Page 67 – Wikimedia UK

British Library English and Drama editathon

Lewis Carroll, one of many authors with unique photographs, papers and publications held in the collections.

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

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

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

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

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

Launching our new GLAM Outreach Taskforce

GLAM – Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums.
Wikimedia – the organisation behind Wikipedia, its image library Commons and many more information projects.

In the last few months, Wikimedia volunteers have run a number of successful collaborations with cultural institutions such as the British Museum and the V&A. Based on this successful start, Wikimedia UK has set up a GLAM Outreach Taskforce to roll out the program across the rest of the UK.

Our goal is to establish a UK wide program of partnerships between Wikimedia and Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums, that will:

work together with cultural institutions as they open up to the digital age

help to freely and widely liberate the knowledge they hold

engage volunteers and professionals in making better use of Wikipedia and sister projects for improved public access to GLAM collections

link our volunteers and digital presence with willing cultural partners to mutual benefit

The UK GLAM task force is supported by, and reports to, the Wikimedia UK board. There are a number of free events and institution relationships in the pipeline with GLAMcamp London in June being the formal kick-off for the UK GLAM network (it’s free and open to GLAM professionals and prospective GLAM ambassadors).

Here is what is coming up in the next month:

4 June –British Library English & Drama edit-athon
22 June – National Railway Museum workshop in York
24 June – GLAMcamp London, the first GLAM ambassador network event and hosted by the British Library

A larger list of institutions where we have made contact or are currently working with to establish partnerships or hold events with is at GLAM events. In the context of how we started the concept of GLAM ambassadors in the UK at the British Museum only a year ago, this rapid and remarkable progress is only possible because we were pushing on a door that many institutional professionals were ready to open.

As well as edit-a-thons and workshops, we are establishing innovative approaches for museums. Derby Museum was not the first museum to make their collections internet enabled and smart-phone friendly by using QR codes, but they were the first in the world to use QR pedia so that their collection became automatically available in multiple languages by using Wikipedia’s Korean, Chinese, Spanish and over two hundred and fifty other language versions (see this unauthorized guerilla video).

Would you like to help?

Sign up and come to one of our events
Join Wikimedia UK or join our email discussion list to discuss future events and plans

If you work within an GLAM institution and would like to see an outreach event for e-volunteers to increase access to your collections, email Fae or glam(at)wikimedia.co.uk

We need your help expanding Wikimedia’s GLAM e-volunteer network, particularly for locations outside London. Drop me
a note with your ideas if you would like to see your loved local institution be at the forefront of this knowledge revolution
Finally, this isn’t just for big institutions in London, we are keen to collaborate with specialist associations and local museums everywhere in the UK (and in all languages)

Join the Wright Challenge!

Wright of Derby,

For the last two weeks Wikimedia UK has been running a competition in partnership with the Derby Museum. So far, over 150 new or improved Wikipedia articles have been created, in dozens of languages.

This is the biggest multilingual collaboration between Wikimedians and the cultural sector to date, and it’s particularly interesting because it’s a regional museum taking part!

25 Wikimedians and curators attended a Backstage Pass event on April 9th. (Written up in a great blog post by curator Nick Moyes)

The “Wright Challenge” competition (named after artist Joseph Wright of Derby ) was launched on May 1st, offering prizes for improvements to articles on subjects linked to the Derby Museum – in any language, not just English. At the time we were a bit concerned we’d left it too late to take advantage of the momentum from the event on the 9th. However, the response has been simply immense, with hundreds of pieces of Derby-related content being added, updated and translated in just two weeks.

The multilingual nature of the material we’re adding is particularly interesting because of the work we’re doing with QR codes which will link the actual objects in the Museum to their Wikipedia articles (watch on Youtube). Someone scanning the QR code next to “A Philosopher lecturing on the Orrery” with a smartphone will be taken to that article on the English Wikipedia, while a visitor with a Russian smartphone will go direct to the article “Философ, объясняющий модель Солнечной системы” on the Russian Wikipedia.

The Wright Challenge remains open until Joseph Wright’s birthday on September 3rd. Come and join in!

Hello from the new Wikimedia UK Board

Wikimedia UK’s new board held its first meeting last Tuesday. There are a lot of exciting opportunities this year and the Board really wants to make the most of them.

Some of the highlights are:

The Board meeting on 11 June will be devoted to producing a long-term strategy for Wikimedia UK. It’s clear that as we continue to grow and professionalise, we will need a documented vision for the next few years. At the WikiConference a few weeks ago, there was a discussion about strategy and the way forward. We will be taking more steps to involve the community in this discussion – starting with an IRC discussion on Tuesday May 3rd. You’ll be hearing more from us about this soon.

