On Tuesday 12th October 2021, the University’s Information Services team are celebrating Ada Lovelace Day 2021 which is an international celebration day of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
This year #ALD2021 will have fun & impactful Wikipedia editing activities and evening networking events. After a year like no other, it is even more important that we come together online and in-person (if we can) to celebrate and support one another this year.
Who was Ada Lovelace? 7 facts you need to know.
Programme overview
There are two events at our Science and Engineering campus:
- 2-5pm: Women in STEM- a Wikipedia editing event in Teaching Studio 3212 in the James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB) to create new articles focused on the lives and contributions of notable women in science, technology, engineering and maths. Book to attend on Eventbrite.
- 5.16.45: Networking event at the School of Chemistry (Zoom and in-person).
All events are open to staff and students at University of Edinburgh. You can read about our work Changing the Way Stories Are Told: Improving Wikipedia Content about Women in Scotland in a new Open Access book on Wikipedia and Academic Libraries.
Booking details – Tuesday 12 October 2021
1. The Wikipedia editathon in the JCMB building – booking is now open!
- 2pm – Arrive in Teaching Studio 3212 in James Clerk Maxwell Building.
- 2:15pm to 3pm – Learn a new digital skill in learning how to edit Wikipedia
- 3pm to 3.15pm – Tea break!
- 3.15pm to 4:30pm – Researching and writing new pages about inspirational #WomenInSTEM
- 4.30pm to 5pm – Publishing your new page on Wikipedia!
- 5pm – Show off your brand new page and event close.
We are also currently accepting nominations for suggested Wikipedia articles:
We just need a name suggestion of someone suitably notable/eminent in their field and some sources of information (reliable published secondary sources ideally independent of the person themselves) to get a bio written of 50-100 words or more and help others all around the world read, discover and be inspired by their work.
2. Evening networking event – Women in Chemistry (5.30-6.45pm (Zoom and in-person event)
The School of Chemistry are organising a hybrid event to celebrate Ada Lovelace Day and the 5 year anniversary of the Christina Miller Fellowship scheme, with the 5 Christina Miller Fellows sharing their stories and experiences (inc. Dr. Jenni Garden). In this short video, Dr. Jenni Garden and Professor Michael Seery discuss “What do we want the modern graduate to be?”
The online part of the event will run from 5:30 – 6:45pm using Zoom.
More details are available on Eventbrite.
3. Ada Hack
The Edinburgh Hoppers have decided to organise a hackathon in honour of Ada Lovelace. It’ll be taking place from 15th – 17th October, virtually. Here is the link to the Adahack website for more information : https://adahack.tech/.
4. Colour your own Ada and Mary – Ada Lovelace OERS
These Open Education Resources are free to use and colour in from our Interactive Content Blog, Flickr and Wikimedia Commons:
Garden of Ada (Ada Lovelace):
Blog page: https://interactive-content.is.ed.ac.uk/ald15/
Mechanism of the Heavens (Mary Somerville):
Blog page: https://interactive-content.is.ed.ac.uk/mechanism-of-the-heavens/
More OERs can be found on our OER Service page:
5. Free short online STEM courses
More than 4 million learners have taken one of our free short online courses, and more than half of the learners on FutureLearn and Coursera are women! We’ve a huge choice of STEM short online courses you can take – and they’re totally free. Here are just a few:
Browse our whole catalogue of STEM short online courses here!
6. Why we still need to talk about Diversity in STEM
The Imperial College physicist Dr. Jess Wade was named one of Nature’s ’10 people who matter in Science’ 2018, as she made the resolution to make a Wikipedia page every day to highlight the often underacknowledged work of women, LGBT+ and scientists of colour. She has now written almost 1,500 biographies of women in STEM onto Wikipedia now. Jess recorded this talk for us last August and this one for the Women in STEM Society , on Why we still need to talk about Diversity in STEM.
Jess is only one person and we need LOTS more editors to help combat gender inequality. Only ~10% of Wikipedia editors are female which skews the content available in our search results so we need more female editors but we need more men to step up too to write about these gaps in our shared knowledge. Some suggested names for inspiring women in STEM missing from our search results are on this Women in Red list.
There will also be Wikipedia editing events happening in England, Wales, and New Zealand on the same day.
7. Resources to bridge the digital gender divide
In celebration of Ada Lovelace Day 2021, the Digital Skills and Training team have created a resource list dedicated to bridging the digital gender divide. As Ada Lovelace Day celebrates the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM), we thought it was time to shine a light on the barriers that women and girls the world over face when it comes to digital participation – particularly, the abuse and harassment that women face online. The following resources offer more information on the digital gender divide and the steps needed to close it. Content warning: Sexism, violence.
Link: Resource List