Celebrating #WCCWiki at 50!

By Dr Victoria Leonard, FRHistS

In July 2021, #WCCWiki marked an important milestone. The initiative, designed to improve the online representation of those who identify as women and non-binary, held its fiftieth Wikipedia editathon. Since 2016 when the initiative began, our community has come together each month to edit Wikipedia pages for women and non-binary people, share resources and practical tips for editing, and to offer training for those new to the task. Organised through the Women’s Classical Committee UK, #WCCWiki has done fantastic work in transforming the online representation of classicists who identify as women and non-binary, and helping to challenge Wikipedia’s intractable gender gap. Classics is very broadly conceived, including historians, archaeologists, theorists, translators, poets, and others who work on the ancient world.

But the implications of our success reach far beyond one platform. #WCCWiki has spread awareness and understanding of Wikipedia and why it’s so important, especially to those invested in knowledge transfer, as much of our community is. We have upskilled classicists to use and improve Wikipedia, tools which have then been transferred into classrooms around the world. We have built an activist network based on solidarity and dynamic action, and we have demonstrated how hard-won research skills really are transferable and can make a huge difference to environments beyond grant applications and writing articles.

Julia Caldwell Frazier was one of the classicists to have a new entry written about them on the English Wikipedia in 2021.

Before #WCCWiki got started, the heritage of women and non-binary people in classics, both historical and contemporary, was a largely unrepresented online demographic. An estimate in 2016 found that only 7% of biographies of classicists on Wikipedia featured women. #WCCWiki has worked hard to make this demographic a highly visible and accessible part of classics.

We’ve created or edited more than 450 Wikipedia pages for those classicists who identify as women and non-binary, including path-breaking foremothers who were only referred to on their husband’s pages, such as Dr Miriam T. Griffin, Dr Annie Ure, and Professor Leslie Brubaker. One of our long-standing members, Richard Nevell, calculated that, as of 28 July 2021, 17.7% of the total of biographies of classicists on Wikipedia feature women. This is a significant rise from December 2019 when the number of biographies of women classicists was 16.3%. With every month, the proportion of Wikipedia biographies featuring classicists who identify as women or non-binary continues to increase.

Our pace of change means that on average every other day, a page for a woman or non-binary person is created or edited. #WCCWiki articles have featured regularly on Wikipedia’s front page and an increasing number have achieved Good Article status. #WCCWiki franchises have been inspired internationally, from Durham in the UK, to Winnipeg in Canada, to Ohio in the US. Our Wikipedia pages have been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, and we have boosted their impact on social media, mainly on Twitter, where posts have reached 50,000+ people.

Richard’s calculations demonstrate the huge leaps #WCCWiki is taking, especially in comparison with Wikipedia in other languages. 34% of new articles about classicists on the English Wikipedia created between December 2019 and July 2021 feature women, which is twice that of the German Wikipedia, and triple that of French. Whilst #WCCWiki edits and creates pages in a variety of languages, English does predominate. Richard’s stats reveal the gender bias on Wikipedia without initiatives like #WCCWiki working against them.

A graph showing the percentage of biographies on different Wikipedia about classicists that are women. Created by Richard Nevell using data in denelezh and queries on 28 July 2021

Initiatives like #WCCWiki and the Wikiproject Women In Red are still essential in tackling Wikipedia’s gender gap. Between 84% and 91% of Wikipedia editors are male, and only around 19% of biographical pages feature women overall. At 17.7%, the representation of those classicists who identify as women and non-binary still lags behind the more general gendered trend. So, there is much more to do. Everyone is welcome to join us online as we edit together on or around 22nd of each month, 13.00-15.00 GMT+1. For more information, check out our Project Page, and #WCCWiki on Twitter. Now we’re looking forward to our 100th editathon, come and join the party!

Towards a National Collection

TOWARDS A NATIONAL COLLECTION: WIKIMEDIA UK AND PARTNERS WORKING TOWARDS INCREASED AND DIVERSIFIED ENGAGEMENT

£14.5m awarded to transform online exploration of UK’s culture and heritage collections through harnessing innovative AI.

In order to connect the UK’s cultural artefacts and historical archives in new and transformative ways, The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has awarded £14.5m to the research and development of emerging technologies, including machine learning and citizen-led archiving.

Five major projects form the largest investment of Towards a National Collection, a five-year research programme. The announcement reveals the first insights into how thousands of disparate collections could be explored by public audiences and academic researchers in the future.

The five ‘Discovery Projects’ will harness the potential of new technology to dissolve barriers between collections. They will open up public access and facilitate research across a range of sources and stories held in different physical locations. One of the central aims is to empower and diversify audiences by involving them in the research and creating new ways for them to access and interact with collections. In addition to innovative online access, the projects will generate artist commissions, community fellowships, computer simulations, and travelling exhibitions.

