Wikipedia) are about men (Ford & Wajcman, 2017). This means there is clear gender bias in terms of the stories being disseminated online, the choices being made in their creation and curation and who is writing these stories (Allen, 2020).
Yet, 69 percent of participating editors at the University of Edinburgh have been women, demonstrating that Wikipedia editing does not have to be the preserve of “white, college-educated males” (Wikimedia, 2011). Addressing systemic bias and underrepresentation online has consistently been a key motivator for sta and students at the University—working toward building a fairer, more inclusive Internet and society.
The residency has facilitated monthly “Wiki Women in Red” workshops for the last four years and created a supportive setting where students and staff can come together to learn a new digital skill. Attendees research a notable woman not yet represented with a page on Wikipedia (a red hyperlinked article title on Wikipedia indicates people or topics without a Wikipedia page . . . yet), then apply their new skills by turning this red link “blue” through writing and publishing a brand-new page as a blue clickable link as a tangible outcome they can be proud of. As a result of the success of this approach, Wikipedia Women in Red edit-a-thons are now included in the University’s Athena Scientific Women’s Academic Network (SWAN) charter plan to highlight female achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to encourage and inspire new STEM careers.
The Map of Accused Witches in Scotland
The Data Visualization Internship was organized through Equate Scotland Careerwise—an initiative that arranges paid placements in industry for women working in STEM subjects. Geography undergraduate Emma Carroll spent three months working with the residency, learning new digital and data literacy skills, in order to add coordinate positions for all the locations cataloged in the landmark Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database to Wikidata (The University of Edinburgh, 2003).
