November 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day where communities and organizations in more than 20 countries worldwide raise awareness about the prejudice and threat of violence that trans people face around the world.
One way to draw awareness and reduce violence is through education and visibility. Today we’re recognizing work that student editors in our Wikipedia Student Program have done to make trans people and trans history more visible on the world’s number one source of online information: Wikipedia.
After learning how to edit Wikipedia in their course at Loyola Marymount University last year, one student improved Wikipedia’s article about the term trans woman. The student added background information about the history of its terminology, as well as contextualizing information about violence that trans women experience in the United States.
A student at Xavier University of Louisiana added names of transgender people who hold political offices to Wikipedia’s list of the first LGBT holders of political offices. And students at Rice University contributed information about physical and mental health, as well as access to care, to the article about transgender health care.
These students alone added 11,600 words to Wikipedia. Student editors can make a real impact on public knowledge through Wikipedia.
Interested in teaching with Wikipedia? Visit teach.wikiedu.org.
