Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Carleton University/Analyzing Cinema, Gender, and Sexuality (Winter 2018)

Film scholars and critics have long ignored or underplayed women’s contributions to filmmaking. Most people in the public have never heard of the many women who have directed films throughout history or the women who are working today. However, Wikipedia—one of the world’s top 10 most popular websites—can be a powerful force bringing attention to women’s significant contributions to cinema.

In this assignment, students will write a new article or significantly improve an existing Wikipedia article about a woman filmmaker. The assignment gives students the opportunity to do original research, assess sources, learn technical, practice a different style of writing, collaborate with other students and Wikipedia editors to improve their article, and to write something that could be read by millions of people around the world.

Week 1
Welcome to your Wikipedia project's course timeline. This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project for your course. Be sure to check with your instructor to see if there are other pages you should be following as well.

This page breaks down writing a Wikipedia article into a series of steps, or milestones. These steps include online trainings to help you get started on Wikipedia.

Your course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the &quot;Get Help&quot; button on this page.

To get started, please read the following:


 * Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
 * Evaluating Wikipedia
 * Torres, Nicole. “Why Do So Few Women Edit Wikipedia?” Harvard Business Review, June 2, 2016
 * Wikipedia: Systemic Bias

Optional:


 * WikiProject Countering systemic bias
 * Wikipedia: Gender bias on Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link Prof. Horak sent you.

Before class on Wednesday, create an anonymous username for yourself on Wikipedia. Make sure your Wikipedia username cannot be traced back to you.

- Don’t: use your real name, hometown, date of birth, etc.

- Do: write down your password and add a password recovery email address.

Bring your laptop or tablet to class!

During class, you will work on your first Wikipedia tasks in class: registering for the Wiki Ed Course Dashboard, completing the interactive student training, and leaving messages on each others' Talk pages.

Make sure you have already created an anonymous Wikipedia username before you come to class!


 * Once you've created an account and enrolled in the course page, it's time to dive into Wikipedia. Below, you'll find the first set of online trainings you'll need to take. New modules will appear on this timeline as you get to new milestones. Be sure to check back and complete them! These trainings are required for your course.
 * When you finish the trainings, practice by introducing yourself to a classmate on that classmate's Talk page.
 * You will have time in class on Wednesday to start this assignment.

It's time to think critically about Wikipedia articles. You'll evaluate a Wikipedia article created by a previous year's student and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's Talk page. See cuLearn for a list of articles.


 * Complete the &quot;Evaluating Articles and Sources&quot; training (linked below).
 * Create a section in your sandbox titled &quot;Article evaluation&quot; where you'll leave notes about your observations and learnings.
 * Choose an article on Wikipedia from the list on cuLearn to read and evaluate. As you read, consider the following questions (but don't feel limited to these):
 * Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
 * Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
 * Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
 * Optional: Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — Alienautopsy (talk) 17:38, 29 September 2018 (UTC).

Week 2
By Tuesday, January 16, all students have Wikipedia accounts, are listed on the course page, and have completed the student training modules: Wikipedia Essentials, Editing Basics, and Evaluating Articles and Sources.

By Tuesday, January 16, all students will have evaluated a previous year's article and left notes in their sandbox titled &quot;Article evaluation.&quot;


 * Discuss strategies for finding a filmmaker and finding independent sources
 * How to evaluate sources
 * Discuss the most common reasons that new Wikipedia entries get taken down
 * Explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.

Read these guides and complete these trainings before Wednesday's class.


 * Women's Studies
 * Biographies
 * Optional: Films


 * Review page 6 of your Editing Wikipedia guidebook.
 * Research potential filmmakers that you might want to create a page for or update on Wikipedia.
 * List your top 3 choices in your sandbox, with a list of the reliable sources you have found so far for each of them. Decide on your top choice.
 * On the Students tab, assign your chosen topic to yourself. Make sure you spell the name correctly. If you plan to expand an existing article, make sure to spell the name the exact same way.
 * In your sandbox, write a few sentences about what you plan to contribute to the selected article.
 * Think back to when you did an article critique. What can you add? Post some of your ideas to the article's talk page, too.
 * Compile a list of relevant, reliable books, journal articles, or other sources. Post that bibliography to the talk page of the article you'll be working on, and in your sandbox. Make sure to check in on the Talk page to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.

Tips:


 * Look for someone with little to nothing written about her on the English-language Wikipedia site, but who has been written about in several reliable secondary sources (like books, journals, or the mainstream media). Film festival websites and film distributors don't count!
 * If you know languages other than English, it's great to choose filmmakers who work in those  languages and secondary sources in those languages because they're less likely to make it onto the English-language Wikipedia site.
 * It is easiest to find filmmakers overlooked by Wikipedia if you look for women of color, women working outside the United States, women making films other than narrative features, and women who worked before the present day.