Daria Cybulska, Director of Programmes and Evaluation at Wikimedia UK said “We were delighted that two Discovery Projects we are involved in were selected for this round of funding by the AHRC. Increasing and diversifying access to UK’s collections and supporting open research is of strategic importance for Wikimedia UK. Through our involvement we will aim to demonstrate the benefits of open knowledge, especially for public engagement, and its abilities to help dissolve barriers between separate collections. We see an exciting amount of overlap between the projects we are directly supporting and our priorities, for example amplifying underrepresented community heritage in the Our Heritage, Our Stories project, and linked open data, including Wikidata in the Congruence Engine project.”

The investigation is the largest of its kind to date. It extends across the UK, involving 15 universities and 63 heritage collections and institutions of different scales, with over 120 individual researchers and collaborators.

Together, the Discovery Projects represent a vital step in the UK’s ambition to maintain leadership in cross-disciplinary research, both between different humanities disciplines and in their work with other sectors. Towards a National Collection will set a global standard for other countries building their own collections, enhancing collaboration between the UK’s renowned heritage and national collections worldwide.

Read more about the two Discovery Projects Wikimedia UK are engaged in:

The Congruence Engine: Digital Tools for New Collections-Based Industrial Histories

Principal Investigator: Dr Timothy Boon, Science Museum Group

Project partners: British Film Institute, National Museums Scotland, Historic Buildings & Monuments Commission for England (Historic England/English Heritage), National Museum Wales, National Museums Northern Ireland, The National Archives, National Trust, The V&A, universities of Leeds, London, and Liverpool, BBC History, Birmingham Museums Trust, BT Heritage & Archives, Grace’s Guide to Industrial History, Isis Bibliography of the History of Science, Saltaire World Heritage Education Association, Society for the History of Technology, Whipple Museum of the History of Science (Tools of Knowledge Project), Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (Discovery Museum), Bradford Museums and Galleries, Wikimedia UK and Manchester Digital Laboratory (MadLab).

The Congruence Engine will create the prototype of a digital toolbox for everyone fascinated by our industrial past to connect an unprecedented range of items from the nation’s collection to tell the stories they want to tell. What was it like then? How does our past bear on our present and future? Until now, historians and curators have become acclimated to a world where it has only been possible to work with a small selection of the sources – museum objects, archive documents, pictures, films, maps, publications etc – potentially relevant to the history they want to explore.

The Congruence Engine will use the latest digital techniques to connect collections held in different locations to overcome this major constraint on the histories that can be created and shared with the wider public in museums, publications and online. Digital researchers will work alongside professional and community historians and curators.

Through iterative exploration of the textiles, energy and communications sectors, the project will tune collections-linking software to make it responsive to user needs. It will use computational and AI techniques – including machine learning and natural language processing – to create and refine datasets, provide routes between records and digital objects such as scans and photographs, and create the tools by which participants will be able to enjoy and use the sources that are opened to them.

Our Heritage, Our Stories: Linking and searching community-generated digital content to develop the people’s national collection

Principal Investigator: Professor Lorna Hughes, University of Glasgow

Project partners: The National Archives, Tate, British Museum, University of Manchester, Association for Learning Technology, Digital Preservation Coalition, Software Sustainability Institute, Archives+, Dictionaries of the Scots Language, National Lottery Heritage Fund, National Library of Scotland, National Library of Wales, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland & Wikimedia UK

In the past two decades communities have gathered, recorded, and digitised their collections in a form of ‘citizen history’ that has created a truly democratic and vast reservoir of new knowledge about the past, known as community-generated digital content (CGDC). However, CGDC has proved extraordinarily resistant to traditional methods of linking and integration, for lack of infrastructure and the multilingual, multidialectal, and multicultural complexity of the content.

Our Heritage, Our Stories will dissolve existing barriers and develop scalable linking and discoverability for CGDC, through co-designing and building sophisticated automated AI-based tools to discover and assess CGDC ‘in the wild’, in order to link it and make it searchable. This new accessibility will be showcased through a major public-facing CGDC Observatory at The National Archives, where people can access, reuse, and remix these newly-integrated collections.

The project will make CGDC more discoverable and accessible whilst respecting and embracing its complexity and diversity. Through this, it will help tell the stories of communities through their rich collections of CGDC, which are at present hidden from wider view. By dissolving barriers between these and showcasing their content, the project will help centre diverse community-focused voices within our shared national collection.

