For the second year running, Wales had the second highest number of photos submitted to the Wiki Loves Earth competition. We’re so grateful to and hugely impressed by the entrants, who added over 5000 images of the Welsh National Parks and other protected areas, such as Sites of Scientific Interest. 50 countries took part, and once again Germany took the lead. This year the organising nation, Ukraine, came a close third with 4541 photographs. The list of all countries can be found here.
Before the international judges view the photos, a local panel in each participating country chooses a shortlist. Wales had a truly impressive top 10, which can be viewed here. Congratulations to all of the winners, and here’s a look at the top three:
Out of 5026 images, the top spot was awarded to Rufus Davies, who captured the image featured at the top of this blog. The action shot of two billy goats clashing heads was taken on a cliff face in the Ogwen Valley, located in the Eryri National Park (previously called Snowdonia). Not only is it impressive that Davies managed to get such a great shot, but the colours and composition of the photo are stunning.
The third best photograph from Wales is this image of a grey heron, paused while fishing for small fry in the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley by WelshCarebear.
We were delighted that Northern Ireland also took part in the competition for the fourth year running, which for the first time Wikimedia UK helped organise. Like the Welsh Portal on Commons, the Northern Ireland portal was also bilingual, as we continue to strive for representation of native languages on wiki sites. This year, Northern Ireland’s number of photographs jumped fivefold, from 72 to 363!
Ultimately, the aim of adding photographs to Wikimedia Commons is so they are used and seen. Be it on Wikipedia articles or in another medium entirely, openly licensing images helps the Internet be more informative and useful for all of us. Images from WLE in Wales are among the most frequently added to Wikipedia articles. The numbers are still rising, but 27% of last year’s Welsh photos have been used, and in the few months that this year’s have been up we’re seeing a similar pattern of usage.
Wikipedia has over 335 languages, and the respect to the diversity of languages shown by the Wiki communities globally is excellent and inspirational. This is true of Wikimedia UK (if I may say so), where the conservation of that rich diversity is one of our main columns. The number of Welsh photographers was up from last year from 30 to 52 entrants, submitting over 5000 images for Wales. We have an International Football Team here in Wales, and it’s clear that Welsh photographers feel that WLE is the World Cup of photography competitions!
We’d like to invite our members and wider UK community to the Wikimedia UK 2023 Community Meeting, taking place on Sunday 26th November, 12-2pm.
This online get-together will be a celebration of what our community has achieved in the last year, a recognition of that work through the Wikimedian of the Year awards, and an invitation to get involved with new and existing activities.
Over the last month or so, we’ve been reaching out to community members in a call for lightning talks, and we’re really excited by what we’ve now got lined up. It’s often the case that there’s a huge amount of work done by Wikimedians that others just don’t see, so we’re really happy to be able to highlight some of this activity.
After the lightning talks, we’ll be presenting the annual Wikimedian of the Year awards – there’s more information about those here, and nominations are open until the 10th November.
We’ll round off the meeting with an opportunities fair, where we’ll be showcasing some of the way that you can get involved (either as experienced Wikimedians, or those new to the movement), and ways in which Wikimedia UK can support you to do so.
This event is open to both members and non-members of Wikimedia UK, who’d like to find out more about Wikimedia work in the UK, and who’d like to get more involved!
Tickets are free, the event will be held on Zoom, and you can reserve your tickets now through Eventbrite.
Would you like to share your passion for Wiki editing by running Wikipedia editing events to train new editors and communities? If so, our next Train the Trainer (TtT) course is taking place November to December 2023 and will equip you with the skills and resources needed to deliver editing events. We would love to hear from you if you would like to take part.
TtT trains volunteers who are keen to deliver Wikipedia editing events. Volunteer trainers play a key role in the delivery of Wikimedia UK programmes. They extend our work to underrepresented communities and support them to be part of Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. They train new and existing editors across the country, in-person, online or in hybrid sessions. Demand for training often outstrips staff capacity to fulfil, and we’re conscious that our existing networks do not always allow us to reach all the communities with whom we’d like to work.
