Grants:Project/Rapid/UNI Feminist 2020

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UNI Edits 2019-2020
Building on our previous success recruiting editors and improving the diversity of Wikipedia (in editorship and content), Rod Library at the University of Northern Iowa will undertake a Wikipedia project during the spring 2020 semester for a Wikipedia celebration of feminism focusing primarily on women's history and their contributions to society. The project will include four main edit-a-thons: Voter Rights marking the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment in the US giving women the right to vote; Women in Red adding information about women to Wikipedia; Art+Feminism focusing on women and feminist issues in the arts; and Diversity in Comics as part of our local Comic-Con (RodCon) where we will improve the representation of women, feminism, and diversity issues on Wikipedia.
targetEN, Women in Red, Art+Feminism, Black Lunch Table
start dateFebruary 1
start year2020
end dateMay 15
end year2020
budget (local currency)2,000
budget (USD)2,000
grant typeorganization
non-profit statusYes
organization (if applicable)• University of Northern Iowa, Rod Library
website (if applicable) and


Project Goal[edit]


  1. Recruit new editors
  2. Increase skills for existing editors
  3. Add or improve content
  4. Increase knowledge of Wikipedia among campus and community constituents

Project Plan[edit]




We will be providing a series of edit-a-thons, trainings, and events over the course of the academic year, which begins August 26, 2019 and ends May 15, 2020. Edit-a-thons in spring semester 2020, will have themes including Voting Rights, Art and Feminism, Women in Red, and Diversity in Comics. Each event will include training on how to properly edit articles on Wikipedia.


Community members will be notified using the university's weekly email announcement bulletin, the university and library event calendars, Facebook event and social media promotion, and classroom announcements. We will also be collaborating with faculty to tie the events to course content and coordinating with interested student organizations. We also hope to coordinate with one of the local public libraries to promote events and possibly host one or more programs or edit-a-thons in their space to reach a different audience.


Yes, we will have multiple experienced Wikipedia editors leading each event. We aim to have at least one experienced Wikipedian to assist for every ten simultaneous participants.


Equipment will be available for all participants. Generally, participants have the research skills but will need support acquiring the Wikipedia skills. In addition to having experienced Wikipedians available to work with participants, we have developed posters and handouts that introduce the pillars and core tenets of Wikipedia as well as the basics of editing that are distillations of the content provided by Wiki Edu. We've had great success using Citation Hunt as a quick way to get new Wikipedians started. For the more experienced Wikipedians, we provide lists of articles that need to be created or improved and related research materials (e.g. print encyclopedias, scholarly books, etc.) which they can use as sources.


We will use the "thank" button to acknowledge the work done by participants. We will also send a survey to participants to gauge their satisfaction with the event(s) and solicit ideas for improvements.


After the successful completion of six previous edit-a-thons on campus, many participants--faculty, students, library workers--have asked us to continue hosting edit-a-thons. They are a valuable way of improving and practicing research and writing skills while simultaneously improving the information that is freely available on the internet.



  1. Number of edit-a-thons=4
  2. Number of edit-a-thon participants=60
  3. Number of new editors=30
  4. Number of of articles created or improved=120
  5. Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events)=20
  6. Number of programs about Wikipedia (e.g. presentations)=2
  7. Number of program participants=40



We will have multiple experienced Wikipedians including librarians, faculty, and a graduate assistant. The space, equipment, and wifi are available free of charge. Support is available for instructional materials like handouts.


  1. Food and drink = $250 x 4 edit-a-thons = $1000
  2. Childcare = $200 per event x 4 edit-a-thons = $800
  3. Advertising = $15 x 4 edit-a-thons = $60
  4. Swag = ($30 x 4 edit-a-thons) + ($10 x 2 programs) = $140


Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!