Further information & images press@wikimedia.org.uk

Competition Winners, Wiki Loves Earth, Wales

By Robin Owain, Wales Programme Manager at Wikimedia UK

This year Wales took part in the international photography competition ‘Wiki Loves Earth’ organised by the Wikimedia movement. Founded 9 years ago as a focus for nature heritage, the competition raises awareness of protected species and sites globally. 

Cymraeg: Mae Mynydd Marian yn gartref i amrywiaeth eang o blanhigion ac anifeiliaid ond yn enwog am y glesyn serennog. English: Silver studded blue (Plebejus argus) at Mynydd Marian SSSI, Conwy, Wales. More on Mynydd Marian SSSI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mynydd_Marian
Second Placed entry Silver Studded Blue Mynydd Marian, North Wales, SSSI

Wikimedia UK and the National Library of Wales coordinated the WikiLovesEarth, Wales, a project, which saw 1,888 new images uploaded to Commons from National Parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Sites of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other protected areas in Wales. This was done in partnership with a number of large organizations including Natural Resources Wales, Pembrokeshire and Snowdonia National Park, the Welsh Mountaineering Club, Edward Llwyd nature society, WiciMon and others.

Just after the easing of lockdown we ventured to ogwen Valley to catch the milky way arch.
Third placed entry Llyn Ogwen Milky Way, photographed by John Badham

Iestyn Hughes, one of the judges from Wales said, “It was a pleasure to see such an enthusiastic response to this competition from so many photographers. The top ten images edged ahead in a field of some two thousand entries, and display both excellent technical quality and empathy with their subject matter.”

Our second Judge, Wildlife Photographer and Author Jean Nappier, said “The standard of the images was very high especially the wildlife images of the seabirds”

English: Puffin (Fratercula arctica) above The Wick (Y Wig) on Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Running for its burrow with lesser sand eels (Ammodytes tobianus).
Runner up: Puffin (”Fratercula arctica”) on Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire, Wales, Charles J. Sharp

With 1,888 images taken, Wales is in the 7th position (out of 33 competing countries, just in front of Sweden, Italy and Spain); the percentage of images used on Wikipedia, to date, is also one of the highest in the competition, at 17%, with 38 uploaders (photographers) competing. The number of uploaders registered after the competition start was slightly lower than the norm, at 68%. In the last couple of months, the 323 images used on Wikipedia articles have been viewed 1.3 million times!

Jason Evans, National Wikimedian said that “The National Library of Wales was thrilled to co-host this years Wiki Loves Earth Wales contest, along with our partners Wikimedia UK as part of our wide and varied digital outreach programme. The level of engagement and the standard of photography was fantastic to see and the winning images are a testament to our rich and diverse natural environment.”

The winning photo from Wales is of a protected species, a brown hare, by Alun Williams, himself a very keen ornithologist and naturalist, and a member of Llen Natur. Wikimedia UK has worked closely with Llen Natur over the last 6 years. Williams, who also took the photo which came 2nd, is a retired headteacher from Llanrwst.

English: Brown hare (Lepus europaeus). An animal which has become extremely rare in Wales. More here on Lepus europaeus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_hare Cymraeg: Yr ysgyfarnog, sy'n anffodus wedi prinhau'n arw yng Nghymru.
The Winning entry, photographed by Alun Williams

Robin Owain, Wikimedia UK Manager (Wales) was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the images saying “the quality is surprisingly good and helps us record of the state of play for some of the protected species in Wales. Working on a global level in this way we can highlight our concerns about the effect of global warming, and celebrate the work done to preserve these species and habitats with our partners.”

You can view the 10 wonderful Welsh winning images here.

WLE Wales Website on Commons here.

View the stats from the competition here.

Virtual Volunteering with the National Galleries of Scotland

Over the course of lockdown in Scotland, we’ve seen a variety of responses to the conditions of the pandemic reflected in our partnership work.  At the National Library of Scotland, staff worked to upload and transcribe the Scottish Chapbook collection to Wikisource.  Student internships adapted and moved online/remote, and Wikimedia UK rolled out online training for online trainers, so that we could better respond to requests for online training.  And over the winter/spring period, we worked with the National Galleries of Scotland to roll out a Virtual Volunteering Programme.  

Volunteer A: The chance to ‘Wiki edit’ has been a revelation to me! Although, (like everyone I know), I have used Wikipedia extensively I never thought it possible to actually contribute. The tuition sessions were really informative and I would recommend it to anyone to give it a try.

Following a conversation with a colleague in curatorial, Rebecca Pierce from the National Galleries of Scotland got in contact with me towards the end of 2020 to ask about running a mini editathon with some of their volunteers, to focus on female artists and sitters of works held in the Scottish Collection.  We ran that event in December 2020, followed by another on 17th February 2021, and then 29th March 2021.  The first two focussed on an introduction to editing Wikipedia, with the third looking in more depth at how to build a good biography, and integrate biographical information into the encyclopedia.  