This training will equip candidate trainers with the skills, experience and resources to deliver a standard ‘Introduction to Wikipedia’ edit-a-thon.In advance of the hybrid sessions in December, participants will complete a four week WikiLearn course, starting 9th November, with a commitment of approx 1-2 hours per week. We will be training volunteers on delivering online and in-person editing events and this year we will also be delivering training specifically on how to deliver hybrid events.
The session ‘Running Hybrid Events’ will be focused on equipping you with skills needed to run an event with participants online and in-person. This session is also open to applications from accredited trainers as well. It will also be an opportunity for new and accredited trainers to get to know each other.
Expressions of interest are welcomed from all. However, given the current demographic mix of our training network, we are particularly interested in hearing from Black, Asian and minority groups; women; and members of LGBT+ community. For this iteration of TtT we’ll be prioritising applications from areas of the UK in which we have gaps.
The in-person training will take place in London. So please do indicate if you would like to participate in-person or online. We have a budget to cover travel and accommodation costs, and will provide lunch and refreshments.
Course content and key dates
9th November onwards – Four week WikiLearn self led course
Thursday 7th November 2023 /18:00-20:30/online: Introductory Session
Saturday 9th December 2023 /10:00-16:00/in-person and online: Train the Trainer Day 1 – new trainers
Sunday 10th December 2023 /10:00-16:00/in-person: Running Hybrid Events – open to new and existing WMUK trainers. This session will be run by Bhav Patel.
What you could expect from us
Full training and support to deliver a standard ‘Introduction to Wikipedia’ edit-a-thon and similar events
Access to event materials
Ongoing support
Volunteer expenses where appropriate
Job references upon request
What we would expect from you
Familiarity with, or desire to increase your knowledge of the Wikimedia Projects, particularly Wikipedia.
Full attendance at the training course
To complete the online self led course (1-2 hours per week)
To lead training for a minimum of 2 events per year. This would be a mixture of third party events which we would field to you, and those you would organise yourself. Please note that we do receive requests for training to be delivered within office hours
To be responsive to communication from Wikimedia UK staff and fellow volunteers and Event Organisers, including in advance of the event.
To complete basic reporting, including returning sign up information
To represent Wikimedia UK well during the time in which you are volunteering
Places are limited to make sure that each participant gets individual attention and feedback, so please apply via the following forms to express your interest. Call for interest will close on the 26th of October. You will hear from us by the 2nd of November to confirm your place.
The Swadhinata Trust is a London-based secular Bengali heritage organisation that works to promote Bengali history and culture in the UK. We have formed a partnership to collaborate on a series of events and activities that aim to increase the representation and visibility of Bengali heritage and culture on Wikimedia platforms. The partnership also seeks to engage and empower the British Bangladeshi community in the UK to contribute to and benefit from free and open knowledge.
Our partnership started in August 2022 with an email from us to the Swadhinata Trust, expressing interest in working together. After an online call to discuss the possibilities, our volunteer coordinator visited the Swadhinata Trust’s management committee to introduce themselves and explain more about Wikimedia projects. The Swadhinata Trust was enthusiastic and agreed to participate in an introductory online workshop to learn more about our movement.
The online workshop took place in February 2023, and was attended by Ansar, Abu and Val from the Swadhinata Trust; as well as Stuart from Wikimedia UK, who led the workshop, and Tahmina, who supported Stuart as a volunteer. We also had a guest from the West Bengal Wikimedians User Group to introduce their Wikimedia projects in the region.
The online workshop was followed by an in-person workshop at the Wikimedia UK office in April 2023, where participants learned how to create an account and to edit Wikipedia articles, as well as how to find reliable sources and avoid conflicts of interest. They also learned how to upload images to Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository that anyone can use. They explored some of the existing articles on Bengali topics and brainstormed for potential contributions.
The partnership between Wikimedia UK and the Swadhinata Trust is an example of how Wikimedia projects can be used to celebrate and preserve diverse cultural heritage and foster community engagement. It also demonstrates how Wikimedia UK works with local community organisations to support their missions and amplify their voices.
