Page 63 – Wikimedia UK

English language Wikipedia hits 4 million articles!

As around 1,000 international Wikimedians gathered in Washington, D.C, for Wikimania 2012, an historic landmark was reached today as the English language Wikipedia recorded its 4 millionth article just eleven years after its creation.

It’s taken a huge, ongoing collaborative effort to reach this point and everyone involved in the project can feel a warm glow of satisfaction.

The four-millionth article was Izbat Al Borg, a short article about a city in Egypt. The article was created by Mohammed Farag, an editor from Alexandria, Egypt, who edits under the username User:Meno25. This article reflects the global nature of the site’s content, and a lot of potential remains for new articles covering countries like Egypt, which are currently under-represented on the English Wikipedia – as has been shown by Mark Graham’s work at the Oxford Internet Institute studying the global distribution of Wikipedia articles.

In the run-up to the 4 millionth article, User:Dr Blofeld created a long series of articles expanding Wikipedia’s coverage of Turkish villages. He is one of Wikipedia’s biggest contributors, and has made over 300,000 edits to articles. On his talk page, he explained “I rarely ever create “sub stubs” anymore, but today feels right to create a few thousand missing Turkish village stubs as a one off as 4 million articles approach. If we think long term on Wikipedia then it’s at least working towards something more productive. A true encyclopedia would have articles on all of them anyway.”

Other articles created around the 4 millionth include articles on highways in Idaho, such as Idaho State Highway 48, the Siersza Power Station in Poland, Albert C. Baker, an American judge from the early 20th century and Intelsat 605, a satellite launched in 1991.

Past milestones have included 1 million articles (Jordanhill railway station) on March 1, 2006, 2 million articles (El Hormiguero) on September 13, 2007 and 3 million articles (Beate Eriksen) on August 17, 2009.

The edits continue as Wikipedians pursue their shared mission of making the sum total of human knowledge available to everyone, everywhere, for free. Wikipedia exists in over 270 different languages, which have a combined total of over 23 million articles – but there is still quite a way to go before articles on all topics exist in every single human language!

Volunteer’s efforts win Gibraltar the right to be the first Wikipedia ‘city’

Tyson Lee Holmes was with friends when he read about ‘Monmouthpedia, the World’s First Wikipedia Town.’ His first thought was, wouldn’t it be great if we could do it here, in Gibraltar? So, next day, he took the initiative. He contacted the Minister for Tourism, Neil Costa, and asked for permission to talk to the team behind Monmouthpedia.

Tyson’s initiative, in talking to Neil Costa, and instigating an approach on behalf of this British Overseas territory, greatly impressed the Monmouthpedia organisers, Roger Bamkin and John Cummings. They had already been inundated with offers from people looking for their city to be the world’s second Wikipedia town. Offers had come in from the Czech Republic, the USA, Norway and elsewhere. None had such strong political support behind them.

Within a few weeks, the Monmouthpedia team was in Gibraltar. They met Tyson and the Gibraltar’s Director of Heritage, Clive Finlayson. Next, they met the Minister of Tourism, Neil Costa. In Tyson’s company, the team toured Gibraltar and experienced its rich cultural heritage first hand. To end the visit, they met with a large group of committed local Wikipedian volunteers and discussed how a project might be taken forward in Gibraltar. They felt that Tyson had all the key ingredients in place, so much so, that some preparatory work has already started, with Tyson creating articles, and volunteer editors already showing interest in starting work.

Roger Bamkin, who co-created QRpedia and Monmouthpedia said: “As the GibraltarpediA project evolves, QRpedia codes for each new Gibraltar Wikipedia page will be created. The botanic gardens, the nature reserve, all the notable historical monuments across this culturally rich territory, will have specially designed plaques that link to Wikipedia. Anyone with a smartphone scanning the QR code on these signs will see Wikipedia pages about these cultural treasures, in their own language if available, sent directly to their phone.”

Monmouthpedia Project Leader John Cummings concluded: “Gibraltar is a truly multicultural place, squeezed on an isthmus between Europe and Africa. Because it is so close to both Morocco and Spain there are opportunities to reach out to cultures on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. Indeed, that is what we hope to do as the project unfold.”

This post was written by Steve Virgin.

Russian language Wikipedia blacked out for 10 July protest

Image taken from the Russian language Wikipedia during their protest on 10 July 2012

The Russian language Wikipedia is blacked out today in response to a proposed law “on information”. The decision was taken by around 300 members of the Russian language Wikipedia community and is an independent action. The below text is taken from Wikimedia Russia’s blog (with some very minor amends). You can see the blog in the original Russian, alongside English, here.

Wikipedia in Russian will be closed on 10 July because of Russian parliament’s debating of amendments to the law about information (in Russian) that could create real censorship of the internet — a blacklisting and filtering of internet sites.

Supporters of the law’s proposition say that it is aimed only at widely prohibited content such as child pornography and “things like that”, but conditions for determining the content falls under this law will create a thing like the Great Firewall of China. The existing Russian law’s practice shows the high possibility of the worst scenario, in which access to Wikipedia soon will be closed in all country.