Volunteer B: Thank you also to Dr Sara for being so cheery and helpful and patient!  I came away with a big smile, feeling very proud of myself and genuinely upskilled in something that I didn’t know a lot about before.

Rebecca was looking for ways to keep volunteers engaged over lockdown, when access to the Galleries, and thus the usual volunteering tasks, wasn’t possible.  And indeed, it’s proven to be very popular amongst the volunteer pool, who so far, have contributed over 50 hours to the project. 

Rebecca Pierce, NGS: Virtual volunteering is quite far removed from the usual way that the National Galleries of Scotland’s Volunteer Programme operates; so, adapting to create meaningful volunteer opportunities presented quite the challenge. Running new Wiki-editing initiatives has allowed us to create collaborative, supported, and flexible opportunities that can meet the interests of numerous volunteers. It has quickly become one of the most popular aspects of our online programme. Better yet, Wikipedia editing has allowed volunteers to further engage with the Collection and to raise the profiles of lesser known and underrepresented artists. During March, we hosted a month-long edit in celebration of International Women’s Day and volunteers contributed a phenomenal 50 hours towards creating and editing the pages of female Scottish artists. A truly fantastic result that could not have been achieved without the support of Dr Thomas and Wikimedia. 

This is the kind of work that doesn’t have to stop when lockdown eases, and we’re already planning on how to continue with the Galleries.  This type of volunteering can be done remotely, in-person, or in a hybrid fashion.  Volunteers can carry out research at home and at their leisure, at hours that suit them, or could (once restrictions allow), go on-site to carry out research at one of the Gallery sites.  Editing can be done in group settings or at the volunteer’s leisure, again in-person or remotely. This opens up digital volunteering opportunities to those for whom in-person events would present a challenge due to access requirements.

Volunteer C: I’m afraid that I got rather hooked and have spent a bit of time on some of my chosen subjects. Part of the fun is to find proper sources to back up the article or edit. This can take you on wonderful tangents and nooks and crannies of the internet and books and articles!

Even after the sessions had finished [Sara] was available and was able to help by email. I am now weeks into my research and keep finding more information…but I have to stop soon and publish!

A most enjoyable experience and a pleasure to be a Wikipedia editor and part of a worldwide family.

The availability of this activity during lockdown provided an interesting and worthwhile activity in which volunteers could engage, teaching them new skills and allowing a global audience for their work. For Wikimedia UK, it allows us to expand our pool of volunteer editors, the Scottish Wiki community, and to help contribute quality information on underrepresented content on the encyclopedia.  

Volunteer D: The Wikipedia editing programme at the National Galleries of Scotland with Dr Sara Thomas has been a brilliant initiative to start being part of a collaborative worldwide team of editors! Thanks to these encouraging sessions of collective learning I began to learn the instruments and policies for sharing knowledge on Wikipedia and so to contribute to make it free, reliable, accurate and accessible to everyone.

Articles created or improved so far with the Virtual Volunteering group include Harriet Carr, Elizabeth Price, and Flora Macdonald Reid.

Our 2021 AGM and Community Day

By Katie Crampton, Communications and Governance Coordinator

We had a wonderful Annual General Meeting and Community Day on Saturday, and we’d like to thank all of our members, volunteers, trustees, staff and supporters who attended and made the day so special. Thanks to a large number of our members using their votes for our board elections we’re pleased to say we were quorate.

We had an excellent keynote from George Oates in discussion with Nick Poole, which you can catch in the full video of the event on our YouTube. We also heard from five superb lightning speakers; Lorna Campbell on the representation of HIV/AIDS activism on Wikipedia, Jason Evans on the Places of Wales, Dr Martin Poulter and Waqas Ahmed on their visual arts bias research, Dr. Kirsty Ross on the IDEA Network at the University of St Andrews, and Cas Libre on the Core Contest.

Elections

We voted in three trustees, welcoming two new candidates Julian Akodoye Manieson, and Caroline Ball, and re-electing Rod Ward, with huge thanks to all six candidates who put themselves forward for the board this year. We’re excited to welcome new skills onto the board, and retain such a valuable board member in Rod. We also passed all proposed resolutions, allowing the charity to keep running smoothly for the next year.

At the meeting, Nick Poole also announced that following his departure from the board at the end of the meeting, which marked six years since he was elected as a trustee, Lorna Campbell would be stepping in as Interim Chair until October. Nick welcomed our new co-opted trustee and Chair Elect, Monisha Shah. We’d like to thank Nick Poole and Doug Taylor for their outstanding contributions to the board, both as advocates for the chapter and in their unique skills they freely offer to the staff team.

