Let’s get women and non-binary journalists onto Wikipedia! Whether you have 15 minutes or an hour, follow these steps to get these journalists their due on one of the world’s most popular and influential platforms!
Join the movement
Sign up to tell us who you think needs to be recognized on Wikipedia. We’ll send you the form to make a nomination and also introduce you to new biographies on Wikipeda. You’ll also get links to assignments and instructions about how to add or edit articles!
Step One: Make a nomination
Making a nomination is really simple! Just fill out the google form here — it should only take a couple minutes. Our team will review and enter your nominee in our system. (We’re volunteers, so please be patient!)
Step Two: Add an image
Once you submit your nomination, you’ll be prompted to add an image to Wikimedia Commons. An image encourages editors to write these biographies, so take a moment to upload one that you own or is in the public domain. Click here to upload an image of your nominee!
You can also scroll the assignments below and help add images for other nominees.
Step Three: Write or edit an article
First, you’ll need to be a Wikipedia editor. The best way to learn to edit is to spend some time with the Wikipedia Adventure. It is a guided tour that will show you how to use the source editor and participate on the platform! Or, just make an account and log in.
To get help strengthening and reviewing articles, join us on Slack here. The power of Women Do News is that we work together to improve, edit and move articles into Wikipedia’s main space. This is how we make strong articles that survive Wikipedia’s review system. (It’s also just a really cool group of people!)
When picking a journalist to work on, make sure to:
- Choose someone you don’t know personally. This is important for Wikipedia integrity.
- Choose someone for whom you can find independent, credible information. We’re looking for at least THREE reputable sources of information that are independent of the subject — things written ABOUT the journalist rather than BY them. Wikipedia likes books, magazines, newspapers, academic journals and awards citations, but personal websites, promotional materials, LinkedIn pages and author bios will often get flagged.
- Click on the hyperlink in the table below and start creating a draft in Wikipedia. The journalists listed have either a blank draft page, or a short article in need of improvement. When you are done writing, “publish” your draft and jump into our Slack channel and let us know! Or, if you are already experienced and feel confident, send it off for review or move it to the Wikipedia main space.
- Add images to articles to help make them more visible. If an image was not added during the nomination process, you’ll see that some biographies still need them. You can add the image by placing it in Wikimedia Commons and then associating it with the article. If you need help, holler in Slack!
Step Four: Help create citations for underrepresented journalists
As you work, you’ll notice that many of the worthy women journalists who have been nominated have not been written about by independent and credible sources. (They haven’t been profiled or their work has not been featured by outlets that aren’t their employers.) One way we can help get more women journalists onto Wikipedia is by encouraging media critics, popular culture writers and organizations to feature women journalists and talk to them about their careers and work.
If you’ve found at least three independent citations for a nominated journalist, you can also submit a nomination form again so we can update their status.
Step Five: Grow the movement!
Tell a friend to join us at womendonews.org and tweet about the biographies that go live using the hashtag #womendonews!