Gibraltarpedia is a project by the Government of Gibraltar to improve coverage of Gibraltar-related topics on Wikipedia. It is co-ordinated by two Wikipedians, Roger Bamkin and John Cummings, who are working with Gibraltar residents to train them in how to use Wikipedia and add appropriate photos, etc to Wikimedia Commons; as well as adding QRpedia codes which link places and buildings in Gibraltar with their Wikipedia articles. Roger and John are being paid as consultants by the Government of Gibraltar to help deliver this project. This project was announced at Wikimania in July 2012, and is currently underway. Gibraltarpedia was inspired by the successful Monmouthpedia project (see below).

2. What’s Wikimedia UK’s link to Gibraltarpedia?

Wikimedia UK has not funded this project – our only material involvement has been to supply some “how to edit Wikipedia” leaflets, which is the kind of thing we would do for any institution, and to refer any enquiries received by the office about the project to Roger. However, we do think that mobilizing volunteers to write Wikipedia articles is a good idea – and indeed we do exactly the same thing with the help of galleries, libraries and museums. To this end, we have long intended to give more formal support to this project; before we can do so we would need a clear memorandum of understanding with the Government of Gibraltar setting out shared aims and objectives, and we are working on such a document.

3. What’s Monmouthpedia, and what’s it got to do with Wikimedia UK?

Monmouthpedia is a project by Wikimedia UK and Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) to improve coverage of Monmouth-related topics on Wikipedia. Monmouthpedia took place mainly in the first 6 months of 2012 and, similarly, involved Wikipedians working with local volunteers to help write articles, upload photos, and tag places in Monmouth with QRpedia codes. Wikimedia UK was very much involved with this – we co-funded a Wikipedian in Residence in Monmouth, and a number of QRpedia plaques, as well as various other expenses relating to the project. Again, Roger Bamkin had a consultancy relationship with MCC, though in this case not directly concerned with the delivery of this project.

4. Who owns QRpedia and does anyone benefit from its use in these projects?

Roger Bamkin and Terence Eden have developed QRpedia, which is a system which allows you to generate QR codes which link to Wikipedia articles.  They own the domains qrpedia.org and qrwp.org which are used by this service. They have developed this service as volunteers, there is no advertising, and there is no charge to anyone for its usage. The software is released under an open licence and anyone can re-use it. Wikimedia UK is in the process of finalising an agreement which will transfer qrwp.org to Wikimedia UK’s ownership, with the intention that Wikimedia UK will support existing and future QRpedia codes. No money will change hands as a result of this agreement.

5. What about Roger’s conflict of interest between his role in these project and as a Wikimedia UK trustee?

Roger has always been open with Wikimedia UK about his commercial interests and has declared them in public at appropriate times. He has not voted in any Wikimedia UK decisions about Monmouthpedia since the start of his consultancy relationship with MCC or on any decisions about Gibraltarpedia or QRpedia. All our decisions about this have been taken by the other trustees, with the aims of the charity in mind.  Roger has not received any Wikimedia UK funds for any of these projects, except for out-of-pocket expenses incurred in his role as a volunteer in the early development stages of Monmouthpedia before becoming a consultant, paid in line with our normal expenses policy.

6. If he hasn’t done anything wrong, then why has Roger resigned?

After discussions with the Board, everyone agreed that the best way to avoid any confusion between Roger’s role running projects like Gibraltarpedia and Wikimedia UK projects, was for Roger to step down.

The post Gibraltarpedia: WMUK press release appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

The position has been specified in consultation with Wikimedia UK and is an ideal opportunity for an experienced Wikimedian with strong communication and organisational skills. The key outcomes will be to promote and establish collaboration between staff and Wikimedia volunteers, in addition to arranging Wikipedia (and sister project) training sessions and events at the Library.

For further details, and to apply, please visit www.bl.uk/careers

If you would like to discuss the UK GLAM programme and our cultural partnerships, please contact Fæ <uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Fae>

Closing date: 23 February 2012

The post British Library is looking for a Wikimedian In Residence (6 months) appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

Richard supports Jon Davies, our Chief Executive, in preparing financial reports and budgets as well as managing office processes in our drive to professionalize in line with charity best practice and our values. He will be responsible for developing relationships between the chapter and community as well as reporting on the outcomes of projects and funding.

He is a regular long-term figure at social meetings (wiki-meets) and chapter events and has held significant positions of trust within our Wikimedia community. He is passionate about the mission and values of Wikimedia UK and is established as a driving force in our outreach activities.

Wikimedia received and reviewed 343 applications for the position with six outstanding candidates making the final interview. With his experience and commitment, Richard offers a firm and stable hand on the tiller for the coming year.

Links

• You can read more about Richard at his Wikipedia user profile
• Read the published Office and Development Manager job specification
• Find out more about Wikimedia UK at http://uk.wikimedia.org, where you can read our Vision and Values and our calendar of events

The post Office and Development Manager Appointed appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

Details of how to apply can be found at http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConference_India_Scholarships. The deadline for submitting a workshop or presentation proposal to the India conference programme team has been extended to Sep 27 19:30 BST.

WikiConference India runs from November 18 to 20 at the University of Mumbai. The conference registration page is available at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConference_India_2011.

The post WikiConference India travel grants appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

The aim was to launch the UK network of Wikimedia e-volunteers (GLAM Ambassadors) and share our experience of institutions and Wikimedians working together. The British Library were our hosts and 24 people took part, including friends from the National Archives, National Gallery, Wellcome Trust, British Library, Open Genealogy Alliance and Open Rights Group.

Topics included;

• QR codes – as multi-language exhibition labels
• Metadata – a workshop through the current issues for batch uploads and categorization on Wikimedia Commons and attempting to improve the metadata fields and standardize vocabulary in our templates
• New developments in archives
• Growing the e-volunteer network – with parallel discussions from the Wikimedian viewpoint and the issues for cultural institutions in introducing outreach programmes

The GLAM taskforce will coordinate follow-up activities. It was generally felt that these larger networking and story sharing meetings would be helpful to repeat on a quarterly basis and it was realistic to aim for a large GLAMWIKI conference with presentations and papers for the middle of next year.

Just as importantly, some of our newer e-volunteers gained the confidence to progress with their ideas for starting relationships with favourite organizations. If you would like to get more involved or find out about the growing GLAM e-volunteer network please contact Fae or email glam(at)wikimedia.org.uk and keep an eye on our events programme.

The post GLAMcamp London appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

Wikimedia UK together with the British Library’s English & Drama department is inviting people to attend a Wikipedia editathon on Saturday 4 June. The aim of the day is to combine the expertise of the public, Wikimedians and the Library’s curators to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of the literary individuals and collections related to the British Library.

Fiction, poetry and drama will all be represented. Subjects highlighted for improvement include the Library’s major collections of Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde material, the poets involved in the Between Two Worlds project, and the archives of Kenneth Tynan, Angela Carter and J.G. Ballard, to name but a few.

The event is open to people with varying degrees of Wikipedia experience. It will be a great opportunity for beginners to learn how to construct entries for the encyclopaedia and to share their subject knowledge with the wider world, while experienced Wikipedians will have the chance to contribute their know-how and expertise. People who want to contribute to other Wikimedia projects, for instance Commons or Wikisource, are also welcome!

During the day there will be unique opportunities to view, up close, interesting items from the English & Drama collections. What’s more, one of the curators responsible for the forthcoming science fiction exhibition, Out of this World, will be on hand to take participants on a tour of the exhibition.

Entry is free, but places are limited – so sign up now at http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Editathon,_British_Library.

The post British Library English and Drama editathon appeared first on Wikimedia UK.