Join us the week of August 17 -21 for the BIPOC Design Virtual Wikipedia Edit-a-thon and learn about the BIPOC in the Built Project, a collaborative effort between student researchers in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the Department of Architecture at MIT, and MIT Libraries. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) who have left their mark on the fields of art, architecture, art history, activism, landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design and more connected to the built environment will be featured in this archive project and edited through out the week. After a short introduction held live via Zoom on August 17, stay for the kick off of our week-long virtual Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon where attendees can participate in training and events that will build community around creating new and edit existing Wikipedia pages of BIPOC designers.

 

More about the initiative:

The BIPOC in the Built Project is a digital scholarly resource of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color designers in the built environment. We use the term BIPOC to intentionally name Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in this work and as a direct affront to white supremacy in  design which all too often renders contributions from these designers as auxiliary. We use the term design to be inclusive of the broad range of built environment thinkers and practitioners across scales and fields including but not limited to art, architecture, art history, activism, landscape architecture, urban planning and urban design.

This summer, students across MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning and MIT Libraries have joined forces to create this resource, initially focused on the U.S. (at first with plans to expand) that highlights those who have made—and continue to make— contributions to design in education and in practice. Over the course of eight-weeks, students have researched and written over 30 original profiles, and are developing a website to house this information. Additionally, students understand the gender and racial and ethnic diversity gaps this shared knowledge platform has with editors and content. In response, students contributed over 30 new pages and contributions to existing Wikipedia pages for designers who did not previously have a presence on the online encyclopedia. The goal of this edit-a-thon is to further expand upon this work. Check out #BIPOCDesignMIT and/or #BIPOCBuiltMIT on social media for project updates.

 

Dashboard link:

https://bit.ly/BIPOCdesigndash

 

Meetup page: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Boston/BIPOC_Design 

 

Schedule (all times in Eastern Standard Time Zone):

MONDAY AUGUST 17

Black Urbanism + Indigenous Design

3:00 - 4:00pm    Kick-off Event 

4:00 - 4:30pm    Break

4:30 - 5:00pm    Wikipedia Training

5:00 - 6:00pm    Live Edit-a-thon 

TUESDAY AUGUST 18

Cultural Preservation + Environmental Justice

3:00 - 3:30pm    Wikipedia Training

3:30 - 5:00pm    Live Edit-a-thon

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19

Community Activism + Built Environment Scholars

4:00 - 4:30pm    Wikipedia Training

4:30 - 7:00pm    Live Edit -a-thon

THURSDAY AUGUST 20

Public Space + Public Art

6:00 - 6:30pm    Wikipedia Training

6:30 - 8:00pm    Live Edit-a-thon

FRIDAY AUGUST 21

Grassroots Collectives + BIPOC Futurists

11:00 -11:30am  Wikipedia Training

11:30 - 2:00pm  Live Edit-a-thon
 

 

Zoom details will be sent to registered participants. 

Any questions contact bipocdesign@mit.edu or Kai at kaias@mit.edu.