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I'm only vaguely aware that I might be on Wikipedia. I looked years ago to see if people were still confusing me with the talented gay cartoonist Robert Kirby, whose syndicated openly gay comic "Curbside" ran in various publications for years.

Anyway, I Googled "Robert Kirby moron" today and found the third item on the list to be "Robert Kirby (humor columnist) Wikipedia."

The following is extracted entirely from Wikipedia. My comments are in brackets as in [#$%*@!]. I have no idea who wrote this for Wikipedia, but it wasn't me. Proof is that there are no curse words and everything seems to be spelled correctly.

"Robert Kirby (born 1953 in California) is an American writer [of sorts]. He is a longtime humorist for The Salt Lake Tribune, often focusing on quirks of Utah and Mormon culture [of which there is a never-ending supply. He has never suffered writer's block beyond the next Sunday].

"Kirby was born into a military family. After completing high school, he served as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Uruguay, where he learned to speak Spanish [and met his beautiful future wife, but was not sent home early]. Following his return, he pursued a career in law enforcement. His first work as a policeman was with the Grantsville Police Department and later the Springville Police Department (1979). While taking night classes at nearby Brigham Young University, Kirby began writing columns for the local newspapers, first the Springville Daily Herald, and later the Utah County Journal (writing under the pen name Officer [John] "Blitz" Kreeg)."

[Ironically, it was reader outrage prompted by the pseudonym "Blitz Kreeg," a World War II German Wehrmacht tactic of lightning warfare, that first gave me the idea of what came next. It also made me laugh.]

"In 1989, Kirby decided to leave police work and devote himself to full-time writing [and prude baiting]. He has written a column for The Salt Lake Tribune since 1994, and has written at least nine books.

"Kirby is a popular convention speaker, and travels widely to appear at conventions and meetings [but is rarely invited back].

"His newspaper columns have won several regional awards. Samples of his newspaper column humor are widely available online.

"Kirby, who is active [albeit lazy] in the LDS Church, often writes about its teachings and how its members interpret those teachings in their daily lives. Since most of The Salt Lake Tribune's readership is non-Mormon [not true], Kirby attempts to explain (usually in a humorous way) the Mormon way of thinking to outsiders. He refers to himself [not anymore] as an "OxyMormon." This approach either alienates those Latter-day Saints who feel their beliefs should not be satirized, or endears itself to the reader. Despite this discordant reception, Kirby has never faced church discipline and was once quoted favorably in the LDS Church's General Conference.

"Kirby presently (2009) [still] lives in Herriman, Utah. He and his [only] wife [have] three daughters [and nine superior grandchildren. There was a cat named Bob Valdez, but it died]."

OK, I'm back. If this Wikipedia entry seems a bit over the top or insufficiently thorough, please feel free to add to it. Or you can just follow up in the newspaper.

Robert Kirby can be reached at rkirby@sltrib.com or facebook.com/stillnotpatbagley.

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Kirby: You can find me on Wikipedia, too, so go ahead and have at it - Salt Lake Tribune

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, had his Wikipedia page changed to say he is "the stupidest member of Congress."(Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmerts Wikipedia page was hacked on Wednesday, with the hacker altering the page to ask if he even had the capacity to serve.

The introduction part of Gohmerts page was rewritten to say Gohmert also prides himself on being the stupidest member of Congress.

Its questionable whether he has the mental capacity to even serve, the page continued.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the page still contained the altered text.

The hack, first reported by ClotureClub.com, appears to have come from a Virginia IP address, occurred sometime Wednesday and it appears the hacker has targeted conservative members of Congress.

Its not uncommon for pranksters to target members Wikipedia pages. In 2012, someone substituted a photo of pop star Justin Bieber on then-Rep. Bob Filners page.

Amelia Frappolli contributed to this report.

Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.

Read the rest here:
Louie Gohmert Wikipedia Page Hacked - Roll Call

The National Museum of Women in the Arts's recent Edit-a-Thon is part of a larger movement to address sexism on the internet.

Emily Haight

Four years ago, novelist Amanda Filipacchi noticed that female writers were being moved from Wikipedias American Novelists category to a separate subcategory. In a New York Timesop-ed, she wryly suggested that perhaps there should be another subcategory just for men. Within the next few days, angry Wikipedia editors responded by deleting information and sources from her personal Wikipedia page.

Despite the backlash, Filipacchis op-ed made a positive impact, and Wikipedia has since changed its rules about categorizing American novelists. But that doesnt mean that sexism isnt still a problem on the site. In fact, Wikipedias continued gender bias is the reason that the National Museum of Women in the Artsrecently held an Edit-a-Thon to help train female editors and improve Wikipedias content about women and the arts.

The museums meetup on Saturday was part of a larger group of Art+FeminismEdit-a-Thons that take place around the world every March. The Smithsonian American Art Museum also will a hold an Art+Feminism Edit-a-Thon on March 25, and the University of Maryland will hold one on March 28. According to Sarah Osborne Bender, director of NMWAs library and research center, her museum has participated in these Edit-a-Thons ever since they started in 2014.

Its a way for us to involve the community in addressing the gender disparity in the art world, she says. And as a librarian and an information professional, its a way to educate the public about such a popular resource and to show them that they could have responsible power in its creation and maintenance.

Forty-four people showed up to NMWAs Edit-a-Thon. Most were women, and the age range was quite mixed. Some had been Wikipedia editors for years and attended other meetups, while others hadnt even set up an editor account yet. A few said theyd participated in Edit-a-Thons about women in science, and so decided to check out this event too. Others said that theyd simply seen the event online and thought it seemed like a worthwhile thing to do.

