According to Wikipedia, wikis are websites that "provide collaborative modification of its content and structure directly from the web browser." In other words, a website that can be collectively edited by all of its online users. One of the most popular Wikis - by far - is Wikipedia itself, a name almost synonymous with the greater concept of Wikis. It has amassed well over 5 million articles in the 16 years since its start, and it continues to grow and grow. Given the old adage, "Too many cooks can spoil the stew," an enormous community-governed effort of editing and fact-checking such as this is impressive.
But it is far from perfect. The gender gap is surprisingly wide - only around 10% of Wikipedia's contributors identify as women.
We have a conversation with Jamie Ratliff, Assistant Professor of Art History at UMD. She was part of an effort held at the Duluth Art Institute (and around the world) this past Sunday to make both Wikipedia's contributors and content more broad and inclusive, the fourth annual Wiki Edit-a-thon for Arts & Equality, as part of the by the Art+Feminism 2017 Campaign.
