Coleg Cymraeg to employ Wikipedian in Residence

This post was written by Robin Owain, Wikimedia UK’s Wales Manager. Welsh language text will follow soon.

Following an agreement between Coleg Cymraeg (the Welsh language federal university) and Wikimedia UK, the Coleg would like to employ a Wikipedian in Residence who will report back on how best to share educational resources on the Wikimedia platforms, including Wikipedia, under a relevant licence. The advertisement can be found in Welsh  here

The applicant will have a solid academic background, a good understanding of copyright laws and the Coleg / Wikimedia missions. The WiR will have organisational skills and will deliver wiki editing skills training to Coleg’s academic staff in established universities such as Bangor, Cardiff, Swansea, UWIC, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, the University of South Wales and Aberystwyth.

The Coleg’s main aim is: “to increase, develop and broaden the range of Welsh medium study opportunities at universities in Wales… and to develop effective collaborative partnerships in order to extend the range of academic provision, and train a new generation of lecturers for the future in partnership with universities.”

Robin Owain, Wikimedia UK Wales Manager, said “This partnership with Coleg would not have been possible without a great deal of work by Wikimedia UK and Coleg as part of the Living Paths! project. Both bodies share the same vision: to add to “the sum of all human knowledge” and ensure easy access to that knowledge in the reader’s chosen language.”

Historically, most Wikimedians in Residence are employed by GLAM institutions (galleries, libraries, archives, museums). This is one of the first full time Wikimedians in Residence who will be employed by a university. Coleg has around 80 lecturers based at the main, established universities and it offers degrees in most subjects in the Welsh language.

In the last few years, brave steps have been taken by the National Library of Wales in releasing images on open licences as well as by the Welsh Government, making Wales at the cutting edge of open content.