Registration has opened for our second conference about education projects, EduWiki.
The conference takes place in Cardiff on 1 & 2 November and will be covering a range of broad themes such as Open Educational Resources, the Wikipedia Education Program, assessment and accreditation, and critical thinking, digital literacy & wiki literacy.
Tickets for the full conference cost £40 or £20 for a single day. Some scholarships are available.
More details of the conference programme are emerging and will be listed here.
Wikimedia UK is delighted to announce that The Royal Society is recruiting a Wikimedian in Residence.
This prestigious residency at the UK’s national academy of science will last for six months and is supported by the Society with funding from Wikimedia UK.
The Wikimedian in Residence will work with the Society to improve access to information about scientists from under-represented groups. They will also help to open up the Society’s historical collections and support the improvement of scientific articles on Wikipedia. The residency will also involve organising and running presentations, workshops, training sessions and edit-a-thons with staff, Fellows, scientists and members of the public on using Wikimedia platforms.
September is the month of heritage open door days in the UK. While you’re there, see if the door is as impressive as this 12th-century example uploaded for Wiki Loves Monuments UK.
This post was written by Richard Nevell.
There are hundreds of local history and archaeology societies in the UK, and there’s a reason there were 50 million visits to heritage sites in England alone in 2010. Wiki Loves Monuments covers some headline attractions such as Edinburgh Castle and Westminster Abbey, but it also includes buildings closer to home. The competition is a great chance to learn more about your local history. There are also heritage open days throughout the UK in September, which provide fantastic opportunities to engage with history and take some pictures for Wikipedia while you’re at it. In the first week of the competition we’ve had over 1,000 uploads and we want to see the images flooding in. With that in mind, below are some details of events which will let you interact with your local history.
Between Thursday 12th and Sunday 15th September, Heritage Open Days in England allows people to enter buildings they might not have the opportunity to the rest of the year. It is driven by volunteers, around 40,000 of them and in 2011 1.7 million people seized the chance to explore. There are too many to list here, but you can learn more at the Heritage Open Day website.
While England has a four-day event, in Wales there are open doors in four weekends in September. From Lamphey Bishop’s Palace to Neath Abbey, you’re spoilt for choice (and hopefully Wiki Loves Monuments will be spoilt for pictures). More details can be found on their events page.
In Scotland there are Doors Open Days, and September is Scottish Archaeology Month, so join in the celebrations and take plenty of photographs. The Scottish Civic Trust has a website dedicated to the event, where you can read more about which buildings are involved.
In Northern Ireland alone there are 410 properties taking part in European Heritage Open Days 2013. They have full details on their website. Focused on the weekend of 14th and 15th September, it is a chance to see more of the country’s built heritage, from Parkanaur Manor House to Mullaghmore House. I’ve just noticed we’ve only got one or two pictures of those places, and none of the inside. Will you step forward and help out?
Wikimedia UK is pleased to announce its new partnership with York Museums Trust (YMT). The partnership, which was confirmed last week, is to be supported by the recruitment of a Wikimedian in Residence who will promote open access to collections data across the trust.
To symbolise the beginning of the partnership the trust has uploaded its first image to Wikimedia Commons, a portrait of Tempest Anderson, photographer and volcanologist. This is an appropriate choice as it also marked the centenary of the death of this interesting character whose life is being explored in the trust’s new exhibition, Tempest Anderson: Volcano Chaser.
The Wikimedian in Residence (WIR) will work with YMT’s Digital Team, curators and volunteers for six months to facilitate the release of more of the trust’s collections onto Commons so that they can be accessed and enjoyed by a much larger online audience. The WIR will work with the Wikimedia community on the improvement of articles related to the Tempest Anderson collection (which includes some 5,000 glass slides and numerous books and scientific papers). They will also host training events, edit-a-thons and workshops on the use of Wikipedia for both the public and museum professionals.
The appointment is supported by a grant from Wikimedia UK and applications for the position are now open. You can find full details here or call 01904 697954 to discuss the position.
This position follows in the footsteps of other WIR roles at institutions such as the British Museum, the British Library, and the National Library of Scotland.
This summer Wikimedia UK embarked on a systematic campaign to raise awareness of the assistance the charity can offer to university students towards the creation of new student societies associated with Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
With support from Wikimedia UK, Wikipedia student societies have already been established at Imperial College London and Cambridge University. We are keen to see this sort of activity develop on other campuses across the UK.
We’re in the process of discussing the possibility of new Wikipedia students’ societies developing at a number of universities in Cardiff, Dundee, Manchester, Hull/Scarborough, Swansea and London.
Although student unions have been very accommodating during these initial discussions, it’s up to students at individual universities to set up societies. Wikimedia UK will offer all the assistance possible through staff and volunteers from the charity’s community. Initially this could involve a stand or stall at the upcoming freshers’ fairs, but it can and should go beyond that. We therefore seek volunteers from the Wikimedia UK community to help out with getting the word out to university students in their area and/or assisting with stands at freshers’ fairs.