Places to look:


 * Websites about women filmmakers, such as:
 * The Women Film Pioneers Project (Women who made silent films)
 * Canadian Women Film Directors Database
 * Great Women Animators
 * 10 Women in Title Design
 * 100 Films Directed by Women Released in 2015
 * 100 Women Directors Hollywood Should Be Hiring (2015)
 * 7 Reasons African Female Directors Rock (2015)
 * 84 Films By and About Women of Color
 * African American Women Feature Film Directors (2007)
 * African Women in Cinema Blog (See list on the righthand side)
 * The Director List: Women Directors at Work
 * MUBI List of Films Directed by Women, by Ally the Manic Listmaker
 * Pinterest List of Women Directors, by Destri Martino
 * Sight &amp; Sound info on Women Filmmakers
 * The Most Exciting Female Directors Working Today (June 2017)
 * Women in Film's #52FilmsByWomen Lists
 * Harper Bazaar's 31 Women Directors You Need To Know (June 2017)
 * Women and Hollywood's List of Databases for Women in Hollywood
 * Nordic Women in Film (in Swedish)

Websites about transgender filmmakers, such as:


 * Huffpo's 10 Trans Filmmakers You Should Know (Aug 2017)
 * IndieWire's 8 Exciting Trans Filmmakers Shaking Up Hollywood (July 2017)
 * FTM Magazine's 7 Independent Trans Filmmakers You Ought To Know(Dec 2016)
 * Parity Production's Women and Transgender Artists Database
 * Queer Media Database Canada-Québec Project

Wikipedia:


 * List of female film and television directors
 * Lists of &quot;Stubs&quot;: Film Director Stubs, Screenwriter Stubs, Film Producer Stubs, Cinematographer Stubs, Film Editor Stubs
 * List of requested articles

Books about women filmmakers, such as:

Note: These books count as reliable and independent sources!


 * Blaetz, Robin, ed. Women’s Experimental Cinema: Critical Frameworks. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007. [PN1995.9.E96 W68 2007]
 * Bobo, Jacqueline. Black Women Film and Video Artists. New York: Routledge, 1998. [PN1998.2.B57-on reserve]
 * Cantini, Maristella. Italian Women Filmmakers and the Gendered Screen. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. [PN1995.9.W6 I88 2013]
 * Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey. Women Film Directors: An International Bio-Critical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. [PN1998.2.F67-on reserve]
 * Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey. Women Filmmakers of the African and Asian Diaspora. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1997. [PN1998.2.F672-on reserve]
 * Hillauer, Rebecca. Encyclopedia of Arab Women Filmmakers. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2005. [ebook through library website]
 * Hockenhull, Stella. British Women Film Directors in the New Millennium. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. [ebook through the library]
 * Hurd, Mary G. Women Directors and Their Films. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2007. [ebook through the library]
 * Johnson, Mindy. Ink &amp; Paint: The Women of Walt Disney's Animation. Los Angeles: Disney Editions, 2017. [ NC1765 .J65 2017-on reserve]
 * Juhasz, Alexandra. Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film and Video. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001. [PN1998.2 .W666 2001-on reserve]
 * Krasilovsky, Alexis. Women Behind the Camera: Conversations with Camerawomen. Westport, CT: Prager, 1997. [TR849.A1K72]
 * Levitin, Jacqueline, Judith Plessis, and Valerie Raoul, Women Filmmakers: Refocusing. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2003. [PN1995.9.W6 W67 2003]
 * Margolis, Harriet, Alexis Krasilovsky, and Julia Stein. Shooting Women: Behind the Camera, Around the World. Bristol and Chicago: Intellect, 2015. [ebook through the library]
 * Martin, Deborah and Deborah Show. Latin American Women Filmmakers: Production, Politics, Poetics. London: I.B. Tauris &amp; Co., 2017. [ebook through the library]
 * Melnyk, George, and Brenda Austin-Smith, The Gendered Screen: Canadian Women Filmmakers. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2010. [PN1995.9 W6 G38 2010-on reserve]
 * Nair, Parvati, and Julián Daniel Gutiérrez-Albilla. Hispanic and Lusophone Women Filmmakers: Theory, Practice and Difference. 2013. [PN1998.2 .H57 2013-on reserve]
 * Nelmes, Jill and Jule Selbo. Women Screenwriters: An International Guide. Houndsmills and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. [ebook through the library]
 * Pallister, Janis L. and Ruth A. Hottell, Noteworthy Francophone Women Directors: A Sequel. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2011. [ebook through library website]
 * Pallister, Janis L., and Ruth A. Hottell. Francophone Women Film Directors: A Guide. Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2005. [PN1998.2 .P279 2005-on reserve]
 * Pallister, Janis L., and Ruth A. Hottell. French-Speaking Women Documentarians: A Guide. New York: P. Lang, 2005. [PN1995.9.D6 P36 2005]
 * Petrolle, Jean, and Virginia Wright Wexman. Women and Experimental Filmmaking. Urbana: University of Illinois, 2005. [PN1995.9.E96 W66 2005-on reserve]
 * Quart, Barbara. Women Directors: The Emergence of a New Cinema. New York: Praeger, 1988. [PN1995.9.W6Q37-on reserve]
 * Rashkin, Elissa. Women Filmmakers in Mexico: The Country of Which We Dream. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001. [PN1993.5.M4R33]
 * Redding, Judith M. and Victoria A. Brownworth. Film Fatales: Independent Women Directors. Seattle: Seal Press, 1997. [PN1998.2.R43-on reserve]
 * Wang, Lingzhen, ed. Chinese Women's Cinema: Transnational Contexts. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. [ebook through the library]
 * White, Patricia. Women's Cinema, World Cinema: Projecting Contemporary Feminisms. Durham: Duke University Press, 2015. [ebook through library]


