piece (The Hindu) titled “Monthlong ‘edit-a-thon’ to increase women-centric content on Wikipedia” that caught my attention. You know how busy mornings can get while you are running for work so to save the newspaper from going to the storage space; I dumped it in my bedroom. Later during the evening after I was home – I tore the article for the purpose of reading through and finding a meaning to it. The very next day – I dropped a note to the organizers – Netha & Rohini and today by their permission, I am calling myself a Wikipedian 🙂 Please don’t kill me!! 😉

What this article was all about? A lot of us know that March 8 is International Women’s Day! It is that one day in the year, when people around the world celebrate achievements of women – political, social, and economic. It’s a day for the women to celebrate their true selves and it’s a day for the men to thank the women for all that we women do – in personal or professional spaces.

So – it will not be wrong to say that March is Women’s month and it is the best time of the year to get together as females to “bridge the gender gap” on Wikipedia. Did you know that out of 10 editors on Wikipedia, 9 are male? Did you know that a lot of successful Indian women personalities don’t even exist on Wikipedia? I can keep going on and on but then my intent would be lost! This news article on Hindu spoke of all these concerning facts and how Netha has been organizing workshops and spreading the word about getting more and more women contributors to Wikipedia and at the same time – get new articles created related to women. Not just that – one can even expand the existing pages so that the information is dated and encompasses the entire life of the woman in highlight!

What am I doing? Once I dropped a mail, I was glad to see quick responses about how I could begin. That was pretty good information for me to get started on Wikipedia! Today, for the past 20 days – I have edited a lot of pages on Women Parliamentarians and Women Scientists. I was shocked to see successful women but hardly an online presence on Wikipedia. What touched me the most was their equally successful husbands had a Wikipedia existence but not these leading ladies.

Why am I doing this? First, As a female, I want an equal footing in this world. I am yet to see how far I go in my life but if I’m a successful woman tomorrow, I want a Wikipedia existence. I want to be remembered for my work long after I am gone. I have read Lean In and I am a big admirer of Sheryl Sandberg but would I do justice to myself, if I can’t even be a part of a drive that encourages women to contribute to Wikipedia?

Second, I wish I could meet Tom Rath one day and ask him about his entire research on Strengths Finder; through him, I now know my core strengths and that one among that is I am a learner. Editing Wikipedia is just one of the many things that I want to learn. I want to keep learning till I die! And that’s my motivation!

My stats over the last 20 days! I started on Feb 10^th with my first article on Malti Devi. I know it wasn’t a great one but something that’s really amazing about Wikipedia is how other Wikipedians jump-in in a matter of minutes to fix an article. My original article was fixed in such an amazing manner that I know the tips and tricks today! 😀 Till date:

• I have created around 15 new pages – 2 are on Women Scientists and the rest on Parliamentarians
• I have edited/redirected/expanded 15 articles
• I got into an argument with an active and prompt Wikipedian 😛 who reversed my valid edits in good faith 😉
• I was helped by people I don’t know and I am thankful to all of them!

Quick Trivia: Some quick pieces of trivia for you:

• Did you notice, all the links on this post lead you to another Wikipedia page? (Well, that was chosen strategy) 😉
• While editing – I noticed one woman parliamentarian got married when she was 10! Woah! I thought there was a minimum age to get married in India! Looks like the keepers of the law break the law! (That’s not new for us, anyway!)
• If you are woman and you are in the film industry – which ever wood – Bolly,Tolly, Kolly – you will have a page on Wikipedia but the content is a BIG list of movies. Hilarious!
• One woman parliamentarian who is a dedicated social worker and comes from a well-known Indian family had hardly an existence. She was addressed by her last name because that’s the one that is popular and the opening sentence was “Surname, is a daughter of Mr. & Mrs. So & So and the sister of Mr. Popular” (You guessed it right – I fixed the page!)
• Wikilove is a new word in my vocab and I am head over heels in love with it! 😀
• This is my identity on Wikipedia and I find it colorful!

What can you do? Whether you are a male or a female – come join us in this monthlong edit-a-thon to increase women centric content on Wikipedia. Here are some links to help you :

• Women’s History Month, India-2014
• Women Parliamentarians & Scientist Edit-a-thon – To do page
• Sign up as a Participant
• Let’s edit Wikipedia
• Edit in Telugu – Project Page
• How to edit a page

It’s simple – come join us and lead by example! Make a difference! 😀