bring community members into their spaces, making them aware of services, holdings, and expertise (Robichaud, 2017, p. 2). Edit-a-thons gained momentum and mainstream consciousness beginning in 2014 with the Art+Feminism organization coordinating its edit-a-thon series, an annual event taking place at GLAMs worldwide with the aim to address gender disparities found within Wikipedia—including biased and/or underrepresented content as well as a lack of diverse, contributing editors (Art+Feminism, 2020; Evans et al., 2015).
At Temple University, Art+Feminism edit-a-thons have been hosted or cohosted by the library since 2016. Efforts to extend reach have included partnering with the university’s art school and nearby academic libraries, bringing in panel speakers, as well as having librarians identify relevant courses whose faculty may wish students to participate or who may design assignments around the event. Art+Feminism’s ambassador network and online event kits—complete with organizing how-to guides, CC-licensed promotional materials, safe/brave space policies, lesson plans, video tutorials, training slide decks—have ensured that GLAM staff are supported and prepared to host edit-a-thons that foster communities of possibility.
Our collaboration on Wikipedia assignments began in December 2017, after an announcement about Wiki Education’s resources and training modules (WikiEdu) was sent through a feminist academic listserv. Paired with the announcement of the spring 2018’s Art+Feminism edit-a-thon, this seemed like a good moment to nd a way to incorporate a Wikipedia editing assignment into a course called LGBTQ Media Representation. The goals of the edit-a-thon directly intersected with the course content, and there would be staff on hand to help students navigate the editing process. WikiEdu’s dashboard allowed us to structure training modules, exercises, discussion questions, and assignments within a timeline so that students could work their way through learning Wikipedia policies, how the site works, and how to use the editor functions. e dashboard also permitted students to create sandboxes where they could draft edits and get peer and faculty feedback on them before migrating them to “Live” Wikipedia articles during the edit-a-thon. This also made it easier to assess their
