Most people have found themselves on Wikipedia at some point. The free online encyclopedia started in 2001 and now is nearing 7 million articles in English.
The website is made completely from volunteers all over the world including Montana. MSU library recently hosted it’s second annual Wikipedia Edit-a-thon to encourage students and community members to add a Montana perspective to the global website.
Mel Pomeroy , curator of archives and special collections at Montana State University library helped organize the event.
“There's always this idea that in order to get information out there you need to be the expert of the expert, what we kind of try and promote here at these events is every little bit helps.”
The Edit-a-thon this year was aimed at helping add photos , citations and creating new articles about notable women in Montana.
According to Wikipeida’s own data less than 20% of biographies on the site are of women.
By the end of the day there had been 3 new Montana women biographies published.
“Ellen Baumler March 8th 1949 died December 16th 2023 Montana historian and author she worked at the Montana historical society as an interpretive historian”
Jamie Flood, a Wikipedian who taught basic editing techniques has been editing for 9 years.
“Editing at home and for most editors is very lonely cuz it's just you and your computer which is great but I think…community is really important especially to keep women interested in editing and to be supportive”
About 30 people came to the workshop in the library and about a dozen more joined online. While the event is over, the groups shared to-do list of notable Montana women will keep getting worked on online.