Awards

UK Wikimedian of the Year

Marco Cafolla won the award for their efforts supporting the Scots Wikipedia. They have been a key part of the wiki, organising editathons which not only improved content but fostered a community of editors working together. Having people within a community who can step up and organise is invaluable, and those efforts mean that Scots Wikipedia is improving ever

Honourable Mention goes to Ian Watt who is a tremendously active volunteer and advocate for open knowledge, working with Commons, Wikidata, and Wikipedia. Over the last year he has run public-facing workshops and editathons, and he is hosting and supervising an Edinburgh University post-grad student running a mass transcription of the Register of Returned Criminals (1869-1939).

Up-and-Coming Wikimedian of the Year

Awarded jointly to Abd Alsattar Ardati and Lucy Moore. Abd is one of Wikimedia UK’s accredited trainers and has been proactive in helping his university engage with Wikimedia; his efforts have helped WMUK adapted to the methodology of online training. Lucy is another excellent advocate for Wikimedia – she has organised events at her place of work and encourages people in the museum and archaeology sectors to work with Wikimedia; she is also an active editor and writes articles addressing Wikipedia’s content imbalances.

Partnership of the Year

London College of Communication won the award for the Decolonising Wikipedia Network was set up in 2020 involving students and staff to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of under-represented topics. The Student Changemakers (who had a prominent role in leading the decolonisation efforts) were powerful advocates for the project and presented to staff and fellow students. The successful project will expand over the next academic year to include the whole of University of Arts, London, of which LCC is a part.

Honourable Mention goes to the Scotland, Slavery and Black History project at the University of Edinburgh. History students were invited to improve public knowledge of Scotland’s Black history, and to help make Scotland’s deep connections to Atlantic slavery better understood. They have provided videos on their reflections on this work to local Edinburgh secondary schools who are also interested in Dundas and improving black history on Wikipedia.

Honorary members

We’re pleased to award honorary membership, which waives the requirement to pay an annual membership fee, to Rosie Chapman, Mike Peel and Martin Poulter. Honorary Members have the same rights and responsibilities as regards to the charity as any other member, and do not constitute a separate class of membership. The board reviews its recognition of all Honorary Members at least annually. The memberships were awarded by the Board of Trustees in recognition of the outstanding contributions to the chapter; Rosie for her support in governance for the last six years, Mike for his valuable contributions during the early days of the chapter, and Martin for being an outstanding advocate and contributor in his work as Resident and beyond.

Thank you again to everyone who made Saturday so enjoyable, and welcome to our new trustees. If you’d like to become a member so you can vote in future AGMs and help shape the charity’s governance and strategy, please sign up here.

Thank You To Each and Every Amazing Volunteer!

As Small Charity Week draws to a close we send our Thanks and Appreciation to every single Wikimedia UK Volunteer.

The previous 12 months has seen all of us challenged like never before. Collectively and
individually we have faced new ways of living and changes to how we work and volunteer.

As a staff and Trustee team we are sending our appreciation and thanks to each one of you for your dedication, commitment, passion and belief that time volunteered on open knowledge is time well spent.

Thank You!

Small Charity Week – celebrating the big impact of small charities

By George Colbourn, Fundraising Development Coordinator at Wikimedia UK

This year, Wikimedia UK is taking part in ‘Small Charity Week’, an annual event to celebrate the contributions made by the small charity sector to individuals, communities and causes across the country. From the 14th-19th of June 2021, we will be joining other charities with a revenue of less than £1 million to highlight the importance of our work and the impact it has on our beneficiaries.

The small charity sector comprises thousands of organisations across the country that, despite restricted funding, provide crucial support, services, campaigns and events. Through the extensive efforts of our volunteers and partner organisations, as well as the vital support of our donors, Wikimedia UK is able to work on projects that increase knowledge equity around the world, develop digital literacy and contribute to the development and improvement of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Small Charity Week provides us with a great opportunity to showcase this work and the efforts of the wider Wikimedia community.

Throughout the week, we will be taking part in a number of activities to highlight our achievements and impact, with each day having a specific focus of our work. 

