Get ready for Critical Social Justice: Ignite with our What You Need to Know series. Written by Courtney Hobson, Coordinator in the Dresher Center for the Humanities.

When you need to look up information on the internet, Google is the number one site we typically go to. If you type in “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” or “Aretha Franklin,” the first result will likely be an article on Wikipedia.

For those of you not in the know, Wikipedia is a free open-source encyclopedia which means that anyone can edit it. Most of the editors consist of academics or hobbyists who, with time, a computer and a steady internet connection, are generating informative articles that are viewed by millions all over the world.

As one of the top ten visited internet sites in the world, Wikipedia is not merely a tool to record facts; it is helping to shape our collective knowledge. Winston Churchill once remarked that, “history is written by the victors.” Knowing our history is important, but knowing the authors is even moreso. This brings us to editing articles on Wikipedia.

Less than 10% of Wikipedia’s editors identify as cis or trans women and the editors that do identify as women are more likely than men to have their edits reverted.

What does this mean? This means that women are not seen or valued as notable contributors to our society. The statistics are similarly dismal for POC.

Editing Wikipedia is a step towards challenging systemic structures that tell us what information is important enough to know. It is a step that I realized that anyone could take when I attended my first edit-a-thon in 2016 at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The edit-a-thon focused on expanding or creating articles about Black artists. With just 30 minutes of writing and research, I was able to create an short article or stub. I am now one of those hobbyists who edit articles for fun, but I focus on adding content about people from Baltimore, especially Black women.

For the CSJ: Ignite Wikipedia edit-a-thon, we will have a chance to discuss these issues in greater depth, as well as explore resources available through our library. But most importantly, we will inject Wikipedia with a bit of Baltimore and shine a light on figures and events who have shaped our city.

Further reading below:

• Gender bias on Wikipedia
• Wikimedia Foundation releases gender bias report
• Why didn’t Wikipedia have an article on Donna Strickland, a Nobel Prize winner?
• Doing the work: Editing Wikipedia as an act of reconciliation
• How Does Political Wikipedia Stay Apolitical?
• Why I’m making it My Feminist Mission to End Wikipedia’s Notability Policy
• Art and Feminism
• afroCROWD
• Women in Red Wikiproject

• All retail food venues on campus have been closed for the day. True Grit’s Dining Hall is open and operating normally.
• Due to limited staffing, Commons, University Center, and the RAC are closed for the day. All academic buildings are now open and operating on their normal Friday schedule. Retriever Learning Center is also open.
• UMBC Transit will continue normal operation and athletic practices will continue as scheduled.

• Poetry Slam, 6:30 p.m., Lobby and Atrium, PAHB has been cancelled.
• Blockshow, 8 p.m., Fine Arts Recital Hall, has been cancelled.
• Dance Party, 10 p.m., UC Ballroom, has been cancelled.

• We have developed a scope of work for an outside expert or firm to review all aspects of our sexual misconduct prevention and response policies and training and awareness programs to help determine where we can learn from other institutions’ best practices and evidence-based research. We are also reaching out to national experts to identify potential consultants. Student, faculty, and staff advisory committees will guide this work.
  
  
• Student leaders led a two-hour tour through UMBC’s main campus with President Hrabowski, members of the accountability team, and representatives from Facilities Management and UMBC Police to see where lighting needs to be improved. The Facilities Management team and police have repaired over 50 fixtures in areas of concern to students. Facilities Management will also add lighting around the Performing Arts and Humanities Building (PAHB), and from the PAHB to the main campus entrance circle, with construction due to begin in January and completion expected by June.
  
  
• UMBC will issue new campus ID cards that include emergency contact information for quick access by students, faculty, and staff. We anticipate the new cards will be available in the spring.
  
  
• Mandatory Title IX and sexual misconduct training and education will be required of all faculty, staff, and students, to expand on training efforts already underway. The resources required have been allocated for face-to-face training to complement online education, and we are working with faculty, staff and students to ensure that the training focuses not only on Title IX, but also more broadly on how each of us can support and appropriately care for our fellow community members.
  
  
• UMBC Police are working with the Division of Information Technology to develop a safety feature on myUMBC that will allow students, faculty, and staff to quickly access emergency contacts and alert Facilities Management about campus lighting or building security problems.
  
  
• New student resource guides are now posted in residence halls, and we are working with the community to develop additional posters, signs, and other resources for all areas of campus.