We in NYC applaud Dr. Wade’s Wikipedia work. Brava! It would have been nice if The NY Times could have mentioned the many Wikipedia-thon sessions being organized right here in NYC to add more women and people of color both as content and as editors. A shoutout to groups like Fordham Univ., Monumental Women, AfroCROWD and many others for their work right here in NYC.
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When I met my (female) math professor friend for dinner and a movie she shyly, excitedly, offered that she'd just been added to Wikipedia. We read through the entry together, giggling and feircely exhilarated at the same time. She's brilliant and I'm proud of her and so proud of Dr. Wade for her effort!
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“[P]hysics is still very much that kind of elitist, white boy subject.”
I think that many Asians and people who have studied alongside Asians will be surprised to learn that.
22
Bless you, Dt. Wade! What a fabulous contribution!! It's wonderful to see someone doing something concrete to bring these women and their work into the light of day.
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The article should have reminded readers that Dr Donna Strickland (Nobel in Physics for 2018) did not have a wiki page because ‘her bio did not meet wiki’s notability criteria’. That alone exemplifies the importance of the work that Drs Wade and Zaringhalam are doing.
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Most Wikipedia profiles are of men because most of the publicly important contributions to world history have been made by men.
Until modern medicine made it possible for most infants born to live to adulthood, it was essential for each society to have almost all women of childbearing age busy bearing children. Religious and ideological reasons for this division of labor were created, but the ultimate cause was biological reality.
20
What a silly point of view. My 7 th grade students understand more about culture, contraception, and bias against women than you seem to.
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Thank you Dr. Wade
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There is a serious problem with only 20% of the scientist profiles in Wikipedia being of women in case this percentage is disproportionately low among scientists of equal stature.
Unfortunately, the article does not address this issue. If the profiles of female scientists being added are of equal stature with the existing scientist profiles, that is exactly the appropriate remedy.
But if not, there is the risk that someday someone will do an analysis of Wikipedia scientist profiles and determine that the male profiles among them are of better scientists than the females, which might hurt women's progress.
20
Seeing is believing. Let's deal with that problem if it arises and deal with the current one now. Better yet, just add more yourself.
5
@polymath If Wikipedia's notability criteria is met, the female scientist should have her biography added to Wikipedia. Simple as that.
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@polymath "Then I check if they meet the notability criteria on Wikipedia, which is a set of rules to determine whether someone is important enough to be on the site."
Really would be a shame if a few women got more credit than they deserved, 'cause that never happens with men. Please.
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