  • Monday 14th June: ‘I love small charities day’. A chance for our staff, volunteers, members and supporters to express their admiration for the small charity sector.
  • Tuesday 15th June: ‘Big advice day’. We will be hosting an online Q&A session focusing on our work, the open-knowledge movement and the small charity sector as a whole.
  • Wednesday 16th June: ‘Policy day’. Here we will be focusing on recent work that Wikimedia UK has undertaken to advocate changes in policy on a regional and national level, helping to promote the importance of open access to knowledge and its benefits to society.
  • Thursday 17th June: ‘Fundraising day’. An opportunity for us to engage with both new and longstanding supporters, informing them on how to get involved with our work and start fundraising.
  • Friday 18th June: ‘Small charity big impact day’. We will be looking back at some of our recent achievements that have had a profound impact on the open knowledge movement.
  • Saturday 19th June: ‘Appreciation day’. The work we do is only possible through the commitment of our supporters, volunteers and members. Appreciation day will give us an opportunity to express our gratitude and thanks to all of those people who make up the national Wikimedia movement.

There are numerous ways to get involved in Small Charities Week, whether you’re a volunteer, member or new to Wikimedia UK. Follow our facebook, twitter and instagram channels to keep updated about our activities over the course of the week and how you can be a part of it. A full schedule of Small Charity Week can be found here. 

Please also use these hashtags to keep up to date with our campaign involvement: #SmallButVital, #SmallCharityWeek, @WikimediaUK

Non-Western Art and Artists Heavily Under-Represented on Wikipedia

New research identifies a strong fixation on the Western canon in Wikipedia’s coverage of visual arts, but offers ways towards a more truly global perspective.

If you were asked to name artworks or artists, how many would be non-Western? You might visit the free encyclopedia Wikipedia to support your search; after all 1.7 billion visitors per month do just this. However, new research highlights that even with Wikipedia’s approach –  ensuring anyone can edit and add content – there is still a bias towards Western artworks and artists. 

Artist and scholar Waqas Ahmed and veteran Wikipedian Dr. Martin Poulter were well-placed to investigate Wikipedia’s perspective on the visual arts. For example, they observed with the English language version of Wikipedia, “its ‘List of sculptors’ is 99% Western, ‘List of painters by nationality’ is around 75% European and its ‘List of contemporary visual artists’ is 80% European”. They probed whether this was just a problem with those articles, or just with the English language Wikipedia. “There appears to be a systemic cultural bias against non-Western visual art and artists across all Wikipedia platforms and in various languages”, Ahmed says. “We hope that this research will remind people that the Western artistic canon is but one of many worldwide – each deserving respect and appreciation on its own terms.” 

With a commitment to identifying and overcoming barriers to diversity online, Wikimedia UK, the national charity for the Wikimedia open knowledge movement, funded the research. Director of Programmes and Evaluation Daria Cybulska says “The vision of the Wikimedia movement has always been ‘a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.’ In recent years, we began more critically examining what that means, and what are the repercussions of existing biases and gaps in content on Wikipedia. Some biases on Wikipedia are better known than others – and this research shines a new light on cultural biases, and what can be done about them.”

The researchers measured the coverage of visual arts across the hundreds of different language versions of Wikipedia. They compared 100 artists from the Western canon to 100 significant artists from other cultures. Poulter pointed out that “Even equal coverage of the Western artists and the artists from all of the rest of the world would still be a pro-Western bias, because Europe is just one sixth of the world.” The research found that on average Wikipedia coverage was seven times greater for artists in the Western canon than for their non-Western counterparts.

One example compared the coverage of The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque) in Istanbul. Both places of worship receive approximately 5 million visitors each per year, and have enormous cultural and artistic importance. Whilst both Michelangelo and Syed Kasim Gubari are considered geniuses within their respective cultures, Michelangelo’s Wikipedia articles total over 440 times greater length than Gubari and the Blue Mosque Ceiling does not have a single entry across the Wikimedia projects.

Past research has identified geographical biases and a gender gap on Wikipedia, where a small (but growing) minority of biographies are about women. This new research demonstrates and measures a specifically cultural bias. Ahmed and Poulter suggest we can all play our part through extending the coverage of art and artists outside the Western canon. For individual wiki contributors, this can involve creating, translating, or extending articles. Cultural institutions can help by sharing their knowledge and images.

As the research states “societal biases have a long and well-documented history, rooted in systems of hegemony and oppression like imperialism.” These biases inevitably shape narratives online and are reinforced through echo chambers. The first step to creating an online world which truly reflects global cultures and histories is the awareness that we are far from there – yet.

The research paper is currently undergoing peer review but can be freely accessed as a pre-print through preprints.org.

Spotlight on Wales for International Photography Competition

Upload your photographs during June to be in with a chance of winning country and
international prizes.

This year Wales is taking part in the international photography competition ‘Wiki Loves Earth’ organised by the Wikimedia movement. Founded 9 years ago as a focus for nature heritage, the competition aims to raise awareness of protected sites globally.

