The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and Wikimedia Spain are organising, on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a Wikipedia editing workshop and an edit-a-thon of biographies of female astronomers and astrophysicists, an initiative that seeks to highlight the talent of women in the field of astronomy and astrophysics and contribute to reducing existing content gaps in the free encyclopaedia.
The proposal is divided into two complementary days, designed to facilitate participation by anyone, regardless of their level of prior knowledge about editing Wikipedia. On Friday, 6 February, there will be a practical wiki workshop introducing editing, in which attendees will learn the basics of editing articles, using the Wikipedia translation tool and creating a biography from scratch. On Friday, 13 February, there will be an edit-a-thon, a day of collective editing focused on translating, creating and improving biographies of female astronomers and astrophysicists, with the aim of generating a significant contribution of new knowledge.
Both activities will take place in person at the IAC Headquarters in La Laguna and can also be followed and participated in online via the Zoom platform, in order to facilitate participation from anywhere. The edit-a-thon will also have two editing shifts, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, allowing those registered to choose the schedule that best suits their availability or to participate in both.
The call is open to anyone interested in contributing to free knowledge and scientific dissemination, although places for in-person attendance are limited. Registration is done through the form provided for the activity, where detailed information about the conference can also be found.
In addition to direct participation in the editing sessions, the initiative invites collaboration by spreading the word among potentially interested individuals and proposing articles on female astronomers and astrophysicists that can be translated, created, or improved during the edit-a-thon, thereby reinforcing the collective impact of the activity.
In the year that Wikipedia celebrates its 25th anniversary, the IAC and Wikimedia Spain want to highlight the power of free knowledge and emphasise the importance of encouraging more people to contribute to, strengthen and expand the content that has made this project a global benchmark, especially in scientific fields where the presence and recognition of women remains insufficient.
