Grants:Project/Rapid/BehnBurney2017Conference

statusFunded

Rapid Grants

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Edit-a-thon for the 2017 Behn-Burney Conference, in Pittsburgh, PA

targetWikipedia English

start dateNovember 1

end date2017

budget (USD)$415

grant typeacademic organization

grantee• Marilyn.Francus@mail.wvu.edu

contact(s)• Marilyn_Francus

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Review your report

Please see the sample Editathon/Training application before drafting your application.

Project Goal

Choose one or more of the following goals. You can add or delete goals as needed.

This is an academic conference, that is a joint meeting of two academic societies that are dedicated to British women's writing, 1660-1830, that will be held on Duquesne University campus, Pittsburgh, PA, in November 2017. We are looking to build upon the successful Edit-a-thon from our grant in 2015, that was held at the Behn conference in 2015, and address the editor gender gap and the content gender gap. Our event will:

1. Recruit new editors
2. Increase skills for existing editors
3. Add or improve content

Project Plan

Activities

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:

1. Are you doing one editathon or training or a series of editathons or trainings?

We are scheduling an editathon for Wednesday, November 1st on Duquesne University campus, that will build on previous skills learned in 2015, engage new conference participants in Wikipedia editing, and create polished content. While this Editathon is part of the Behn-Burney conference, it is a pre-conference event that is free and open to the public. We hope to engage local Wikipedians and academics who are interested in British women's writing , editing, and Wikipedia. We have set aside five hours for the Editathon, so that people have flexibility to attend.

2. How will you let your community know about the event? Please paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions.

The Editathon has been promoted in the conference materials: in the Call for Papers for the conference (which was distributed to the Aphra Behn Society listserv, the Burney Society listerv, the listserv for the American Society of Eighteenth Century Studies, and the listserv for the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism). Flyers for the Behn Burney conference, with notice of the Editathon, were distributed at the national conference of the American Society of Eighteenth Century Studies (in March 2017). The Editathon is posted on the conference website. The conference has been posted on the Aphra Behn Society's Facebook page and twitter feeds, and will continue to be posted in media blasts as the conference nears. Kelly Doyle will also post on her professional social media about the Editathon. We plan to discuss with WikiProject:Women in Red ways to help promote the event, so that we can gain more remote editors for this event and embrace the Wikimedia community.

3. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead the event?

Kelly Doyle, the Wikipedian in residence for Gender Equity at West Virginia University, will be conducting training and helping attendees learn Wikipedia editorial practices. Laura Runge, the organizer of the 2015 Behn Wikipedia Editathon, will be attending the 2017 Editathon, and help facilitate the event. West Virginia University students who have been trained by Kelly Doyle in the ways of Wikipedia will be attending the event, and helping new editors.

4. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them?

Participants will be bringing laptops, chargers, and so on. The majority of the participants will be academics who have strong writing skills; some will need guidance in Wikipedia's rules and editing, and those who have participated previously may need some refresher support.

5. How will you engage participants after the event(s)?

We will send out a summary email of all the work completed at the Editathon, and a survey of participants regarding their experience. We will also document usernames and followup with users on their Talk pages.

6. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?

We are excited to engage academics about Wikipedia and the gender gap. As academics committed to public humanities, this Editathon is a means to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and public discourse, and bring academic knowledge into the public sphere in useful, accessible ways.

Impact

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets:

1. Number of events: 1
2. Number of participants: we are anticipating approximately 50 people.
3. Number of new editors: we are hoping for 25-30 editors, of which 15-20 will be new editors.
4. Number of of articles created or improved: we are hoping for approximately 25 improved or created articles.
5. Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events): while this is not part of a series, we are hoping for 5-10 repeat editors from the 2015 event.

Resources

What resources do you have? Include information on who is organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).

The Editathon is being organized by Professor Marilyn Francus (West Virginia University) and Professor Laura Engel (Duquesne University). We have arranged the tech-enabled room for the Editathon on Duquesne campus, and we marketed the Editathon. Duquesne University has provided the room for free. The Behn Society and the Burney Society are committed to pursuing the Editathon and public humanities, and we are looking for ways to continue to integrate the Editathon into our conferences.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.

Funding for water, coffee, snacks: $300

Funding for transportation for Kelly Doyle (from Morgantown, WV to Pittsburgh, PA): $85 for gas (150 round trip, Morgantown, WV to Pittsburgh, PA)

Funding for Wikipedia swag (buttons, stickers, shipping): $30

Total: $415

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