The Wiki Women Hackathon was hosted by IIIT Hyderabad to mark International Women’s Day and address the gender gap in the open-source platform. The Hackathon was organised on 8 and 9 March by the IndicWiki group from Language Technologies Research Centre (LTRC). The continuous 36 hour event saw participation by 70 women students from different engineering colleges in the city.
The hackathon kicked off with a session by Dr. Radhika Mamidi who inspired the young women participants with a talk on the gender gap in technology and how they can narrow the gap. She emphasised the need to overcome their fears (instilled by family and society) and to be confident to achieve their aspirations and set an example for the society, in general. The event aimed to empower women in technology and contribute to a more inclusive online world.
The Wiki Women Hackathon saw women tech developers with an interest in Wikimedia technologies, the platform that powers Wikipedia and other free knowledge platforms. The hackathon preceded by an online training programme for participants in order to provide a welcoming and collaborative environment to:
- Deepen one’s knowledge: By gaining valuable hands-on experience with Wikimedia technologies used to build and maintain Wikipedia and other online knowledge repositories.
- Contribute to a Global Cause: By helping bridge the gender gap in technology and make Wikipedia a more inclusive and representative source of information for everyone.
- Connect with a Global Community: By collaborating with other passionate women who share similar interest in technology and knowledge creation.
Research scholars and UG students from IIIT Hyderabad volunteered and coordinated the event under the supervision of Krupal Kasyap, programme manager of IndicWiki project and the student coordinator Kaveri Anuranjana supported by Clubs Council and Lean In club members. The volunteers who made this possible were Anagha Pradeep, Ananya Mukherjee, Ananya Sane, Hiranmai Sri Adibhatla, Pawan, Poorva Pisal, Prisha Arora, Ramu Ummadishetty, Sourav Karmakar, Sneha R, Srija Mukhopadhyay, Swetha Vipparla and Vrinda Agrawal. Mr Lakshmi Narayana and Mrs Sirisha Shalaka provided the logistics support, security and a marathon of food and beverages. The judges were all senior PhD scholars viz. Aparajitha Allamraju, Nirmal Surange, Prashanth Kodali and Saumitra Yadav. Overall, it was one of a kind event to remember!
For more information: https://indicwiki.iiit.ac.in/wwh-2024
March 2024