 * List of trans and gender variant filmmakers (I can't guarantee that you can find enough reliable, independent writings on these filmmakers, but you may be able to. Some already have pages, but they could be improved.)
 * Yance Ford
 * Hans Scheirl
 * Flawless Sabrina (producer of The Queen, 1968)
 * Kristiene Clarke (director of Sex Change--Shock! Horror! Probe!, 1988)
 * Venus de Mars (aka Steve Grandell)
 * Pendra Wilson
 * Mirha-Soleil Ross
 * Christopher Lee (director of Alley of the Tranny Boys, 1998)
 * James Diamond (director of The Man from Venus, 1999)
 * Morty Diamond (director of TrannyFags, 2006)
 * Alec Butler (director of Misadventures of PussyBoy trilogy, 2006)
 * Sam Feder (director of Boy I Am, 2006)
 * Jules Rosskam (director of TransParent, 2005 doc)
 * Kimberly Reed (director of Prodigal Sons, 2008)
 * Kortney Ryan Ziegler (director of Still Black, 2008)
 * Rémy Huberdeau
 * Jake Graf
 * Tobaron Waxman
 * Felix Endara
 * Reina Gossett
 * Chase Joynt
 * Jess MacCormack
 * Madsen Minax


 * Make an appointment with the MacOdrum Film Librarian

Week 3
Bring your laptop or tablet to class!

For part of Wednesday's class, we will practice finding sources beyond Google. We will also discuss how to assess sources for independence and reliability.


 * Blog posts and press releases are considered poor sources of reliable information. Why?
 * What are some reasons you might not want to use a company's website as the main source of information about that company?
 * What is the difference between a copyright violation and plagiarism?
 * What are some good techniques to avoid close paraphrasing and plagiarism?

Due Tu 1/30, midnight

On cuLearn, post a document with the following information:


 * Your name
 * Your Wikipedia username
 * Your filmmaker's name
 * An annotated bibliography with at least five different sources about your filmmaker. At least three sources must considered RELIABLE and INDEPENDENT by Wikipedia. The bibliography should be in Chicago Notes and Bibliography format.
 * For each source, write a short paragraph in which you: 1) Summarize the source (What topics does it cover?); 2) Assess the source (How reliable and independent is it? Why or why not?); 3) Reflect on the source (How will it contribute to your Wikipedia entry?)
 * The following sources may are NOT considered reliable and/or independent: sites made by the filmmaker, an organization she has worked for, or a festival or distribution company. Interviews with the filmmaker published in a well-known media outlet are a grey area, but they generally do NOT count toward notability.

Your sources should:


 * Come from independent sources, that is, those not directly related to the subject.
 * Come from sources known for fact-checking and neutrality, such as academic presses, peer-reviewed journals, or international newspapers.
 * Come from reliable publishers, and represent a general consensus in the field (including significant minority points of view).

