Grants:IdeaLab/Feature banners asking women for help

Feature banners asking women for help

Feature banners in articles explicitly asking women for help. This could be done for a period of time or at specific women-related articles.

idea creator• Langus-TxT

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created on00:43, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Project idea

What is the problem you're trying to solve?

Only a small portion of active Wikipedia contributors identify themselves as female. Arguably, women's point of view is severely underrepresented, and topic coverage is therefore lacking.

What is your solution?

UNU-MERIT Wikipedia Survey 2010

In section Reasons for not contributing of the UNU-MERIT 2010 Wikipedia Survey, we can see that "two thirds (65.27%) of the respondents that do not contribute to Wikipedia have at least considered to contribute". Table 10 shows the factors that would make those readers more likely to become editors. Top 2 selections from a multiple choice are:

If I knew there were specific topic areas that needed my help (39.63%)
If it was clear to me that other people would benefit from my efforts (34.89%)

If these are the top reasons for both women and men, a visible banner at the top of the article that the visitor is reading clearly and explicitly stating that Wikipedia is needing women's input (and possibly the "why" and "where") would be likely to turn a portion of those female readers into female editors.

Goals

To improve the women-to-men ratio among Wikipedia editors.

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Seems worth a shot. Why not try and see what happens? --Another Believer (talk) 05:13, 6 March 2015 (UTC)
Seems like a reasonable idea, maybe link to the survey suggested as well for those that don't want to contribute. Halfhat (talk) 11:23, 6 March 2015 (UTC)
A low-impact way to make an effort at getting the "We need more women on Wikipedia" message out there. Would love to see high-ranking WMF women on those banners. Great idea. Jessamyn (talk) 22:41, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
This is a simple and more direct way of encouraging women to edit articles. The banner should redirect to another page written in a persuasive and invigorating manner, filled with shortcuts for editing help, and usertalk pages of active female editors who are willing to help. Harsh (talk) 09:07, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
If you want female editors, asking for them is a good starting point. Josh Parris (talk) 13:52, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
I feel this is overall reflective of the lack of underrepresentation women have overall in various forms of coding and programming. This might not only encourage more women to get involved in Wikipedia editing, but also help foster more female involvement in other areas of coding. As a man, I endorse further efforts to address this. SecretName101 (talk) 04:28, 10 March 2015 (UTC)
Messaging on banners could be tested to include other messages encouraging people to make minor edits to get them familiar with the platform. Adding a link to a video showing how to edit an article can also help encourage more people who do not view themselves as computer savvy to contribute.
It is straightforward and can be tested and optimised with relatively little effort to identify which types of messages resonate best with this audience (i.e. make small edits to become familiar with the platform, didn't find what you were looking for - create a stub, etc.) Castrillico (talk) 21:58, 15 March 2015 (UTC)
Yes, worth trying. Be sure to measure impact, which might not be so easy to quantify. Nicolas1981 (talk) 02:29, 17 March 2015 (UTC)
Sure, if you want something just ask... if we want more women to contribute, let's just invite them to. Done respectfully and encouragingly this could be a good intervention. Ocaasi (talk) 00:52, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
Women use wikipedia. A specific invitation could help them to decide to edit. Bcharles (talk) 15:21, 21 March 2015 (UTC)
Why aren't we doing this already? Lightbreather (talk) 19:50, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
- Let's also consider a proposal to Recruit through direct advertising in the media. Lightbreather (talk) 17:08, 27 March 2015 (UTC)
Agree, worth a shot. CayceP (talk) 16:09, 27 March 2015 (UTC)
A simple and nice way. 12345danNL (talk) 20:06, 28 March 2015 (UTC)
I think it will attract women to wiki Abilngeorge (talk) 14:54, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

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