If you are interested in learning more about this partnership or getting involved in any of the activities, please get in touch with us or visit the Swadhinata Trust website.
By Rupal Karia, Outreach and Community Coordinator at Wikimedia UK
I am really excited to join Wikimedia UK and am looking forward to making a meaningful impact on Wikimedia’s engagement and support of volunteers as well as increasing participation across under-represented communities within the WMUK movement.
I have spent the last 15 years working in the charity sector, managing teams of volunteers and supporting grassroots organisations and charities with implementing best practices within their volunteer teams. My last roles were with the Volunteer Centres in Camden and Hackney supporting grassroots organisations with their volunteer management including support with increasing diversity and representation within their volunteer teams.
I am passionate about community engagement and eliminating barriers to participation of groups that have previously been marginalised. I am keen to explore ways we can include and collaborate with these communities, to have a voice within Wikimedia and its projects.
By Dr Lucy Hinnie, Resident at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Connected Heritage Project Lead
Since early 2023 I have been working with the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) and GLAM-E Lab in Exeter as their Wikimedian in Residence. These so-called ‘mini’ residencies are a key part of the Connected Heritage project: you can read all about Leah Emary’s experience as Wikimedian in Residence at the Mixed Museum here.
About RAMM and GLAM-E
The RAMM is the largest museum and art gallery in Exeter. It was founded in 1868 and holds over one million items. It was Museum of the Year in 2012. I have been working with Research Assistant Dr Francesca Farmer: Francesca is based within the GLAM-E Lab, part of The Centre for Science, Culture and the Law (SCuLE) at the University of Exeter. We have received support and guidance from Dr Andrea Wallace, Co-Director of the GLAM-E Lab. GLAM-E is ‘a joint initiative between the Centre for Science, Culture and the Law at the University of Exeter and the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy at NYU Law to work with smaller and less well-resourced UK and US cultural institutions and community organizations to build open access capacity and expertise’.
So what have we been doing? Our aim at the outset was for the Residency to scale up current open knowledge practice at RAMM. Dr Richard Nevell, Project Manager, had worked with Dr Wallace previously on the Cast In Stone project, and it was from this collaboration that ideas grew.
Supporting Image Uploads
As part of the Lab’s ongoing work with postgraduate students, earlier this year we supported the upload of a selection of images from the University of Exeter Special Collections.
They are images from Christopher Saxton‘s 16th century atlas of England and Wales, and are of incredible quality. If you enjoy cartography and/or having a peek at old names for places, these will definitely be of interest to you. You can see the full selection here. If you live in England, you may even be able to spot where you live now.
By integrating these images more widely across Wiki platforms, we have been able to drive more traffic towards Special Collections, and increase viewer numbers.
Upskilling Volunteers
From April 2023, we worked with a group of digital volunteers at the Museum, providing a three-week introductory course to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. Volunteers ranged from school leavers to those of retirement age, and had a vast array of experience and interests. Over the course of three weeks, we covered the basics of editing, common questions about Wiki and cultural heritage, and how to plan and formulate impactful edits. This course culminated in an online editing event in May 2023.
We were so taken with the material that we uncovered during this editing session, particularly the work of local historians on Devon Women in Public and Professional Life, 1900–1950: Votes, Voices and Vocations (available via Open Access here)that we have arranged another, larger-scale event in September: Devon in Red!
Devon in Red
Devon in Red is a public facing Wikithon in which authors of Devon Women in Public and Professional Life, 1900–1950: Votes, Voices and Vocations will speak to local volunteers and interested members of the public about their experience of researching this book, with an aim of adding even more information about these exceptional women to Wiki. Many of the women featured in this book do not have their own Wiki pages, and provide fascinating insight into Exeter’s history.
If you are local to Exeter, you can register for the event here. Please note that some small bursaries are available to enable attendance for those who would otherwise be unable to attend. Please contact us at connectedheritage@wikimedia.org.uk for further information.
File:Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter – geograph.org.uk – 375965.jpg
Establishing a Legacy
As we move towards the end of the project and the residency, I am working closely with RAMM to develop and circulate materials for volunteers and staff in the future to take charge of their own Wiki training, and to embed digital practice in the Museum going forward. Working with RAMM on this project has been a great pleasure and I am confident that exciting things are on the horizon for both RAMM and GLAM-E in terms of Wiki activity and collection access.
Levi White is an FE Lecturer in Social Sciences at New College Lanarkshire. After working with Wikimedia UK on the West Boathouse’s “Play Like a Lassie” project, Levi got in contact with Programme Manager Dr Sara Thomas to develop work with the College. NCL is one of two Further Education partners that Wikimedia UK has in Scotland.
This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the merger of New College Lanarkshire and as part of this the college offered a large number of free evening courses. One of these courses was the Become a Wikimedian Course which was an 11 week course that was conducted online. Throughout this course 10 students learned how to make positive contributions to multiple Wiki platforms, such as Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.
For many years Wikipedia has been viewed in a negative light by educators, however, this course has highlighted what a positive tool Wikipedia can be for learners. Knowing how to use the platform properly to bolster research is key to its success. The students quickly understand how Wikipedia can be used as a springboard to delve deep into research on a specific topic. This course used the 12 week syllabus available on Wikimedia Commons to provide a basic structure to the course. We spent the first week exploring the ‘5 Pillars of Wikipedia’ and subsequent weeks looked at creative writing techniques, critical evaluation of Wikipedia articles and research materials. The course also focussed on research skills and allowed the students ample opportunity to work in small groups and peer reviewed each other’s research and edits.
Furthermore, the course allowed plenty of time for students to make their contributions to Wikipedia. They all felt a great sense of achievement once their edits went live and enjoyed watching the dashboard and seeing the impact their edits were having.
Lesley-Anne, a student on the course, stated “throughout the course, my eyes have been opened to the world of Wikipedia, and my previous negative perception of how useful a tool it can be has been blown out of the water. From a further education point of view, I can’t emphasise enough how useful this would have been when I was studying for my social sciences HND. It would have been incredible to have been able to enhance my research, writing, referencing and critical analysis skills by putting them into practice at the same time as making meaningful contributions to Wikipedia. I also feel it would be a really useful module for students to take alongside various Access/NC/HNC/HND courses, and I think that the group work and peer review element would undoubtedly help so many students build up their confidence in going forward in their studies. There is genuinely so much that can be gained from participating in the course.” While Ben said he “really enjoyed the course, going through college and university you are taught that using Wikipedia is wrong… however, it is clear that we need to be taught how to use it correctly instead of being shunned away from it. This course offered me the opportunity to be taught a new skill… Fundamentally, I believe that this course… would offer an accessible and easy to use stepping stone to more academic websites for research.”
Hopefully, this course will be offered again at New College Lanarkshire and we can build on the success of this one! Personally, I felt that the student engagement on this course was brilliant. They thoroughly enjoyed the whole research process and having a tangible outcome kept them motived to continue with their edits.
Learn about the upcoming bill and add your name to our open letter
To His Majesty’s Government and the UK Parliament
The UK’s Online Safety Bill (OSB) addresses important safety issues to protect children and adults online. However, in its current state, the Bill unduly threatens the survival and welfare of projects that prioritise the public interest over profits. The Bill neglects to protect free knowledge, privacy, freedom of speech, and the strength of civic society in the UK.
The signatory coalition represented in this letter includes organisations from across the cultural, scientific, and charitable landscape. They run or support projects that are used by and benefit a wide cross-section of the UK public: from young people to retirees; professionals to amateurs; and those with global, national, or hyper-local interests. Wikipedia, open science initiatives, crowdsourced UK heritage catalogues, and other public interest projects are the most socially, culturally, and scientifically valuable parts of the web.
In an attempt to weed out the worstparts of the internet, the OSB jeopardises thebest parts of the internet. So, we are calling on the UK Government and Parliament to exempt public interest projects from the OSB.
Our coalition, and supportive members of the House of Lords, are urging the UK Government to act. Fixing this is simple; it requires adding a new paragraph to Schedule 1 of the Bill, exempting public interest projects (see this letter’s accompanying FAQ). Should the Government fail to act, Parliament will need to make the necessary changes itself. The Bill’s upcoming Lords “Report Stage” voting, starting July 6th, is the UK’s best and final opportunity to enact this change.