Resources: Guide to Evaluating Sources

Resources: Chicago Notes and Bibliography Style Guide (starting on page 3)

Research tools:


 * Google Scholar
 * Google Books
 * Google News


 * MacOdrum's Film Studies Databases
 * MacOdrum's Women's and Gender Studies Databases
 * MacOdrum's History Databases
 * MacOdrum's Historical Newspaper Databases


 * Wikipedia Resources for Writing about Film
 * Media History Digital Library
 * Library and Archives Canada


 * If you run in to trouble, make an appointment with the MacOdrum Film Reference Librarian

Week 4
By Tuesday, January 30, midnight, all students have posted their annotated bibliography to cuLearn, which includes their name, Wikipedia username, and filmmaker's name.

You've picked a topic and found your sources. Now it's time to start writing! The first draft is due in your sandbox on Tuesday, February 13 at midnight.

'''Creating a new article?

'''


 * Write an outline of that topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's &quot;lead section.&quot; Write it in your sandbox.
 * A &quot;lead&quot; section is not a traditional introduction. It should summarize, very briefly, what the rest of the article will say in detail. The first paragraph should include important, broad facts about the subject. A good example is Ada Lovelace. See Editing Wikipedia page 9 for more ideas.

'''Improving an existing article?

'''


 * Identify what's missing from the current form of the article. Think back to the skills you learned while critiquing an article. Describe the sentences and sections you intend to add in your sandbox.

'''Prepare your first draft

'''


 * Complete the training modules below.
 * Craft a complete and polished first draft of your article, including references, in your sandbox.
 * You must add a minimum of 500 new words of prose about your filmmaker. You should also add lists and tables (such as filmography, awards, etc.), but this will not be counted as part of your word count.
 * Make sure to include a robust lead paragraph at the beginning of the article. State the person's achievements clearly but dispassionately, so that it doesn't come off as promotional. This is particularly important with living persons.
 * Cite reliable and independent sources throughout the text, so that your page doesn't get taken down. In general, you should be citing at least once per paragraph y, but any quotations, statistics, and controversial claims must be cited.
 * Material in your sandbox is still subject to Wikipedia’s policies, so do not copy and paste information from your sources into your sandbox.
 * Keep a backup copy of your draft on Word in case you experience technical difficulties (this is rare, but it happens).
 * If you'd like a Wikipedia Expert to review your draft, now is the time! Click the &quot;Get Help&quot; button in your sandbox to request notes.

Please use existing Wikipedia headings. Those in bold below are mandatory; others are optional.


 * Early Life and Education
 * Biography
 * Career
 * Legacy
 * Filmography
 * Awards and Nominations (if relevant)
 * References
 * Further Reading
 * External Links

Resources:


 * Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9
 * Guidelines for Writing about Filmmakers from WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers
 * Guidelines for Writing Biographies from Project Biography
 * Wikipedia Policy on Biographies of living persons
 * What I'm looking for when I eventually grade your article: The (as near as possible) Perfect Article

Week 5
By Tuesday, February 13, midnight, all students should have completed a draft of their article in their sandbox.

Assign yourself two articles to review by Thursday, February 15 at midnight.

'''Peer reviews are due Monday, February 26 at midnight.

'''


 * First, take the &quot;Peer Review&quot; online training.
 * Select two classmates’ articles that you will peer review and copyedit. On the Articles tab, find the articles that you want to review. Then in the &quot;My Articles&quot; section of the Home tab, assign them to yourself to review. (DUE FEB 15)
 * In order to view your classmate's sandbox, click on the username, which will bring you to a page with the a URL like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Username. Just add “/sandbox” to the end of the URL, so that it is the following: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Username/sandbox
 * Peer review your classmates' drafts. Leave suggestions on the Talk page of the sandbox that your fellow student is working on. Write a full paragraph in which you discuss the article's strengths, but also give 2-3 specific suggestions for how the article could be improved. Make sure to sign your comments with four tildes: Alienautopsy (talk) 17:38, 29 September 2018 (UTC). Other editors may be reviewing your work, so look for their comments! Be sure to acknowledge feedback from other Wikipedians.
 * As you review, make spelling, grammar, and other adjustments. Pay attention to the tone of the article. Is it encyclopedic? Make at least one direct edit to each article that you review. For example, you could: correct spelling or grammar errors; make the writing more fluid; take away promotional language; add transitions; or change a list into a table.
 * In order to get full credit for your peer reviews, you must both give substantive feedback on the article's Talk page and copyedit the article directly.

Week 6
By Monday, February 26, midnight, all peer reviews will be completed

You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. It's time to work with that feedback to improve your article! Make your article ready for Wikipedia mainspace.


