Women in Religion User Group/Minutes/January 2026
Meeting Summary for Wikipedia Women in Religion Monthly Editing
[edit]January 19, 2026
[edit]Attendance: RFH, HWS,
Quick recap
[edit]The team discussed various personal updates and upcoming meetings related to grants and strategic planning. They explored the use of Wikipedia sandboxes for editing and collaboration, particularly for grant proposals and research, while considering the public nature of sandbox edits. The group also discussed communication methods for their Wikipedia project and planned to set up a Wikiproject Women in Religion page with subpages for different purposes.
Next steps
[edit]RFH: Send out Zoom invitation for the 11am Central meeting tomorrow regarding the larger grant to CM,CH, TM RFH: Send link to sandbox 9 to meeting participants (including TM) for collaborative work on the grant.
CM: Send out agenda for Thursday's planning meeting.
RFH: Create new subpages for each month's minutes (August–December 2025) on the affiliate page and upload/copy the relevant minutes to each subpage, ensuring names are replaced with initials before public posting. All (or assigned individuals): At the next editing session, review and edit the uploaded minutes to replace full names with initials and correct any AI errors.
CH: Take responsibility for editing one (or more, if needed) month(s) of minutes, replacing names with initials and correcting content as needed.
CM: Consider creating new subpages (e.g., "Ideas and Planning", "Events", "Research") on the project/affiliate page to facilitate online collaboration and edits.
CH: Think through and potentially propose useful subpages (e.g., for volumes, research, events) to support group work and edits for Volume 5.
RFH: Send the link to sandbox 9 to the group for collaborative grant work and experimentation with online editing for credit.
All: At the next business or editing meeting, participate in editing minutes on the affiliate page to ensure compliance for affiliate status.
RFH: Post all minutes to the affiliate page in advance of the next editing session (targeting before the first Monday in February).
Summary
[edit]The Status of Women and Gender Minoritized Persons in the Professions Committee Personal Updates and Holiday Plans The group discussed CM's recent trip and her enthusiasm for figure skating, including the U.S. Nationals and upcoming Olympics in Milan. RFH shared that she recently had cataract surgery and is still adjusting to the changes in her vision. The conversation then shifted to Hilary's quiet holidays and Win's difficulties with creating a slideshow of her trip to Guatemala. The conversation ended with CH mentioning administrative work related to a small grant, though the details were unclear due to audio issues.
Grant Planning and Team Updates
[edit]The team scheduled a meeting for Wednesday at 11 Central with CM, RFH, TM to discuss a larger grant and strategic plans for the affiliate. They also discussed an upcoming planning meeting on Thursday and a presentation about a trip to Africa that Karen is preparing. Karen mentioned she had injured her back and needed help remembering some names of young women from the trip.
Other
[edit]HWS shared insights from a 25th anniversary celebration Zoom panel, highlighting Wikipedia's content curation process.
The team briefly discussed Wikipedia's new contract with an AI company.
Wikipedia Sandboxes for Editing
[edit]The team discussed using Wikipedia sandboxes for editing and collaboration, with RFH exploring the possibility of using a sandbox for a grant project. CM confirmed that sandboxes are private by default, but emphasized that Wikipedia content is never truly private. Clearly highlighted the sandbox's utility for references and editing, while also noting the potential for public comments on sandbox edits.
The group considered using sandboxes for Volume 5 communications to increase edit credit, though they were cautious about the public nature of sandbox edits.
Wikipedia Sandboxes for Research
[edit]The group discussed using Wikipedia sandboxes for grant proposals and research, with CH offering to develop proposals within a sandbox environment. They explored how to organize sandbox content, with RFH sharing her method of placing sandbox entries below references to keep them connected to the main article. The conversation concluded with RFH asking about making announcements on Wikipedia, though this was not resolved.
Wikipedia Project Communication Strategies The group discussed communication methods for their Wikipedia project, noting that while email notifications work well for some members, others may not check their talk pages regularly. They discovered that their affiliate status on Meta allows them to access grants that project-only pages cannot, though CM questioned whether this was a recent change. The discussion concluded with CH confirming that she received email notifications about Women in Red's focus on women and religion, despite having disconnected her email from Wikipedia, suggesting that the current communication methods are effective for reaching members. Wikiproject Women in Religion Setup
The group discussed setting up a Wikiproject Women in Religion project page with subpages for ideas, planning, events, and research. They explored how to create and organize subpages, with CM demonstrating how to add new pages and links. The group agreed to start by communicating their meetings and events on the project page. They also discussed the need to edit meeting summaries to replace full names with initials, as this is required for their affiliate page status. RFH offered to create the initial subpages, and the group planned to edit the summaries at their next editing session.