We hope the UK Government will take swift action to protect the best parts of the internet — public interest projects that uplift civic society and promote access to knowledge online.
Yours faithfully
The signatories
Arcadia Fund
Big Brother Watch
CILIP
CILIP Scotland
Code The City
Creative Commons
FixMyStreet / mySociety
Flickr Foundation
Global Partners Digital
Inspire High Energy Physics
Liberty
London College of Communication
Open Plaques
Open Rights Group
Open Scotland
The Heritage Alliance
The Mixed Museum
Wellcome Sanger Institute
Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Italia
Wikimedia UK
Zooniverse
Dr Andrea Wallace, The GLAM-E Lab & SCuLE at the University of Exeter, Exeter Law School
Dr Amanda Crawley-Jackson, Associate Dean Knowledge Exchange, University of the Arts London: London College of Communication
Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia
Oliver Creighton, Professor of Archaeology and President of the Society for Medieval Archaeology, University of Exeter
Professor Peter Cox, Director of the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter
Public Interest Projects (PIPS) and the Online Safety Bill
Online Safety Bill FAQ
Q: How is the Online Safety Bill endangering public interest projects (PIPs)?
A: As currently drafted, the Bill applies to organisations that allow UK users to see user-generated content,(1) or that allow them to search other websites.(2) This affects numerous public interest projects that serve or directly involve the public.
As the Bill stands, PIPs will be required to understand and apply this new 260-page law, which imposes at least 29(3) new and often onerous legal duties. Worse still, as a “skeleton” (or “future proofed framework” law), the Bill’s full impact on PIPs will only become clear to them once they have also mastered dozens of additional “implementation” rules, guidelines and Codes of Practice that will be issued by Ofcom and the Secretary of State.
New or evolving PIPs — no matter how important and beneficial they may be for the UK — will then be outlawed unless they first conduct “child access assessments” (“CAAs”, Clause 31) and “illegal content risk assessments” (“ICRAs”, Clause 8) for all projects that will involve user-generated content (such as a photography contest, or a discussion forum). Each assessment must be documented (with records kept for inspection), and must be repeated frequently — some have a regular cadence (annual), while others require regular revision: ICRAs have to be revised every time there are “significant changes” to the design/operation of the service, or to Ofcom’s guidance. CAAs, meanwhile, have to be revised at least annually; then when the service design changes; and again if signs emerge that more under-18s may be using the service. Assessments will in turn give rise to extra obligations (e.g. Clause 9, requiring new compliance measures).
The Bill’s clearest requirements are often the most problematic for PIPs: for example, even “citizen history” and “open science” projects will be required to perform statutory assessments of their impact on (i) illegal immigration; (ii) operation of unlicensed crossbow rental businesses; (iii) selling stolen goods; (iv) controlling prostitutes; (v) and displaying words contrary to the Public Order Act 1986 (among many other “Priority offences”) (clause 8(5), read with Schedule 7).
The Bill may even subject the more widely-used PIPs to a new duty to submit annual earnings and userbase statistics to Ofcom, so that Ofcom can, if it sees fit to do so, charge that PIP a new “fee” — in essence, a tax to operate in the UK (Clauses 74-77). Ofcom is also given the power to force PIPs to use content filtering and user blocking technologies, without a judge. Those same “proactive technology requirement” powers have already attracted widespread criticism for threatening the privacy and confidentiality of WhatsApp and Signal conversations.
Noncompliance exposes PIPs to serious fines, UK blocking orders, and even staff imprisonment.
Unable to manage this entirely new legal environment, many existing PIPs — some of which have served or been run by the UK public for decades — face closure, or could geoblock UK users. New PIPs may never see the light of day, and those already operating will become change-averse (since some of the Bill’s obligations are triggered by “significant changes” to the “design or operation” of a website or app). Many PIPs that do attempt to comply with the Bill, without Big Tech’s legal resources at their side, are likely to cut their risks: they can exclude under-18s, or suppress borderline-but-lawful content. Even larger PIPs, like the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation that hosts Wikipedia, have spoken up about the risk of age-based discrimination and risk-reactive censorship.