Fae is in the process of setting up a 6-person UK GLAM Steering Committee to build our capacity to work with cultural institutions. Fae will also be attending the Wikimedia Foundation’s “GLAMCamp” in New York in May on WMUK’s behalf. If you are a Wikimedian interested in working with our cultural partners, or from a cultural institution interested in working with Wikimedia UK, please contact Fae directly on fae@wikimedia.org.uk

The Board also decided that the next AGM would be held in May 2012, in London. If you have suggestions for venues or possible partner organisations, please drop Roger a line.

The new Board, elected at the WikiConference on April 16th, is made up of:

Roger Bamkin (Victuallers) – Chair
Andrew Turvey (AndrewRT) – Treasurer
Michael Peel (Mike Peel) – Secretary
Chris Keating (The Land)
Martin Poulter (MartinPoulter)
Ashley Van Haeften (Fae)
Steve Virgin (Steve Virgin)

Gemma Griffiths continues as a pro-bono public relations consultant to the Board.

You can find more details of the new Board on the Wikimedia UK Wiki. If there’s anything you’d like to discuss, please do get in touch with any of us – we can all be reached by email on firstname.surname@wikimedia.org.uk.

Finally, for all the latest news, don’t forget to follow Wikimedia UK on Twitter: @wikimediauk

Ten million free media files and counting

240px-POL_Lipno_(jezioro_w_województwie_pomorskim)_02 — A waterfowl observation platform by Lipno Lake in the Wdzydze Landscape Park

Ten is turning out to be the number of the year for Wikimedia. First, the Wikimedia Foundation celebrated the tenth anniversary of Wikipedia in January, and now Wikimedia Commons – the library of images, sound files, and videos that constitutes an integral component of Wikipedia’s user experience – has logged its 10,000,000th file. All files on Wikimedia Commons can be used for any purpose, including commercial use, under terms consistent with the Definition of Free Cultural Works. This, together with its educational focus, makes Wikimedia Commons a media repository unlike any other.

The ten millionth file uploaded to Commons is a photograph of a waterfowl observation platform near Lipno Lake in the Wdzydze Landscape Park in Poland. It was uploaded by Commons user Leinad, who has been uploading to Commons since 2006. Leinad is also active on the Polish Wikipedia, and attended the 2010 Wikimania conference in Gdansk.

What stories these ten million files can tell. The scope of Wikimedia’s ambitions has always been epic, and comparing 2006’s 1 millionth image – a pygmy hippopotamus at the Singapore Zoo – to 2009’s five-millionth upload – an article detailing democracy from an 1838 Danish newspaper – succinctly demonstrates the near-limitless capacity for sharing knowledge we’ve fostered.

While the frequency of new articles appearing on Wikipedia may have slowed, our repository of educational media is growing faster than ever. Today’s entry marks less than a two year period during which more than five million new files have been uploaded. This is in part thanks to Wikimedia’s global volunteer building more and more relationships with cultural institutions and collection holders around the world, receiving and uploading large treasures of photographs, video and other content. And we are hoping to accelerate the project’s growth further, with a new media upload tool (login required) which we are currently beta testing, as well as improved video support.

Our huge thanks to the tens of thousands of individuals who have contributed to Wikimedia Commons and who have helped bring the project to this milestone. You have helped us create the largest, and almost certainly, the highest quality trove of entirely freely re-usable, education-oriented media files in history.

Also posted on Wikimedia Foundation blog.

Your Chapter, Your Say!

Wikimedia UK’s Annual Conference and AGM is this weekend. This is an opportunity for all Wikimedians in the UK to have their say about the future of their local chapter.

The prospects for next year are looking very promising: we start the year after a very successful fundraiser, with over £600k available to support and promote the Wikimedia projects in the UK. We’re building a track record of successful partnerships with museums and other “GLAM” institutions – including events at the British Museum, the British Library and Derby Museums. We have engaged with researchers at places like Cancer Research UK and the Bristol Wiki Academy.

Press coverage of Wikimedia issues has shown been a remarkable turnaround with a large number of positive articles in the national and local press and TV. This was particularly true of the coverage of the 10th Anniversary of Wikipedia.

This AGM will elect the fourth Board of Trustees of the chapter. We have received a record number of nominations and there are eight candidates contesting seven seats. You can ask a question of the candidates online here and read their candidate statements here.

The members are also being asked to decide whether to extend the term for board members from one to two years, to improve the continuity around the time of the AGM. We are keen to hear members’ views on this proposal.

If you are currently a member, you can vote on the potential board members and the resolutions by emailing tellers@wikimedia.org.uk and following these instructions:

Here to vote on resolutions.

Here to vote on the candidates.

You can also come along to the AGM to hear the candidates set out their plans in person and debate the resolutions.

If you haven’t joined the chapter yet, it’s not too late. You can join online here and then cast your votes straight away. Please note membership is subject to acceptance.

Now’s a great time to get involved!