World first for St Paul’s Church, Birmingham

St Paul’s is the first church in the world to utilise innovative QRpedia technology

Visitors and worshippers at St Paul’s Church in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham have a new way to learn about the history of the church. This beautiful, Grade I listed building has become the first church in the world to utilise QRpedia codes.

QRpedia codes – a variation of QR (or Quick Response) codes – are objects that can be scanned using a smartphone, which then direct you to a Wikipedia page about the object or location, in the language used by the phone – so providing multi-lingual content to overseas and local visitors alike.

As well as a code linking to the article about the church itself, others provide information about famous parishioners such as James Watt and Matthew Boulton – who both had their own pews in the church. We can only wonder what such scientific pioneers would have made of this innovative technology.

Andy Mabbett is a well-known local Wikipedian who helped install the codes within the church. He said: “There are a huge range of topics related to historic churches so it’s marvellous to be able to share information with visitors and parishioners. I very much look forward to working with more places of worship, with all faiths, to install QRpedia, which is free to use.”

Other topics covered by the codes include the artists who designed and made the famous east window, Benjamin West and Francis Eginton, Francis Goodwin, who added the spire and renowned organist, James Stimpson, who was the city’s first.

Mr Mabbett was keen to encourage more people to get involved with the work of Wikipedia. He said: “When we announced we’d completed this project, members of a Hindu temple in Mumbai got in touch to say that they’d been inspired to work on a similar project. I’d encourage anyone linked with a place of worship, or any historical building or place, to have a go.”

Birmingham is also home to the first railway station in the world to implement QRpedia technology, Birmingham Moor Street station.

To find out more about adding QRpedia codes to a place that’s important to you, please email andy@pigsonthewing.org.uk

Wikimedia UK welcomes Katherine to the team

We are really pleased to introduce our latest member of staff Katherine Bavage to the Wikimedia community as the Fundraising Organiser of Wikimedia UK.

Katherine’s role will be to coordinate work around the annual fundraiser, and work with volunteers to expand opportunities to attract fundraising for projects in partnership with other organisations. She brings to the role her fundraising experience from working in the Higher Education sector in Development roles, as well as experiences of being a volunteer and board member in other organisations.

Her interests include board games (think 7 Wonders, not Monopoly) and playing Roller Derby – she skates as ‘Mo Roll’em’ for a league near her home town of Leeds.

She will be based between the office in Old Street and Leeds before moving to London full-time in October, and will be using the commuting opportunity to get to some wikimeets going on around the UK. Her contact number is 07803 505 171 and she can be emailed at katherine.bavage@wikimedia.org.uk.

What did you think of our annual report?

The front page of Wikimedia UK's 2012 Annual Report — The front page of our 2012 Annual Report

We recently published our annual report for the period 2011-12. It’s available as an optimised PDF here and also in print (for a copy drop Stevie Benton a line here).

The report features information about our fundraiser, some key statistics, a report on Monmouthpedia, the Wikipedia blackout, media activity, and GLAM and education activies, among other things.

As a part of our monitoring and evaluation we’d like to put a call out for feedback. What did you like about the report? What didn’t you like? Do you have any suggestions for next year’s report?

We’d like your views on all elements of the content, including copy, images and design. You can either leave your feedback as a comment on this blog or email Stevie.

EduWiki 2012: Wikipedia as an educational resource, now and in the future

The EduWiki conference takes place on 5 and 6 September. Click the logo to register!

What do Dictator novel, Implicit self-esteem and Nuclear energy policy in the United States have in common? Each of these Wikipedia articles has been improved by university students in exchange for course credit.

Wikipedia educational assignments – where improving the free online encyclopaedia is integral to the course – already happen in many universities in the USA, Canada and other countries. Here in the UK, lecturers in the universities of Hull, Southampton, Portsmouth and Imperial College, London have been experimenting with Wikipedia assignments.

It seems that everybody gains from this sort of assignment. The students get a real experience of publication, and are motivated to find reliable sources, write neutrally, avoid plagiarism and seek feedback from Wikipedia’s internal review processes. Wikipedia, and its enormous global audience, get improved articles in academic subjects. The lecturers get help in creating a distinctive and demanding educational experience.

To avoid the potential pitfalls, these courses need planning and coordination beforehand between the lecturers and the Wikipedia contributors. Ambassadors – experienced Wikipedians – assist the courses online or in person. The Wikimedia education portal has tips, case studies and supporting materials.

These projects treat Wikipedia as a set of educational processes, not as a static, fixed resource.

The saying about sausages and legislation is that people who enjoy them shouldn’t watch them being made. With anything that claims to be knowledge, the opposite is true. Learners need to see the process behind it: whether the idea just popped into someone’s head, or survived rigourous testing against alternative explanations; whether it was published directly or went through some sort of review. On Wikipedia, the writing, editing and review processes are all open and on public view. By exploring and taking part in these processes, learners have a chance to develop high-level skills of research and collaboration.

