Women of the Olympics and Paralympics: A Wiki-Edit-A-Thon

You are cordially invited to join the LA84 Foundation, WISE LA (Women in Sports and Entertainment Los Angeles), Southern California Olympians & Paralympians, and Wikimedia District of Columbia for an evening all about fun, collaboration, and writingsome historical wrongs.

According to Wikipedia, only 17% of the biographical articles in the great, vast and crowd-sourced online encyclopedia are about women. The good news? That number is up from 15% just two years ago.

More good news? On September 7, we can keep that number growing. We’ll be working together to create, update, and expand existing Wikipedia articles related to women in the Olympics and Paralympics.

Special guests will be at the LA84 Foundation headquarters for the Edit-A-Thon, including prolific content contributor and a 2016 Wikipedian of the Year, Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight. Renata Simril, President and CEO of the LA84 Foundation will give welcoming remarks. You will also have the opportunity to meet Olympians and Paralympians!

More information:

• No experience is necessary — training will be provided — and everyone is welcome.
• Wikipedia facilitators will be on hand to teach best practices for creating entries, or improving current entries.
• No previous knowledge of women Olympians and Paralympians is necessary – our researchers have already identified a long list of names of people not currently in Wikipedia.
• LA84 Foundation librarians and archivists will be on hand to offer research assistance, including showing how to use the LA84.org digital library.
• Complimentary food and drinks will be served, courtesy of the Wikimedia Foundation.
• A deejay will be spinning.
• Kids are welcome to come hang out – we have couches and bean bags and table tennis and foosball.
• Bring your own laptop and power source.