Robin Owain who leads the Wikimedia UK projects across Wales said “Today we’re excited to be launching Wiki Loves Earth 2021 in Wales. This is one of the largest photography competitions in the world focusing on National Parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Sites of Outstanding Natural Beauty and all other protected areas. Robin explained “The biodiversity and geology of Wales is unique, and this competition allows Welsh photographers to show the beauty of their landscape, the flora and fauna of their protected areas on a world stage.”

Organizations who will be supporting this exciting competition include Natural Resources Wales, Pembrokeshire and Snowdonia National Park, the Welsh Mountaineering Club, Edward Llwyd nature society, National Library of Wales, Wikimedia UK, WiciMon and others.

Jason Evans, National Wikimedian at the National Library said, “”The National Library of Wales is thrilled to support this competition, which will encourage people to explore and document Wales’ diverse wildlife and landscapes. This aligns with our commitment to community engagement and will complement our current Welsh Government funded project to support the improvement of Welsh language data and mapping services.”

This year, the international winning photos will represent two categories — landscapes, including individual trees if it has a preservation order, and macro or close-ups of animals, plants, fungi etc. Examples of past winners can be seen at #WikiLovesEarth. For instructions on how to upload, Google ‘Wiki Loves Earth 2021 in Wales’, or follow this link.

Any photographs taken in the past (even on a phone) can be uploaded during June, with prizes at both country and national level for the winners. Robin added “The competition is open to everyone. We ask our friends, volunteers and staff to put Wales on the international map by entering their photographs of our beautiful and diverse country.”

Read more about Wiki Loves Earth 2021 in Wales here on Wikimedia Commons.
More on Wiki Loves Earth can be found here.

Cystadleuaeth Ffotograffiaeth Byd-Eang Ar Natur – Cymru’n Cystadlu

Mae Cymru’n cymryd rhan eleni yn y gystadleuaeth ffotograffeg ‘Wiki Loves Earth’ (Wici’r
Holl Fyd yw’r enw Cymraeg) a drefnir gan y mudiad rhyngwladol Wikimedia, mam Wicipedia!

Ymhlith y sefydliadau eraill fydd yn cefnogi’r gystadleuaeth y mae Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru, Parciau Cenedlaethol Eryri a Phenfro, Clwb Mynydda Cymru, Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru, Wikimedia UK, WiciMon ac eraill.

Yn ôl Robin Owain sy’n arwain gwaith Wikimedia UK yng Nghymru, “Mae heddiw’n ddiwrnod cyffrous iawn, gan ein bod ni’n lansio Wici’r Holl Ddaear 2021 yng Nghymru. Dyma un o’r cystadlaethau ffotograffiaeth mwyaf yn y byd sy’n canolbwyntio ar Barciau Cenedlaethol, Safleoedd o Ddiddordeb Gwyddonol Arbennig, Safleoedd o Harddwch Naturiol Eithriadol ac ardaledd warchodedig eraill.” Esboniodd Robin “Mae bioamrywiaeth a daeareg Cymru’n unigryw, ac mae’r gystadleuaeth hon yn caniatáu i ffotograffwyr o Gymru gofnodi ac arddangos ei harddwch: y tirwedd a’r golygfeydd, a chyfoeth yr amrywiaeth bywyd sydd yma: anifeiliaid, ffwng a phlanhigion.”

Ymhlith y sefydliadau eraill fydd yn cefnogi’r gystadleuaeth y mae Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru, Parciau Cenedlaethol Penfro ac Eryri, Clwb Mynydda Cymru, Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru, WiciMon a Wikimedia UK.

Dywedodd Jason Evans, Wicimediwr Cenedlaethol Cymru, “Mae’n bleser gan Lyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru gael cefnogi’r gystadleuaeth hon, a fydd yn annog pobl i archwilio a dogfennu bywyd gwyllt a thirweddau amrywiol Cymru. Mae hyn yn cyd-fynd â’n hymrwymiad ni i ymgysylltu â’r gymuned a, bydd yn ategu ein prosiect presennol, a ariennir gan Lywodraeth Cymru, i gefnogi gwella data a gwasanaethau mapio yn y Gymraeg.”

I gael hyd i’r cyfarwyddiadau sut i uwchlwytho, a rhagor am ymgais Cymru, Gwglwch Wici’r Holl Ddaear 2021 Cymru, neu dilynnwch y ddolen: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2021_in_Wales

Gallwch uwwchlwytho lluniau rydych wedi eu cymryd unrhyw bryd yn y gorffennol, neu fynd ati o hyn tan ddiwedd Mehefin, ac yn ôl Robin, “Gall unrhyw beson gystadlu, gan ddefnyddio camera eu ffôn neu gamera pwrpasol! Be sy’n bwysig ydy ein bod yn cystadlu, fel cenedl ar lefel rhyngwladol!”