Notes
(1) A “user-to-user service” is: “an internet service by means of which content that is generated directly on the service by a user of the service, or uploaded to or shared on the service by a user of the service, may be encountered by another user, or other users, of the service” – OSB, clause 2(1)
(2) A “search engine”:
“(a) includes a service or functionality which enables a person to search some websites or databases (as well as a service or functionality which enables a person to search (in principle) all websites or databases);
(b) does not include a service which enables a person to search just one website or database.” – OSB, clause 201(1)
(3) Approximate figure only. This only counts new duties applicable to regulated “user-to-user services, based on a count of obligations drafted in the form “a duty (…) to… .” This conservative approach means additional duties (and prohibitions) are missed from the count, e.g. those expressed in the form “[x] shall” or “[x] shall not”. This methodology also excludes (i) additional duties applicable only to services designated as “Category 1” or “Category 2a”; search engines; and/or pornography websites; (ii) additional duties that arise only in relation to compliance with Ofcom regulatory actions, e.g. cooperation with investigations.
Q: Doesn’t the Bill just require sites to take “proportionate” steps, so requirements only cause problems if the sites actually pose a risk to their users?
A: No. Some of the Bill’s requirements are indeed written in a nebulous, “futureproofed” and “proportionality-centric” way — allowing Ofcom and future governments to spell out more concrete requirements down the line — but some parts are already extremely specific.
For example, Section 8(5) requires PIPs and other covered entities to specifically assess the risk of their projects being used to see content corresponding to every offence listed in Schedule 7 of the Bill, and to more generally assess the likelihood of their service being used to commit (or facilitate) those offences. The list in Schedule 7 is four pages long, and, as noted above, includes assisting illegal immigration, unlicensed crossbow rental, selling stolen goods, controlling prostitutes, and displaying words contrary to the Public Order Act.
Q: What do the signatories want to see changed?
A: The fix is simple: The signatories request the addition of a new paragraph to Schedule 1 that would exempt PIPs from the Bill. The suggested drafting of this amendment is as follows:
“Services provided in the public interest(10A) A user-to-user service or a search service is exempt if it is provided for the purpose of indexing, curating, adapting, analysing, discussing or making available content in the public interest, including but not limited to historical, academic, artistic, educational, encyclopaedic, journalistic, or statistical content.”
Q: Would that exemption be open to abuse? How is “public interest” defined?
A: “Public interest” exemptions are already widely used in other UK laws. For instance, they set aside some of UK data protection law’s most onerous provisions. “Public interest” is also used in other important laws, such as whistleblower legislation.
Someone abusing the exemption to harm the UK public would not be acting in the public interest, and would therefore be automatically disqualified from the exemption.
The Bill could also pair this exemption with a new power for judges, or Ofcom, to selectively suspend exemptions, in response to abuse – modelled on a similar provision in the Gambling Act 2005 (s. 284). However, the UK’s neighbouring countries — such as France (which just built a similar exemption into its new social media law) — seem to view this as unnecessary.
By Daria Cybulska, Director of Programmes and Evaluation at Wikimedia UK
Democracies rely on informed citizens to function effectively. Over recent years, new digital technologies have fundamentally altered the creation and consumption of media content, and introduced new challenges to democratic participation. The increased volume of news, the politicisation of social media, misinformation, disinformation, and the distracting of the public through fake news, along with the rise of polarised and radicalised groups whose own ideology is reinforced by ‘filter bubbles’, all combine to create untrustworthiness, bias and misrepresentation. These issues undermine democracy and its reliance on well-informed citizens.
Information literacy has the power to counter this. At its heart, information literacy empowers citizens to access, create, consume and critically evaluate information. It builds understanding of the ethical and political issues associated with the use of information, including privacy, data protection, freedom of information, open access/open data and intellectual property.