Ultimately, the charity seeks to support new students’ societies with the aims of attracting new members and distributing information about Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects beyond freshers’ week. September, when many universities start, coincides with Wiki Loves Monuments, while other events such as Black History Month in October offer opportunities for sustained engagement and learning
Registering a new students’ society with us is very simple and we’re able to do this rather quickly seeing how close to freshers’ week we are. Details about Wikimedia UK’s support for student societies can be found here while examples of student activities beyond freshers’ fair can be found here
Furthermore, new Wikimedia-supported student societies registered with us before 10 October may be invited to present their plans for the coming academic year at the EduWiki Conference taking place in Cardiff later on this year. Scholarship opportunities are available to enable some officers of UK-based student societies to attend the 2013 EduWiki Conference. More information about all this is available for any new student society interested in joining us at the conference.
Please help us spread this information across university campuses throughout the UK, or if you’re a university student and a Wikipedian just email education@wikimedia.org.uk and we’ll take it from there; there are around 150 student unions at UK universities so it’s likely that Wikimedia UK is already in touch with the students’ union at your university.
A photograph of Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner which was found in the Conway Hall archives and scanned and uploaded during the editathon
This post was written by Jonathan Cardy, Wikimedia UK’s GLAM Organiser
We’ve run a few editathons now and we know some of the things to expect, and some of the things that can go wrong.
Conway Hall on Thursday, 8 August was a bit of an experiment for us, our first evening editathon, and with at least half an eye on London commuters. It was also the first time I came to an editathon armed with a mobile WiFi hotspot or a universal laptop charger.
Our hosts supplied us with a lovely large room and had very good WiFi. Thus far how very like the Royal Opera House (minus the liveried footmen), though the decor was somewhat less sumptuous and here I was host, IT support and catering. I just had time to reorganise all the tables and chairs from boardroom to cafe style, with a table over each electricity point, before the rush started.
Conway Hall’s archivist had put out a collection of reference books, biographies and so forth, many looking venerable and probably long out of print. Of course that meant a no tea and coffee rule on any of the desks where the old books were being used. Luckily, the adjacent kitchen served as a break room.
As usual, we’d brought one more laptop than we had bookings for, but on this occasion we could have used more – I should perhaps have guessed that Conway Hall’s predominately elderly membership might include several people who’d popped in, curious to see what it was all about. I could have used four spare laptops.
This was far from the first time someone had forgotten their power cable, but it was the first time I could approach them with a handful of power adaptors saying “great, I’ve been hoping to try this out, lets see which head fits” and set them up with a universal power supply. We should have one as standard for this sort of event.
One awkward moment came when a newish editor who’d had some past experience with overhasty deletion taggers, started an article in a sandbox, and someone who couldn’t make it to the evening saw the redlink and helped out by adding a stub. A quick merge solved things, but I think we need to warn against sandboxes for similar events. But with six separate tables, each with two to five people, we managed far fewer edit conflicts by focusing on a different article per table, than in the days when the whole editathon focused on just one article.
About twenty people took part, ranging from newbies to very experienced editors, but this time included some in between.
Articles created included Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner and Harriet Law, so we made a bit of a contribution to addressing Wikipedia’s gendergap problem. One thing we realised is that a two hour session is more suitable for creating and improving stubs than for already complete articles.
Overall I think the event was a success, and I think we should run more such London evening events.
Particular thanks to our hosts including Sillypunk and Skeptic sid, and our trainers de jour including Philafrenzy, Edwardx and RHaworth.
Jonathan Cardy is Wikimedia UK’s GLAM organiser, organising Wiki events with Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums. If you know of an archive that would contemplate a similar event then please drop him a line – jonathan.cardy@wikimedia.org.uk
This post was written by Ally Crockford, Wikimedian in Residence at the National Library of Scotland
My first introduction to Wikipedia was inspired by a job prospect. A contract as editor for an external wiki aimed at entrepreneurs called ‘Entrepedia.org’ was announced on the University of Edinburgh careers website. I was in the first year of an English Literature PhD programme at the University at that time, an international student (I’m originally from Canada) rather in need of rent money. I was also, at least as I considered myself, reasonably articulate and not a complete technological dunce, so I thought it was a good fit, and as I was offered the job it seems someone agreed. To learn more about the potential offered by a Wiki, I joined Wikipedia. I was not bold: I was most decidedly timid.
I only made a few minor edits, though I scrolled through article source code with great fascination. Once the contract ended and the demands of a full-time research and part-time teaching schedule took hold, my contributions stopped altogether, and my username was lost from both e-mail archives and memory. Five and a half years (and one PhD) later, I returned to Wikipedia, once again inspired by a job description, this time for the position of Wikimedian-in-Residence at the National Library of Scotland. I was alerted this time by an innocuous Facebook post, and as an Open Knowledge advocate and frequent presence in the NLS Reading Rooms I leapt at the opportunity, and I cannot believe how fortunate I was to be offered the job. I have been amazed to see some of the incredible changes and developments that have taken place in the Wikimedia world since last I looked behind the scenes. It is a more expansive and mature resource and community than I remember, though I feel that is more likely because of my own maturing interests and opinions. In any case I am so grateful to have been given that little push back into contributing.