Dolen i wefan Cymru: yma ar Comin Wicimedia

Human Rights and the role of digital literacy

By George Colbourn, Fundraising Development Coordinator at Wikimedia UK

The accelerating use of digital technology means that it now plays a major role in most aspects of our lives. For many of us it is vital to be able to learn, work and communicate in these online environments, making digital literacy a key aspect of education in the 21st century. Yet acquiring these digital skills isn’t just important for our personal and professional lives; a digitally literate society has now become a necessity in preserving one of our most fundamental human rights. This article addresses why freedom of information has taken on a new context in the digital age, and the efforts Wikimedia UK are making to ensure the safe and responsible democratization of knowledge.

A few years ago, I was working for an American charity that provided support and refuge for North Korean refugees. It was here that I attended an event hosted by Yeon-Mi Park, a young North Korean who had fled her home country and been granted citizenship in the United States. Since then she has become a best selling author, documenting her life in North Korea and her perilous escape. Listening to her account was eye-opening; the lack of nutrition and health care that her family endured, and the brutal repression forced on her community seemed almost too dystopian to comprehend.

One particular aspect of her account that stuck in my mind was her realization of the world around her once she had found freedom. Her newfound ability to embrace previously unknown cultures and philosophies, to argue and to voice opinions were so new to her, and it was this aspect of her tale that had the most lasting impression on me. Stories like Yeon-Mi’s reaffirmed to me the importance of access to unbiased information, for human beings to feed their natural curiosity and for the overall development of societies. 

The concept of ‘freedom of information’ is vast in scope, an extension of the right to free expression and free speech, amongst others. Such liberties are largely taken for granted in free democracies. For those living in countries like the UK, the suppression of political opposition and curtailed press freedom seems reserved for those living within autocratic, oppressive regimes, similar to those experienced by Yeon-Mi.

While the protection of this fundamental right in the UK is grounded in democratic ideals and international declarations, easily accessed online misinformation now poses a unique predicament to current understandings of credible, unbiased content. The rapid emergence of digital mediums has led to an unprecedented democratization of knowledge, which has altered not just who can access information, but who can produce and distribute it. 

Fundamentally, this enables a greater capacity for individual expression and knowledge acquisition, key indicators of development. Yet its shortcomings arise in the form of misinformation that spreads erroneous content, as well as disinformation, which intends to deceive its recipients for political or monetary gain. False information such as this enables the politics of inequality and division that are emerging in the Global North. In order to defend ourselves from such a threat, it is vital that societies become more resilient to the spread of false information and aware of its ramifications.

The Wikimedia community can play a key role in advocating and promoting the need for responsible, credible knowledge sharing. At Wikimedia UK, we have been taking measures to prevent this threat to democracy, by launching programmes focused on digital, political and media literacy. Our intention is to provide our beneficiaries with the tools needed to become resilient to fake news and manipulative content, as well as also becoming contributors of high quality, reliable online content in their own right. In addition, through our work with cultural and academic institutions across the country, we are increasing both the amount and quality of our content, meaning that all users can benefit from the discoveries and teachings of academics across a variety of disciplines. 

This work takes place  across the country. Last year for example, we partnered with Menter Môn and the National Library of Wales to launch information literacy projects across the Isle of Anglesey as part of the new Wikimedia module on the Welsh Baccalaureate, and are now working in schools across the area. The WikiMôn project was presented with Mentrau Iaith Cymru’s technology award in January 2020 in recognition of its impact. 

Our projects and programmes that aim to increase digital literacy amongst communities can have a wider impact on society as a whole; a population equipped with skills needed to identify misinformation and fake news will be better prepared to act safely and responsibly in online environments. As a result, the internet can become a tool that re-enforces freedom of information in the 21st century, rather than acting as a threat to it.

The emergence of the internet has had drastic impacts on how we communicate across the world, and this includes the spread of ideas and factual information. Over the coming years, it is vital that we come to acknowledge the impact this can have on truth and fact, and how we prepare future generations to utilise the internet and open knowledge in the most responsible and effective way. For Wikimedia UK, this is one of our highest priorities.

This year’s WikiForHumanRights campaign centres around “Right to a Healthy Environment” — connecting the 20th Birthday “Human” theme with the global conversations about COVID-19, environmental crisis, like climate change, and human rights. The content-writing challenge with prizes runs from April 15th – May 15th. Learn more about the challenge and sign up for the challenge here. There is also a draft list of articles to be created or enriched with UN Human Rights.