New York City Wikipedia Meetup at Eyebeam

• Date: Saturday, February 1, 2014 from noon to 6 p.m. Can’t be there the whole time? No problem. Join us for as little or as long as you like.
• Venue: Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, 540 West 21st Street, NYC, 10011 (the event is the closing event for Eyebeam’s Annual Showcase 2014)
• Cost: Free
• Participants: The event is open to anyone who wishes to everyone. No Wikipedia editing experience necessary; as needed throughout the event, tutoring will be provided for Wikipedia newcomers. Female editors are particularly encouraged to attend.
• What to Bring: Attendees should bring their own laptops and power cords. Light snacks and drinks will be provided.
• Twitter Hashtag: #ArtAndFeminism

Wikipedia’s gender trouble is well documented: in a 2010 survey, Wikimedia found that less than 13% of its contributors are female. The reasons for the gender gap are up for debate: suggestions include leisure inequality, how gender socialization shapes public comportment, and the contentious nature of Wikipedia’s talk pages. The practical effect of this disparity, however, is not. Content is skewed by the lack of female participation, with more articles on notable women absent on Wikipedia in comparison to Encyclopaedia Britannica. This represents an alarming aporia in an increasingly important repository of shared knowledge.

We invite you to help address this absence at a Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon on Saturday, February 1, 2014 from noon to 6 p.m. at Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, 540 West 21st Street, New York City. We will provide tutorials for the beginner Wikipedian, reference materials, and light refreshments. For the editing-averse, we urge you to stop by to show your support. A closing reception for Eyebeam Art and Technology Center Open Studios will follow the edit sprint.

We also encourage remote participation; you can share your thoughts on the editing process in real-time here or on our tumblr. Satellite events will take place at: the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC; the Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives at Banff Centre in Banff, Canada; Studio XX in Montreal, Canada; Luke Lindoe Library at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Canada; and more locations to be announced.

Organized by Siân Evans/Art Libraries Society of North America’s Women and Art Special Interest Group, Jacqueline Mabey/The office of failed projects, Michael Mandiberg, and Laurel Ptak/Eyebeam Fellow.

Eyebeam Art and Technology Center is an art and technology center that provides a fertile context and state-of-the-art tools for digital research and experimentation. It is a lively incubator of creativity and thought, where artists and technologists actively engage with culture, addressing the issues and concerns of our time. Eyebeam Art and Technology Center challenges convention, celebrates the hack, educates the next generation, encourages collaboration, freely offers its contributions to the community, and invites the public to share in a spirit of openness: open source, open content and open distribution.

See more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/ArtAndFeminism