Wikipédia 15/Site/Histórias/Paulina Sanchez

Paulina Sanchez

Born in Mexico

Joined Wikipedia in 2014

Favorite article is about Mayan languages.

Para Paulina Sanchez, a Wikipédia resume-se como uma comunidade. Tendo sido a primeira convidada para ajudar a organizar o Wikimania 2015 na Cidade do México por um amigo, começou juntando-se aos “editatonas” — eventos de edição apenas para mulheres. Hoje, junto com executar oficinas, ela contribui e melhora artigos sobre filmes, literatura, biologistas femininas e o feminismo chicano.

Paulina credita seus primeiros passos na Wikipédia ao engenheiro ambiental e organizador da Wikimania Andres “Andy” Cruz y Corro. “Após ser convidada por Andy para ajudar a organizar a Wikimania, mergulhei de cabeça na edição, e após certa de um mês, comecei a editar a Wikipédia. Dei minha primeira oficina sobre como editar. Não sabia completamente sobre ela, mas rapidamente descobri que o melhor jeito de aprender é ensinar”, relembra.

I have a younger sister…she says, “I have to be an actress or a painter, or something like that.” And to that I say, “no, you can be whatever you want to be.”

Paulina uses her experience to run editatonas, which she describes as providing a “safe space” for women who are new to contributing and who are passionate about a certain topic. “The word that I like more than ‘community’ is ‘camaraderie’—not just in person, but also online,” she says.

A medical bioscience PhD student at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Paulina was attracted to Wikipedia due to the lack of coverage of women biologists. “There are articles on female scientists such as Marie Curie, and all these women who are excellent and very well known,” she explains. “But when I looked for more…on the Spanish Wikipedia there were just three or so articles, and they were very short. It didn’t measure with the English Wikipedia…but there’s still a gap there, too.”

Aside from her personal interest as a scientist, this effort has affected Paulina on a personal level. “[It’s] a huge social problem. Young women here in Mexico think they can’t be scientists because [they’re] not represented,” she says. “I have a younger sister… she says, ‘I have to be an actress or a painter, or something like that.’ And to that I say, ‘no, you can be whatever you want to be.’”