International Women’s Day Wikithon

Come along to the HMFC Museum on Friday 7th March 12pm – 5pm to help make footballing history. As part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund Project, The Maroon Mile, we are undertaking a wikithon for International Women’s Day to help close the gender gap. Only 9-16% of Wikipedia’s editors identify as women. This results in two kinds of gender gap: a content gender gap and a participation gender gap. The content gender gap means that more men than women are covered in the mainspace content of wikis. Join the HMFC Heritage Team, Prof. Fiona Skillen and Dr Sara Thomas to help close the gap!

We will be focusing on Scottish women’s football to help research, edit and create pages on individual players and clubs. Spaces will be limited so please book early. The event will be held in the HMFC Museum. An email containing directions will be sent out a week before the event.

Fiona Skillen will be giving a short talk on the history of women’s football. Fiona Skillen is a professor and sports historian at Glasgow Caledonian University. Fiona has published extensively on women’s sport during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Recent research includes a FIFA-funded project to map the early development of women’s football in Scotland. She regularly contributes to the media, including BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4, STV and BBC Alba. She is a former Chair of the British Society of Sport History, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and an editor of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

An editathon or wikithon is an event where folks get together to edit Wikipedia around a particular subject. No previous experience is necessary, as training will be provided on the day by Dr Sara Thomas, Programme Manager at Wikimedia UK.

Please bring your own laptop if you have one. If you do not have access to one, please do not worry as some laptops will be available on the day. Lunch will be available on the day so please ensure that you fill in the dietary requirements form when booking.