Submissions/Women on wikiHow

From Wikimania 2012 • Washington, D.C., USA

This is an accepted submission for Wikimania 2012.

Submission no.

55

Title of the submission
Women on wikiHow: A closer look at the gender gap (or lack thereof) on wikiHow
Type of submission (workshop, tutorial, panel, presentation)
Presentation
Author of the submission
Krystle Chung
E-mail address
krystle@wikihow.com
Username
wikiHowKrystle
Country of origin
USA
Affiliation, if any (organization, company etc.)
wikiHow.com Community Manager
Personal homepage or blog
http://www.wikihow.com/User:Krystle
Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)
wikiHow is a collaborative how-to manual that uses the same MediaWiki software as Wikipedia and is read by over 35 million people per month. At the core of this project is a volunteer community of editors that makes over 70,000 article (main namespace) edits per month. While Wikipedia has drawn attention for its gender gap, wikiHow is a similar project that has been recognized by some for its noticeably higher proportion of female contributors. For example, a glance at the 44 active community members during the week of 3/5/12 through 3/11/12 (defined as contributors who have made over 500 edits to wikiHow and made more than 10 edits during this time period) shows 15 females (34%), 25 males (57%), and 4 people whose gender is unknown. On Wikipedia, the number of female contributors is suggested to be under 13%. This presentation will focus on documenting the gender gap on wikiHow, comparing it to gender ratios on Wikipedia and other sites, and exploring several factors that may have influenced wikiHow's gender ratio. Some of the potential factors that will be discussed include the culture of wikiHow, nature of the content (how-to vs. facts) and influence of staff gender ratio. Results from a survey of wikiHow community members will be presented, including insights from more in-depth interviews with some of the people (both male and female) who contribute regularly on wikiHow and will be asked questions about why they think wikiHow is an environment where many women feel comfortable contributing. Another issue that will be explored is how the gender ratio on wikiHow is changing over time, if at all. The presentation will be made by the community manager at wikiHow, a woman who has been heavily involved with the project and the volunteer community since it started in 2005. Insights drawn from this examination may help with identifying ways in which projects such as Wikipedia can encourage more female participation.
Track
WikiCulture and Community; Research, Analysis, and Education
Length of presentation/talk
25 Minutes
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
Yes
Slides or further information (optional)
Special request as to time of presentations
Please do not schedule this presentation at the same time as the one by Jack Herrick, founder of wikiHow, so that those interested in gleaning insights from wikiHow can attend both. http://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/wiki_for_Everyone:_Culture_and_Features_at_wikiHow


Interested attendees

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  1. Ttrimm (talk
  2. Khluvr621 (talk) 12:37, 14 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Wester Eric (talk) 14:17, 14 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  4. JordanB (talk) 14:18, 14 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Bokehmon (talk) 16:07, 14 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  6. JackHerrick (talk) 16:54, 14 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  7. Tiagoroth (talk) 17:53, 14 March 2012 (UTC)Tiagoroth[reply]
  8. Dvortygirl (talk) 06:19, 15 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  9. Carolmooredc (talk) 18:37, 16 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  10. --Poupou l'quourouce (talk) 19:49, 18 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  11. Looking forward to learning more about what Wikipedia can learn from WikiHow and if possible...vice versa. SarahStierch (talk) 20:35, 21 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  12. Please include data from the survey into the abstract. Psychology (talk) 15:23, 24 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  13. Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 23:47, 27 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  14. Versageek (talk) 16:07, 1 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  15. Mdotley (talk)
  16. --Julia Kloppenburg (WMDE) (talk) 18:26, 8 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  17. Carol Bean
  18. Add your username here.
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