For the first part of the Edit-a-Thon, Bender went over some basic rules about writing, selecting sources, and editing, and explained how to navigate Wikipedias interface. Though she gave the participants some guidelines about what kinds of edits they could make, everyone was free to choose whatever they wanted to work on, even if it strayed from the days topic.

Were not so prescriptive about what people work on because I think thats part of the ethos of Wikipedia, she says. As the National Museum of Women in the Arts, we have an interest in women being better represented. But the effort is also to train more women to be editors. According to Wikipedias page about Gender bias on Wikipedia (for real), between 8.5 and 16 percent of the sites editors identify as female. (Wikipedia has a similar diversity issue with race. Two years ago, the White House held an Edit-a-Thon focused on African Americans in STEM.)

One of the projects Bender did suggest was creating infoboxes for female artists who dont have them. Infoboxes show up in the right-hand corner of a Wikipedia page, but theyre also what populates the information on the right-hand side of your browser when you google someone. Lesser-known artists without infoboxes dont get that extra bump, so adding an infobox significantly impacts the information that people first see on Google.

Many of the participants took to the infobox idea, working off of a list of female artists who need them. One editor created an infobox for Ruth Faison Shaw, who introduced fingerpainting to the U.S. education system. Others searched for female artists whose entries needed updates, sources, or more information. The page about architect Olajumoke Adenowo was underdeveloped and not well cited, so someone beefed it up. One brave first-time Wikipedia user even created an entirely new page about Lilian Thomas Burwell, a D.C. sculptor and painter.

Making a page as a new user is actually a pretty big deal. Early on in the Edit-a-Thon, Bender had told the crowd about when she was still a relatively new Wikipedia user and had created a page for Magda Sawon, a gallery owner in New York City. A more experienced editor contested the decision to give Sawon a page, arguing that the gallery owner wasnt notable enough. But Bender remained civil and sought help from another experienced Wikipedia editor that she knew.

That editor vouched for her and the page stayed up, which might explain why Bender is so optimistic about the possibilities that the site offers. Wikipedia is such a great democratic resource, she says. It really lives on the contribution and the oversight of the community.

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A DC Museum Tries to Make Wikipedia Less Sexist - Washington City Paper (blog)

The number of women who edit the popular open-source website Wikipedia is much lower than you might think. A Miami University edit-a-thon seeks to change that by teaching female students and staff how to contribute to the site.

A chief complaint against Wikipedia is that anyone can change the content, leading to errors or misinformation.

Humanities librarian Erin Vonnahme says that's not the only problem. "There is a sharp gender divide between Wikipedians. There is a demonstrably male majority of Wikipedian editors. Female-identified Wikipedians are, by far, a smaller percentage of the total population."

In fact, according to a 2011 study by the Wikimedia Foundation, just nine percent of Wikipedia editors are female.

"It affects how knowledge is seen; how knowledge is created and shared," says Vonnahme. "What knowledge is considered valuable is also really significant too. If female-identified voices aren't part of that conversation, then automatically what gets privileged and prioritized is skewed."

Vonnahme and co-creator Carly Sentieri say the edit-a-thon is part of a larger effort called Art + Feminism. That group sponsors similar edit-a-thons all around the world throughout the month of March.

Miami's edit-a-thon Tuesday was part of the university's Women's Read In.

"I would love it if we could create some people who are much more comfortable with editing Wikipedia generally and they can do it today and just build those skills," says Vonnahme. "But also apply it to their regular life and feel empowered to deploy their expertise as necessary and when needed and not feel intimidated by the medium."

Original post:
Miami Hosts Edit-A-Thon To Increase Female Wikipedia Editors - WVXU

A Vancouver art gallery is making surewomen get their due on the world's largest online encyclopaedia.

The Belkin Art Gallery is hosting a Wikipedia 'edit-a-thon'. The goal is to create more pages celebrating the accomplishments of women, particularly femaleartists a demographic that the gallery's coordinator AlexandraBischoffsays is widely underrepresented.

"Less than 10 per cent ofWikipediaeditors identify as female," Bischofftold stand-inhost Gloria Macarenko on CBC'sOn the Coast, citing the figures from activist group Art + Feminism. "These events areessentiallyan effort to bolster female representation on thewebsite, and also to encourage more women to become editors."

The 'edit-a-thon' at the Belkin Art Gallery is one of many happening across the globe. The events areaffiliated with Art + Feminism, a group founded by New York-based artists includingUBC alumnusJacqueline Mabey.

"It is an openinvitationfor women to come together and work on pages that they would like to see created for Wikipedia," said Bischoff.

Art + Feminism began organizing the annual 'edit-a-thons' in 2014, after recognizing that the bulk of Wikipedia articles pertain to male subjects, and are edited by male users.

Alexandra Bischoff, program coordinator of the Belkin Art Gallery, says participants in the 'edit-a-thon' will be provided with books and catalogues to research their desired female artists. (CBC)

Bischoffsays the gender disparity "stems from the fact that coding and programming are traditionally considered to be male dominated industries," adding that Wikipedia's interface was long inaccessible for people who were uneducated in the trade.

"Alack of femaleeditorsnaturallywill lead to a skewed representation on the platform, in any field."

Bischoff says many accomplished female artists are notable absent from the platform but the group hopes to change that. The art gallery will begin their 'edit-a-thons' onMarch 18and hopes to create up to 15 new pages.

With files from CBC's On the Coast

To listen to the full interview, click on the audio labelled:Women get far less recognition on Wikipedia than men, and a group of artists are tired of it

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Women get far less recognition on Wikipedia than men, and a group ... - CBC.ca