At school level, there are opportunities not only to teach many subjects using Wikipedia’s freely reusable text, images and other media but also to teach a critical understanding of Wikipedia itself. Those of us who write Wikipedia don’t want readers to treat the site as a final authority: we want them to view it critically, as a medium with weaknesses and strengths, just as newspapers, books or television should be read critically.

What would be ideal now is if educators and other staff from universities and schools could get together in a room with Wikimedia contributors, discussing the educational projects we’re each working on and the opportunities for the future. That’s exactly why Wikimedia UK and the University of Leicester are hosting a one-and-a-half-day EduWiki conference on the 5th and 6th of September.

There will be speakers from the USA, Canada and Germany as well as the UK, talking about educational activities that use Wikipedia or other wiki projects. Booking is just £40, with discounts for staff in educational institutions and for Wikimedia contributors as well as some free bursaries for students. A few slots are still available in the programme for people who want to contribute: the conference fee is waived for those who run a session.

Over the past few years, Wikimedia UK has been building relationships with some of the most forward-thinking institutions and individuals in the education sector. The education projects area of our site has more information and the draft education strategy suggests how Wikimedia UK might support education in the long term.

*The EduWiki conference takes place on 5 and 6 September at the University of Leicester. Register for the event now by clicking the button. This post was written by Martin Poulter.

UK Wikipedian debates Wikipedia’s relationship with PR industry

Gemma Griffiths, David Gerard and Philip Sheldrake ahead of the webcast

David Gerard, a prominent Wikipedian and Wikimedia UK volunteer, took part in a live debate on the relationship between Wikipedia and the PR industry this week.

The debate was organised by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and streamed live via their CIPR.tv web channel. The recording is available here on YouTube. The debate broadcast was hosted by Gemma Griffiths, Managing Director of The Crowd & I and someone who has offered pro bono support to WMUK in the past. Representing the PR industry was Philip Sheldrake, Founder of Meanwhile and a speaker at WMUK’s recent AGM alongside Neville Hobson.

During the show the group discussed how the PR industry could interact with Wikipedia. In particular, they spent time looking at some draft best practice guidelines, created by the CIPR’s social media panel and hosted for discussion on our wiki here.

The guidelines remain available for comment so please do get involved. CIPR will be taking a snapshot of the guidelines on Sunday 24 June and circulating them to their members as version one, although the document will remain on wiki for further discussion and evolution.

Pic for victory! We team up with The National Archives to bring war art to public domain

We’ve recently been working with our friends from The National Archives to bring a collection of 2,000 or so war art images into the public domain. This is the result of a digitisation grant made by Wikimedia UK to enable these works to be shared online.

The first group of 350 or so images is available in this gallery on Wikimedia Commons and includes works from some 120 artists whose work may be freely available for the first time thanks to this project. The collection includes some of the most famous pieces of war art produced in the UK, including the famous Dig for Victory and Careless Talk Costs Lives campaigns.

We think this is a great step forward as these images can, for example, be used to illustrate an important period in world history as well as the biographies of these artists. This story has received some good press coverage too, in publications such as these articles in The Guardian, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun.

We’d like to see more galleries, libraries, archives and museums embarking on projects of this kind. If you represent a cultural institution and you’d like to find out more about working with Wikimedia UK, please drop an email to glam@wikimedia.org.uk or call our office on 020 7065 0990.

Technological landmark for award-winning Birmingham Moor Street station

The below press release was issued to railway-related media over 28 and 29 May for immediate release. It’s likely to be published over the course of the next month or so.

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There’s a new way for visitors to Birmingham’s historic Moor Street station to connect with its past thanks to a clever new technology called QRpedia – in fact, it’s the first railway station in the world to make use of the technology.

A collection of eight of these codes is displayed in the Centenary Lounge cafe inside the station, directing smartphone users to Wikipedia pages about the station itself, the Great Western Railway, the Chiltern Line and the station’s cosmetically-restored GWR 2884 Class steam locomotive, among other things.

Andy Mabbett, a well-known local Wikipedian who installed the codes, said: “Wikipedia has a vast amount of local and railway history. It’s wonderful that the Centenary Lounge is helping to share this with local people and visitors to Birmingham.”

He continued: “The local community can be very proud that it’s host to the first railway station in the world to use this innovative technology. We look forward to working with railway operators and heritage lines across the UK to deploy QRpedia, which is free to use. We also encourage railway enthusiasts to get involved with Wikipedia, creating and editing content on their favourite railway topics.”

Birmingham Moor Street station is a Grade II listed building and is a particularly fine example of Edwardian railway station architecture. It closed in 1987 but was restored and reopened to widespread acclaim in 2002. The restoration project was given the Railway Heritage Trust Award in 2004 and The Birmingham Civic Society’s Renaissance Award in 2005.

Aasia Baig, the owner of the Centenary Lounge, said: “The project gives people a lot of background information on the station, and it’s particularly good for tourists. It makes the station more interesting and shows there’s a lot more to the station than just travelling. We’re even planning to get the codes printed on our menus!”

Birmingham is also home to the first church in the world to use QRpedia codes, St Paul’s in the Jewellery Quarter.