 * Read Editing Wikipedia pages 12 and 14.
 * Return to your draft or article and think about the suggestions. Decide which ones to start implementing. Reach out to your instructor or your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.
 * Carefully review the suggestions made by your peers and other editors on your article's Talk page and implement the ones that you agree with and are feasible.
 * Carefully read through your own article with a critical eye. Fix any grammar or spelling mistakes. Make sure that all references are properly cited in a standard reference style. Are there any copyediting suggestions that you could implement? (e.g., make the writing more fluid; take away promotional language; add transitions; change a list into a table; etc.).

Week 7
Once you've made improvements to your article based on peer review feedback, it's time to move your work to Wikipedia proper - the &quot;mainspace.&quot; This is due on Thursday, March 1, midnight.

'''Editing an existing article?

'''


 * NEVER copy and paste your draft of an article over the entire article. Instead, edit small sections at a time.
 * Copy your edits into the article. Make many small edits, saving each time, and leaving an edit summary. Never replace more than one to two sentences without saving!
 * Be sure to copy text from your sandbox while the sandbox page is in 'Edit' mode. This ensures that the formatting is transferred correctly.

'''Creating a new article?

'''


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 13, and follow those steps to move your article from your Sandbox to Mainspace.
 * You can also review the Sandboxes and Mainspace online training.

'''What should I do if an editor takes my article down?

'''


 * Don't panic! And don't try to force it back up.
 * The first thing you should do is email Professor Horak and let her know.
 * Also, check to see if the editor has explained their actions on the article's talk page. If not, politely ask why it was removed.
 * The instructor will work with you (and the Wiki Edu staff, if necessary) to make sure that your article adheres to all of Wikipedia's rules and policies so that it won't be taken down next time.

It's the final week to develop your article. Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on suggestions and your own critique. The final article is due in mainspace on Thursday, March 8 at midnight. Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!

Watchlist:


 * Put the article on your Watchlist so that you can see if anyone revises it or writes on the article's Talk page. To &quot;Watchlist&quot; a page, log in, then click the star next to the &quot;view history&quot; tab on a Wikipedia page. When it turns blue, it's on your watchlist. See your watchlist by clicking &quot;Watchlist&quot; at the top of your page when you're logged in.

Linking and categorizing:


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 12 to see how to create links from your article to others, and from other articles to your own. Try to link to 3–5 articles, and link to your article from 2–3 other articles. Also add links to your article from (&quot;Lists of...&quot; pages).
 * Add categories to your article by following these steps. For more information, go go: Categorization FAQ.
 * Note: There are sometimes both a &quot;List&quot; page and a &quot;Category page&quot; for the same topic. (Example: List of Canadian directors and Category:Canadian film directors.) You should make sure to include your filmmaker in both. Add your filmmaker's name to a list by editing THAT LIST. Add your filmmaker's name to a category by adding the category tag to YOUR PAGE.

Filmography &amp; Infobox:


 * Check the preferred format for filmographies on the WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers page and make sure yours conforms.
 * Add an Infobox, as suggested by the WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers page.

Images:


 * Consider adding an image to your article. Wikipedia has strict rules about what media can be added, so make sure to take Contributing Images and Media Files training before you upload an image.

Final Checklist:


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.

'''The reflection essay is also due on Thursday, March 8 at midnight

'''

On cuLearn, submit a document with the following information:


 * Your name
 * Your Wikipedia username
 * A link to the live Wikipedia article
 * Your filmmaker's name
 * The names of the two articles you peer reviewed
 * Your reflection essay

Your essay should be between 300-500 words. Consider the following questions as you reflect on your Wikipedia assignment:


 * What did you learn from contributing to Wikipedia?
 * How does a Wikipedia assignment compare to other assignments you've done in the past?
 * What was most surprising about the assignment?
 * What was the most difficult part of the assignment?
 * What was the most valuable part of the assignment?


 * What did you think of the Wiki Edu Dashboard?
 * What did you learn about Wikipedia during the article evaluation?
 * What did you contribute in your review of your peers article? What did your peers recommend you change on your article?
 * What did you think of the Training modules?
 * How could I improve this assignment for next year?

Week 8
By Tuesday, March 6 at midnight, students will have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.


 * What are the impacts and limits of Wikipedia as a source of information?
 * What do you think of Wikipedia's definition of &quot;neutrality&quot;?
 * On Wikipedia, all material must be attributable to reliable, published sources. What kinds of sources does this exclude? Can you think of any problems that might create?
 * What can be done to address the systemic biases of Wikipedia? Are there any biases that cannot be fixed?
 * How has this assignment changed the way you think about Wikipedia? About sources?