Wikimedia UK is pleased to announce that Jonathan Cardy (aka WereSpielChequers) is joining us as our GLAM Organiser – co-ordinating and expanding our Outreach work with Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAMs). Jonathan will be starting work on 3rd April. Jonathan is already known among active Wikimedians especially in London where he is a regular at the meetup. Here is Jonathan’s own introduction. We’re sure you’ll join us in extending him a warm welcome.
“Hi, I’m Jonathan Cardy and I’m really looking forward to working with all of you, especially those of you who want to get involved in our collaborations with the GLAM sector.
“My own involvement in our GLAM outreach started when I took part in one of the events that Liam Wyatt organised during his trailblazing time as Wikipedian in Residence at the British Museum. I’ve since been involved in several other WMUK GLAM events, including ones at both the British Library and the V&A. My experiences with our GLAM program have ranged from photography to training, and from editing articles to explaining our jargon and policies to curators and British library readers.
“I’ve been a museum buff for as long as I can remember, a Wikipedian since 2007 and I’ve been uploading” photos to Commons since 2007… This is a great opportunity for me to combine those threads of my life together and help build on the amazing work done by Liam and others.
“I will be based in the Wikimedia UK office in London but am keen to be involved in GLAM outreach across the UK. I’m very much aware that my own experience of Wikimedia UK GLAM is very London-centric and my Wikimedia experience is strongly skewed towards the English language Wikipedia and Commons, so I’m particularly keen to talk to UK Wikimedians from other parts of the UK, other Projects and indeed other language versions of Wikipedia. My first priority will be the GLAM wiki conference in April, and I hope to meet many of my fellow UK Wikimedians and our potential GLAM partners there.
“I’m particularly keen to talk to Wikimedians in the UK who want to get involved in editathons and similar events – and if I know where in the UK you’d like to have GLAM events, what subjects you are most interested in and whether you want to take part in editathons, backstage passes, or photography sessions.”
Although not involved in GLAM activity, I’m really pleased at this news. Jonathan’s an exemplary Wikipedian, and a true “knowledge philanthropist”: someone fiercely interested in learning and in making that learning freely available to others, whether through Wikipedia articles or face-to-face training. Unlike some people who have prickly online personas but are pleasant in person, or vice versa, Jonathan is unfailingly decent however I’ve encountered him. I hope and expect his involvement will be good for Wikimedia UK, for the many cultural partners we work with, and for Jonathan himself.