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Abigail Wise, left, and Kassondra Cloos organized group to edit and add Wikipedia entries to make sure more women in the outdoor industry are represented in the online encyclopedia. (Cliff Grassmick / Staff Photographer)

Visitors to Wikipedia in the coming weeks will for the first time be able to find facts on Claire Marie Hodges, the country's first female national park ranger. They'll also be able to read about American freeskier Elyse Saugstad, who survived the infamous 2012 Tunnel Creek Avalanche, or Shannon Galpin, the 2013 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year.

This information is available thanks to a pair of Boulder women whose efforts to highlight influential females in the outdoor recreation industry are part of a nationwide push to edit the pages of history with an eye on gender inclusivity.

"If you're looking for information on the outdoor industry, women are not well-represented," said Kassondra Cloos, an assistant editor at Boulder-based industry publication SNEWS. "We need to fix that."

It was a search for information that led Cloos to spearhead change. Researching a story about Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario, Cloos realized the executive's only presence on Wikipedia was a mention in the entry for her company.

"She works for basically the most powerful company in the outdoor industry," Cloos said. "For her not to be on Wikipedia seemed wrong."

Around that time, another Boulder outdoor media professional, Abigail Wise, shared a tweet about a New York event, hosted by Her Girl Friday, to edit and add pages to the online, user-generated encyclopedia to include more women. Cloos saw the tweet and contacted Wise with an idea: Why not host their own event and focus on women in the outdoors industry?

"We decided to look at who was missing," Wise said. "It was a lot. And the pages that were there were very small."

In a recent survey of 2,100 women conducted by retailer REI, 63 percent of respondents could not name even one female mentor in the outdoor industry. Those who did name role models picked athletes like Serena Williams or public figures such as Michele Obama who, while associated with being active and healthy, are not part of the outdoor recreation world.

"It's important, especially for young girls, to have powerful female role models, so that they can aspire to get outdoors and find their own level of adventure," Cloos said. "The fact that these women aren't on Wikipedia is indicative of a bigger problem; they're not well-known enough to be seen as universally important."

Wise and Cloos came up with a list of 13 individuals and organizations who merited new or longer articles. A small group of mostly outdoor media professionals spent a full day adding new entries and extending others, with some help from Wikipedia volunteers.

The work is still ongoing both women have continued editing in their spare time on nights and weekends. Some pages have yet to go live, and the idea of a follow-up event is still being tossed around.

"Our goal was not only to add pages and expand on pages, it was more to teach people these tools and pique people's interest so this can be an ongoing things in their lives," Wise said.

That might mean extending efforts beyond the outdoor world. Wise has already been contacted by someone interested in doing the same thing for the tech industry.

"We really have the power here to make a difference," Cloos said. "We are literally writing history, and in some cases rewriting it, to make sure women are part of the record and that their contributions have been recognized."

Shay Castle: 303-473-1626, castles@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/shayshinecastle

Originally posted here:
Women in Boulder's outdoors industry work for better gender ... - Boulder Daily Camera