In my role as the Director of Programmes at Wikimedia UK, I’ve long believed that our workshops and training sessions make a difference in empowering people – by building their information literacy skills, providing an opportunity to collaborate, and capturing their heritage. In 2021, together with Agnes Bruszik, a research colleague, we delivered a project to critically investigate how engaging with Wikimedia projects contributes to the strengthening of civil society and democratic processes in the UK.
Our main inquiry was to understand how improving information literacy skills contributes to Wikimedia UK’s vision of a more tolerant, informed and democratic society. Does our work increase participants’ information literacy, and does this in turn lead to a more engaged civil society? We reviewed the current understanding and frameworks in the intersection of literacies, civic engagement and democratic participation, to see how information literacy has been found to support civic engagement. We then explored how Wikimedia UK’s work contributes to civic disposition skills.
Our research concludes that Wikimedia’s activities can increase citizen engagement in democratic processes through our work in information literacy by 1) Providing open and free access to accurate information, 2) Improving information literacy skills of individuals, 3) Encouraging volunteering, and 4) Providing accessible collaborative infrastructure.
“Information literacy is one of the most important skills of the future. Without understanding how, by who and in which ways knowledge and information is created and distributed, one cannot potentially evaluate the value and credibility of that information. The formulation of opinions, values, principles, or academic and historical referencing must be based upon reliable sources and credible interpretation and presentation of facts and data. Without citizens’ awareness of information manipulation, democratic participation is thus flawed. The Wikimedia movement is in a unique position to educate and encourage individuals to become more information literate, while also promoting democratic practices such as participatory decision-making, provisioning open access to platforms and information for even the most marginalised minority groups. These practices, in turn, create the know-how for more civic engagement in general.” – Agnes Bruszik
Crucially, freedom of expression and access to reliable information through Wikimedia projects increase intercultural dialogue and decrease the social isolation of minority groups. Wikipedia serves as a platform that can assist displaced or minoritised communities to express and maintain cultural identity. Our experience shows that groups organised around a shared interest, value or cause, and equipped with digital, information and collaboration skills, are more likely to engage in civic participation in public matters relevant for them. Moreover, learning about the culture of democratic participation and processes of engagement empowers individuals, equipping them with transferable skills.
“The rise of populism has been linked to a decline in interest in public affairs and we thought that, being less politically and socially active, people may be less capable of interpreting political phenomena and understanding the complexity of the management of public affairs.” – Science Direct
We are faced with a global trend towards a shrinking civil society space. There are fewer spaces where citizens can develop and practise key civic skills such as collaboration, self-representation, and working within a context of diversity and difference of opinion. This is much needed in any context, including the UK. Civic skills are broad in character and can be developed in a variety of contexts – including opportunities online. Wikipedia has the benefit of being a well known online space, meaning it has the recognition within a big audience that could then be engaged in civic activities. We can engage with people where they already are rather than needing to bring them to a new, unknown space.
Many participants of Wikimedia UK activities (e.g. editing events) started out as individual editors, who then decided to bring wiki projects into their communities. In a recent survey of our community leaders, we asked if individuals’ participation in Wikimedia UK activities, such as running wiki events, encouraged them to take part in other non-wiki activities e.g. community organising, campaigning, other kinds of volunteering, etc. One volunteer reports:
“Yes. In speaking to a volunteer for our charity, I became aware of the [community heritage project centring on a particular 19th century industrial action]. I created the Wikipedia page for […], a leading figure in the strike whose mentions elsewhere assured her notability, and through this spoke to the originators of [community heritage project]. I am now actively involved with the group, including as part of their education and community engagement sub-group. It’s likely that Wikipedia work will feature in this at some stage, as they were overjoyed with the […] page and very much convinced of the usefulness of more (and more accurate) Wikipedia representation.” – Community Leader response in a 2021-22 Wikimedia UK volunteer survey.
Working on Wikimedia UK projects can facilitate this spirit of working towards a common good, aka free knowledge for all. It also enables cooperation with others and activism, which in the long run encourages an empowered civil society. This we believe can go a long way towards realising Wikimedia UK’s vision of a more informed, democratic and equitable society.