Perhaps you were unaware the position of Wikimedian-in-Residence had been filled, let alone that the residency was already over a month old. You’re probably not alone, and for good reason; I’ve been keeping rather quiet for the first month, focusing on orientating myself within the Library, introducing myself to staff and attending induction meetings for as many of the different teams that would have me. It was, and is, important to me to clearly identify the ideas and concerns that each team had to offer. So, although I’ve been in the position for a month, I have waited to speak up officially until I knew which ideas were feasible, and how the curators and cataloguers whose knowledge I will be relying on felt about them.
While it’s still early days yet, some of the projects currently in the pipeline have me positively buzzing. Public outreach projects in the form of ‘The Wikimedian is IN’ drop-in info sessions for staff and Library readers are in development, as are monthly Wiki-and-Biccy meetups designed to provide a clearly defined time and space – liberally supported with tea and biscuits, of course – for newly trained contributors to connect, practice, and work on their contributions. An autumn edit-athon is in the works which would attempt to improve some rather impoverished articles on eminent Scots using NLS digital and print resources alike, while a very exciting flagship edit-a-thon (or edit-athons!?) focusing on Scottish Women in Science to be held in March 2014 – Women’s History Month – will mark the completion not only the Wikimedian-in-Residence programme here at the NLS, but also of a planned series of #WISWIKI events to be held across Edinburgh in 2013-2014. There are also tentative plans to organise a Backstage Pass event in late 2013 or early 2014.
This month I begin training different teams within the Library, turning ideas into exciting reality, and meeting concerns and questions with – hopefully – strong solutions. I encourage anyone, from anywhere, with any level of interest or experience, to get in touch with me if they have thoughts or ideas or questions themselves, or even if they just want to know more! You can reach me at either (wp:en:)User:ACrockford or a.crockford@nls.uk
Wikimania 2013 took place last week in Hong Kong and by all accounts was a great success. Congratulations to everyone who played a part in bringing together a global community of Wikimedians for such a useful and important conference!
Ahead of the conference one of our volunteers, Rock drum, spent some time with a few of the staff of the chapter to make a short video to show at the conference. We think Rock drum did a marvellous job – take a look below and let us know what you think.
This time next year Wikimania will be hosted in London. Keep an eye on this blog, and our wiki, for more information.
All good photography competitions need excellent judges to help select the winners. The volunteer team behind the UK’s participation in Wiki Loves Monuments is therefore delighted to announce that Steve Cole, Head of Photography at English Heritage, has agreed to join the national judging panel.
Who could be better suited to help select the winners of a photography competition related to historic listed buildings?
Steve has over forty years of experience of photographing historic buildings through working for the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) and English Heritage. He leads a team of photographers at English Heritage that record the buildings and archaeological landscapes of England for use in varied publications and for inclusion in the national archive.
Steve continues to maintain the classic standards of architectural photography as well as embracing new methods and new technologies for image capture. He teaches photography at the Departments of Continuing Education of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Steve Cole said: “I am really looking forward to seeing the entries and I am sure it will be a difficult but greatly entertaining activity in judging them all.”
Michael Maggs, volunteer member of the Wiki Loves Monuments UK steering committee and a Wikimedia UK Trustee, said: “I’m thrilled that Steve has agreed to join the national jury. I doubt that there is anyone else in England with Steve’s understanding of architectural photography combined with a deep understanding of our national heritage.”
Wiki Loves Monuments takes place every year in September and is the world’s largest photography competition. This year, the UK is taking part for the first time. Photographers of all levels of experience are welcome to participate and you can find all of the details you need here.
The diversity of Wikipedia editors is a topic that is widely discussed, both within the global movement and in the wider world. It’s an important issue and there is a wide range of opinions about how to encourage under-represented groups to contribute to Wikimedia projects.
Each language Wikipedia has different approaches, as does each Wikimedia project but it’s essential we all learn from each other and make progress. To this end, it’s exciting to be able to let you know that there is a Wikimedia Diversity Conference taking place on 9th and 10th November 2013 in Berlin, Germany.
The conference is being led by Wikimedia Deutschland, supported by Wikimedia UK and Wikimedia Nederland, and will be attended by delegates from all over the world.
The conference will work to establish a sustainable dialogue with collaborators in Wikimedia Chapters, the Wikimedia Foundation and international Wikimedia communities to frame the issue of diversity in the context of Wikimedia. It will aim to build a shared understanding of what diversity means for Wikimedia projects and why it is of such importance. It’s not just about discussion – at its heart the conference is about turning ideas into action.
More details about the conference will be shared in due course, including opportunities for UK-based Wikimedians with a good understanding of diversity issues to apply for scholarships to attend. You can participate in community discussions related to the conference, including suggesting potential talks and presentations, here.
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