The purpose of this document is to provide a working document outline for the wikigender community on “How Wikigender Works”. This is an open document so comments and amendments are encouraged. This document will provide the foundation for the management and development of Wikigender.

Wikigender was launched on 8 March 2008, on the occasion of International Women’s Day. Since then, over 1, 200 articles have been created by more than 1, 200 users. Clearly those figures show that wikigender has great potential for serving as an information hub for the community engaged in analysis and research on gender-related issues, in both developed and developing countries. Wikigender relies on its contributors and experts to engage the gender community in analysis, in order to widen and deepen the content of the website. In particular, Wikigender is looking to considerably develop its statistical wiki which will concentrate on how to measure progress in gender equality.

Languages

Wikigender does not restrict its content to English only, although English was the starting point. The site also exists in French (Wikigender French), and there is strong support for extending the site to Spanish and Arabic language versions in the future. The purpose of extending the number of languages is to provide an easier access for the users that are coming from different regions of the world.

Until we have WIkigender in other languages, we encourage users to post articles in French or Spanish as long as they are categorised by “Francais” or “Espanol”.

Review process

Ensuring the quality of contributions to the site is important to the credibility of the site, and the return of browsers and contributors. This section deals with aspects of identifying reviewers, and setting up standard rules regarding the reviewing process and the rejection of submissions to the site.

Contributions to the site Contributions will be done on the simple basis of common understood dimensions (education, health, political participation, social institutions and so on). The quantity of entries and contributions will determine the final review process. To help with defining the structure of contributions, below is an example of a “seed article”.

Examples of articles:

  • Seed Article:http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/AusAid
  • Longer article: http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/Child_marriage
  • Country profile: http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/Gender_Equality_in_Peru
  • Official page (Protected content): http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/Statistics:Composite_Indicators

Contributing text is not the only possible contribution. Wikigender users will also soon be able to contribute data to the site in the form of static and interactive tables and charts.

Articles (or “contributions”) can be categorised into “seed” or “static” articles. A clear distinction between these two types of articles means that user-review treatment can also be categorised.

  • Seed articles will be unpublished articles directly added to the site by a registered user. Other registered users will be able to add comments, discuss or update the article (and can include links to relevant published or unpublished material [data or text] hosted elsewhere).
  • Static articles are uneditable published reports, or articles written and submitted for official review. Responses to static articles will be in the form of seed articles or comments.

All users contributing or editing the site will be registered. All editing will be linked to registered users’ history.

The Wiki environment is open access. Editing and reviewing of seed or static articles should be a collaborative process. A collaborative reviewing process will involve both browser reviewers and official reviewers.

Contributers should be aware that the community will be watching the pages to ensure that the information uploaded is related to gender research and professional practice.

All reviews are done after the pages are loaded. When a contributer edits or writes, the information will go live immediately.

Posting rules

Content Guidelines

The following steps outline the content checking process to guide all contributors:

1. Contributions [data or text] should refer to gender-related issues

2. Contributions should be different to other articles on the site, or directly related to other articles on the site (and should be linked)

3. Basic grammar and spelling should be checked

4. Graphs, charts and tables should be clearly labeled and readable

5. Quotes, data etc., should be referenced

6. Statistical language and jargon should be limited or directly linked to a definition or article explaining the terms (preferably on wikigender)

7. Links embedded in the article should be checked

8. Where articles fail to meet these standards the article (or text or charts in the article) will be flagged for general edit (to invite browsers to update references for instance)

9. The article should not include offensive material, advertising or links to external offensive or commercial websites.
The following is the first draft of a letter which will be sent in case of the removal or rejection of an article.

 

Letter of Rejection

“Dear Poster

Your recent submission to wikigender (date) has been rejected because the content violates one or more of the following rules:

1. Content is judged to fall outside of the scope of gender-related issues

2. Content includes unsolicited advertisement

3. Content or use of language is offensive

Please amend and resubmit your article or comment. An attempt to resubmit without amending the content may result in your registration being reviewed.

With regards, the WIKIGENDER review team”

 

Upcoming data review process

The data section for the www.wikiprogress.org website will develop a two-tier review process. Simply described, users can upload data and flag it, if they choose, for review. Checked data will be stored separately from unchecked data, though both will be accessible to users. Whether a review process has been undertaken will be made clear in the presentation of the data. All data will be accessible in the same ways, either exported using various software (docs, pdfs, excel, csv), in the interactive charts and other online tools, or imported into wiki texts to develop seed articles in the text section of the site.

Static sections

It is envisaged that some contributing institutions will require static sections on the wikigender to ensure the work they contribute is not directly edited, but can be commented on (see response to static articles above).

While any registered user can create new articles, expert or partner institutions can prevent other users from editing their pages by setting their page as “official”, therefore protecting their content. This content will be recognisable on the Website by the label “OECD Official Page” or “[Partner Name] Official Page” (example here: IFC page).

Logos and affiliations Each affiliated institution will have a portal page on wikigender (see the UN Wikipedia portal). Portals for affiliating institutions will be accessed via a permanent portal link on the main page. Affiliated institutions interested in contributing a portal page will be asked to copy a template design, including logos, standard descriptions, and links.

Help with uploading contributions All contributors will be asked to upload their own results; for those institutions requesting a portal page a template will be provided. All other data will be uploaded centrally by a nominated researcher or editor. Articles provided may be reviewed on request. Members of the managing consortium will be asked to act as reviewers.

Simultaneous promotion Once their contributions are uploaded, all contributors are being asked to email the institutional lists they are members of to make them aware of the wikigender project.

Contributors presently engaged with, or knowing of other professional groups working on the topic or on similar projects, should contact them early. Large professional groups can be offered portal pages.

Links to other groups and their involvement? As part of the wikigender project attempts will be made to link the network and site to other professional groups. Foundations with undertaking gender related initiatives globally will also be approached. Foundations may be able to help with funding the development of wikigender, as well as increase the visibility of wikigender amongst gender researchers and professional in developing countries.