Join the Wikipedia Contribution Team in their Recruitment Drive

The Wikipedia Contribution Team was founded in 2010 to help with the Wikimedia Fundraiser and to help encourage people to edit and build community spirit. Since 2010, their numbers have increased from 10 participants to over 40 and growing! The team has begun their Backlog Drive – which aims to severely reduce the backlogs on Wikipedia in 6 weeks – and now they have started real-life outreach to help encourage members of the public to edit.

It started with an event at Imperial College, London. On the 9th of February, six Wikipedians joined the Imperial College Wikipedia Society to hand out leaflets and encourage students to edit. They also spoke to the college’s librarian about possible collaboration in future between Wikipedia and the library. The event was a roaring success with future events planned at Imperial College over the next few weeks.

However, the biggest success has been the amount of interest the program has garnered from other Universities. People from institutions as diverse as the Open University to the University of Sheffield have been interested in having events held in conjunction with their college. Because of this, the Contribution Team is happy to announce a series of events, funded with the help of Wikimedia UK, at various Universities throughout Britain. This includes the Universities of Sheffield, Manchester, Nottingham and Leeds.

If you would like to take part in these events, as a volunteer or simply as someone who would like to watch, please consider signing up at the Wikipedia Contribution Team Events page. They would love to have you!

Could you lead Wikimedia UK to success?

WMUK Logo Next year is set to be another big year of growth for Wikimedia UK: we have just raised over £500,000 in the Wikimedia Annual Fundraiser. Most of this money will support the technical side of Wikimedia through donations to the Foundation and the Toolserver. However, we also plan to use the funds to recruit four more members of staff. These staff will mean we can scale up our activities, enable more activity by volunteers and professionalise the chapter. Our own developer, events organiser, a full time office manager and a chapter manager pulling everything together will no doubt transform Wikimedia UK.

However, a key factor in our success will still be the board, which will continue to lead the chapter and be made up of unpaid volunteers. It will continue to be elected by our members, ordinary Wikimedians who support our mission and want to make Wikipedia and free knowledge even more successful.

Can you help lead the chapter to success in 2011 by standing for election as a board member? If so, you’re warmly invited to join us on Saturday 5th February from 5pm where you can find out more about what is involved in being a board member and have an opportunity to ask any questions and meet other interested people.

This “board interest day” will take place in central London (venue to be confirmed). If you are interested please drop me a line to chair @ wikimedia.org.uk to reserve your place. You can also give me a ring on 07403 216 991 if you would like to discuss further.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Andrew Turvey
Chair, Wikimedia UK

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Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales visits Bristol

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales delivered his only UK lecture at Bristol University on Thursday as part of a tour to celebrate the site’s tenth anniversary (#wp10).

Founded on 15 January 2001 with the aim of making knowledge available for all, Jimmy Wales shared his thoughts on the rise of Wikipedia and how it is shaping the world.

From a very small operation Wikipedia today is the 4^th most visited website in the world, available in 199 languages, administered by 50 full-time employees and thousands of volunteers around the world who are dedicated to sharing knowledge.

Today, Wikipedia has over 17 million articles, with those in English accounting for only 20% of the total.

Jimmy Wales spent some time discussing censorship online, highlighting Google’s experiences within the Great Firewall of China. While Jimmy was asked if he’d consider pulling out of China his reply highlighted the strength of the site as Wikipedia did not have a presence in the country. Wales believes that China will one day “abandon it’s current censorship policy.”

Looking ahead Wales is focusing on “content sharing, looking deeper and allowing and supporting content creators.”

Wikipedia is a site built by people for people. It relies on people to factually check edits and so requires support of its users. While he introduced the ‘Pending Changes’ software, developed to safeguard the biography of living people, he is a believer that making knowledge to all requires people to continue joining this growing community.

For further information join the Wikimedia UK mailing-list.

Here’s to the next ten years. Happy Birthday Wikipedia!

British Library hosts 2-day Wikimedia Editathon

Wikimedia and British Library join forces to improve content relevant to the Library on Wikipedia

The British Library, home to some of the world’s unique printed and written collections, is hosting a two-day Wikipedia ‘editathon’ on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 January. Co-organised by Wikimedia UK and the Library’s new Digital Research & Curator team, the event is aimed at sharing the expertise of real-world cultural institutions with wiki-knowledge. Details about the event are available on Wikimedia UK’s wiki.

Using the resources of the British Library and guided by the expertise of its curators, the Editathon will aim to update Library treasures on Wikipedia. Library curators will be on hand to guide Wikipedia editors, some of whom have already expressed an interest in improving the entries on Magna Carta and the King James Bible.

Chris Clark, the British Library’s Head of Digital Research and Curatorial Team commented: “There is a great deal of interest in the Library’s collections, both physically and digitally and we are pleased to be able to help Wikipedians add value to the information about our collections.”

Mike Peel, organiser on behalf of Wikimedia UK, commented: “Wikipedia gets 410 million views per month and they will benefit greatly if we are able to update even just a little of the information about the British Library’s unique resources. This is a marvellous way to celebrate Wikipedia’s tenth birthday”