# Denelezh

> tool that provides statistics about the gender gap in the content of Wikimedia projects

**Wikidata**: [Q105751022](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q105751022)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/denelezh

## Summary
Denelezh is a Wikimedia tool and website created to measure and provide statistics regarding the gender gap in the content of Wikimedia projects. Developed by Envel Le Hir and launched in March 2017, the tool tracks gender bias across Wikipedia and related sites. While it originally operated under the Dicare Tools banner, it has since evolved, merging into Wikidata Human Gender Indicators and eventually being replaced by the tool Humaniki.

## Key Facts
- **Nature:** Denelezh is a website and Wikimedia tool classified as a "work" and "software."
- **Creator:** The tool was created by Envel Le Hir.
- **Inception Date:** March 8, 2017.
- **Primary Function:** It provides statistics on the gender gap within Wikimedia project content, focusing specifically on gender bias on Wikipedia.
- **Technical Platform:** The tool utilizes Wikimedia Cloud VPS.
- **Licensing:** The source code is available under an open license (Wikidata ID: Q27017232), while the datasets are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.
- **Successors:** The project was merged into "Wikidata Human Gender Indicators" and was ultimately replaced by "Humaniki."
- **Historical Hosting:** From its inception in March 2017 until October 2018, it was part of the "Dicare Tools" website collection.

## FAQs
### Q: What is the main purpose of Denelezh?
A: Denelezh is designed to estimate and visualize the gender gap in Wikidata and Wikipedia content. It serves as a statistical tool to highlight disparities in gender representation within Wikimedia projects.

### Q: Who created Denelezh and when was it launched?
A: Denelezh was created by Envel Le Hir. It was officially launched on March 8, 2017.

### Q: Is Denelezh still the primary tool for this purpose?
A: No, Denelezh has been superseded. According to project records, it was merged into the "Wikidata Human Gender Indicators" project and was later replaced by a tool called "Humaniki."

### Q: Where can the source code for Denelezh be found?
A: The source code repositories are hosted on Framagit under the `wikimedia-france` group (specifically `denelezh-core` and `denelezh-import`).

## Why It Matters
Denelezh plays a significant role in the Wikimedia ecosystem by quantifying the systemic gender bias present in one of the world's largest knowledge repositories. By providing concrete data on the disparity between male and female biographies or content coverage, the tool offers researchers, editors, and the Wikimedia Foundation the metrics necessary to track progress and identify gaps in real-time.

Launched on International Women's Day in 2017, the tool highlighted a specific commitment to diversity within the open-knowledge movement. Its evolution into broader projects like Humaniki demonstrates the ongoing need for specialized analytics to address content diversity gaps. By open-sourcing its code and licensing its data under Creative Commons, Denelezh ensured that its methodology could be scrutinized, improved upon, and integrated into future tools, leaving a lasting technical legacy for gender gap analysis.

## Notable For
- **Specific Focus:** It is distinct for focusing exclusively on gender gap statistics within the Wikimedia ecosystem.
- **Open Data Commitment:** The project explicitly separates the licensing of its data (CC BY 4.0) from its source code, encouraging reuse of the statistics.
- **Evolving Architecture:** It notably transitioned through three distinct web domains (`dicare.org`, `denelezh.org`, `wmcloud.org`) within four years, reflecting active development and infrastructure migration.
- **Twitter Presence:** The project maintained an active social media presence via the handle `@denelezh` starting in April 2019.

## Body
### Development and History
Denelezh was conceived by Envel Le Hir to address the lack of clear metrics regarding the gender gap on Wikipedia. The project inception is recorded as March 8, 2017. The development history is documented through several transitional versions:
- **Version History:** Described in external articles such as "Denelezh 2.0: a transitional version" (April 2018) and "Another history of Denelezh" (April 2021).
- **Timeline:**
  - **2017:** Launch via `denelezh.dicare.org`.
  - **2018:** Transitioned away from Dicare Tools hosting in October 2018.
  - **2019:** Moved to `www.denelezh.org` in March 2019.
  - **2021:** Migrated to `denelezh.wmcloud.org` in January 2021.

### Technical Infrastructure
The tool is hosted on **Wikimedia Cloud VPS**, aligning it with the standard infrastructure for community-maintained Wikimedia tools.
- **Repositories:** The codebase is split into at least two repositories on Framagit:
  - `wikimedia-france/denelezh-core`
  - `wikimedia-france/denelezh-import`
- **Copyright:** The tool remains copyrighted, though its data and code are liberally licensed for reuse.

### Project Succession
Denelezh is no longer the standalone authority for this data. It is structurally defined as having been **merged into** the "Wikidata Human Gender Indicators" (WHGI) project. Subsequently, records indicate it was **replaced by** "Humaniki," which serves as the current iteration for these statistics. References confirming this transition are archived from the original Denelezh site and the WHGI "about" page.

## References

1. [Source](https://www.lehir.net/denelezh-2-0-a-transitional-version/)
2. [Source](https://denelezh.wmcloud.org/)
3. [Source](https://framagit.org/wikimedia-france/denelezh-core/-/blob/master/LICENSE)
4. [2017](https://www.lehir.net/a-tool-to-estimate-the-gender-gap-in-wikidata-and-wikipedia/)
5. [Source](https://twitter.com/denelezh/status/1352695309030322181)
6. [Source](https://twitter.com/Wikimedia_Fr/status/1114167738820452352)
7. [Source](https://whgi.wmflabs.org/about)
8. [Source](https://denelezh.dicare.org/gender-gap.php)