FemTechNet @ UC Irvine

EAD faculty member Antoinette LaFarge is a member of FemTechnet, a loose network of women involved professionally with technology, feminism, science studies, and related areas. She is part of a subgroup of members who are spending time working on Wikipedia to add missing material in their areas of expertise and otherwise encouraging broader public participation in editing Wikipedia. Last fall, she took part in a Wikipedia editathon organized by FemTechNet and Wikipedia, at Claremont Graduate Colleges. Here’s a post about the event by Wikipedia editor Adrianne Wadewitz, who was informative and candid about the ins and outs of Wikipedia editing. Other editathons have been organized at colleges and universities nationwide, and FemTechNet’s “wikistorming” initiative has drawn attention in the media, most of it positive. The Daily Dot ran a piece that gives a good sense of why FemTechNet organized its wikistorming activities in the first place. This fall, Antoinette is having some of her digital media students work on Wikipedia entries on technology and art. She is also been working with other FemTechNet members to create a page on the FemTechNet website that offers resources for teaching with Wikipedia.