{"id":1057,"date":"2019-05-08T14:59:32","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T14:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/wir\/?p=1057"},"modified":"2019-05-08T14:59:32","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T14:59:32","slug":"balance-for-better-recognising-notable-edinburgh-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/wir\/balance-for-better-recognising-notable-edinburgh-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Balance for Better\u00a0\u2013 recognising notable Edinburgh women\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest post by Lorraine Spalding,<\/strong> LTW Communications Manager at the University of Edinburgh.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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IWD badges<\/p><\/div>\n

The theme of International Women\u2019s Day 2019<\/a> was Balance for Better<\/strong>.\u00a0 In keeping with the spirit of better balance,\u00a0<\/span>the Board Room at Argyle House and\u00a0<\/span>three<\/span> training rooms were renamed after notable women<\/span>\u00a0with connections to Edinburgh<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Brenda Moon Boardroom was officially opened on International Women\u2019s Day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Brenda was one of the first woman to head up a research university library when she was Librarian here at the University of Edinburgh in the 1980s and 90s.\u00a0 She played a major role in bringing the University into the digital age, as Edinburgh became one of the first major university libraries in the UK to tackle and deliver a computer-based service.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The training rooms are being named after<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Marjorie Rackstraw, Irene J. Young, and Annie Hutton Numbers<\/span>, three other remarkable women<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Two events coincided with the launch of the Brenda Moon Boardroom.\u00a0 Our\u202fWikimedian\u202fin Residence, Ewan McAndrew, hosted a Wikipedia\u00a0editathon\u00a0for staff, students and friends of the University to create Wikipedia entries for notable women currently missing from the encyclopaedia site.\u00a0 Only 17.77% of the English Wikipedia’s biographies are about women.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A<\/span>t the Main Library, LTW Equality and Diversity Images Intern Francesca\u202fVavotici\u202fhost<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0a \u2018Sketch-a-thon\u2019 using images from the Centre for Research Collections\u2019 Special Collections<\/span>\u00a0taking participants through a series of fun, fast-paced challenges portraying the work of pioneering women.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Francesca Vavotici, Gender & Equality PhD Intern<\/p><\/div>\n

Women of Edinburgh \u2013 a Wikipedia\u00a0editathon<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

As a result of the\u00a0editathon\u00a0a\u00a0<\/span>tota<\/span>l of<\/span>\u00a019,000 words were added in creating nine new Wikipedia pages and improving another 52.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Staff, students and members of the public joined us to celebrate the lives and contributions of the notable Women of Edinburgh missing from the free and open online\u00a0<\/span>encyclopaedia<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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T<\/span>he founder of\u00a0<\/span>WikiProject Women in Red<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(a project to address the systemic gender bias on Wikipedia<\/span>\u00a0through volunteer editors creating new biographies about notable women<\/span>)<\/span>\u00a0took part on the event<\/span>\u00a0and two student editors\u00a0<\/span>were motivated to take<\/span>\u00a0part\u00a0<\/span>in the event\u00a0<\/span>remotely in Johannesburg.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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If<\/span>\u00a0you\u2019re interested in taking part in an\u00a0editathon, why not head to Portobello for\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>next Portobello Library editathon<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>organised by the Portobello Heritage Trust\u00a0<\/span>on 29 June. Open to all.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other dates for your diary:yas<\/p>\n