On March 22, the “Visible Women: Wikipedia Edit-a-thon 2026” brought together 60 participants at the HKU Arts Lab. The event was a collaboration co-hosted by the Hong Kong NGO The Women’s Foundation (TWF), the Gender Studies Programme at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), and the Wikimedia Community User Group Hong Kong (WMHKG).
Celebrating International Women’s Day, the gathering worked to document women’s achievements, enhance the visibility of women’s experiences, and contribute essential information to make AI more inclusive. Our diverse group of attendees included professors from leading local universities, students, members of the public, and 15 youth editors.
The day kicked off with an inspiring opening address from Joyce Chen, representing the Wikipedia Asian Month User Group as Chair and the ESEAP Hub as ECC. Joyce shared valuable insights on cross-regional community building and women’s initiatives. Following this, Curtis Lui (User:Borschts), serving as the Vice Chair of the ESEAP Hub and WMHKG Director, delivered an introduction to editing on Wikipedia to equip participants for the session.
To maximize quality, we piloted a new format by dividing participants into five breakout groups, each supported by at least one professor, research assistants, and technical advisors. This focused approach allowed teams to research, fact-check, and write articles on feminism and LGBT+ topics. While the core teams were creating their primary assigned articles, our volunteers continued reviewing additional drafts generated during the event to prepare for publishing on Wikipedia. The success of this targeted, group-based method sparked discussions with our institutional partners about expanding future collaborations, particularly focusing on Asian Month campaign, Asian history, and also feminism.
We are deeply grateful for the continuous support for free knowledge development in Hong Kong, and we extend a special thank-you to the ESEAP Hub for making this possible through the Mini Grant, with heartfelt appreciation to Biyanto, Feliani, Joyce, and Betty for their invaluable guidance.
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