To encourage discussion on gender and sexual minorities, Queerala, in association with Wikimedia India chapter, is organizing a ‘Wiki loves Pride – LGBT Edit-a-thon’ in Kochi on November 29.
Participants at the event will be trained to write and edit articles for Wikipedia. They will be encouraged to write, edit, and translate articles about LGBT issues. The edit-a-thon is an attempt to improve the representation of LGBT groups online and to provide information on rights campaigns, and laws.
The event will be held at Startup Village from 10 a.m. onwards. “Wikipedia is the first thing people refer to for information these days. We found that despite all the public discussion about Section 377 and criminalization of homosexuality, there are hardly any Wikipedia entries in Malayalam on some of these topics. We would like to make more articles available in Malayalam,” said Jijo Kuriakose, one of the organisers of the event and founder of Queerala, an advocacy group for LGBT rights.
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Wikipedia insists that its editors write articles that are fair and refer to multiple sources for accurate information. In the first session, representatives of Wikipedia and technical experts will help participants learn more about editing for Wikipedia, guidelines, and formatting and categorizing. In the afternoon session, participants and organizers will create, expand, and translate articles pertinent to LGBT groups and issues on Wikipedia.
“This is only a beginning and we expect people to follow up on the work. After the seminar, people can use the training to continue writing and editing articles on the issue,” said Mr. Kuriakose.
The organizers have already prepared a list of topics on which articles need to be created or expanded on the site, such as homosexuality, organisations like Queerala, Queer Pride marches in Kerala, films that refer to LGBT rights and issues, and so on.
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Wikimedia organizes such edit-a-thons all over the world.
The event is open to the public free of cost.