Project grants/London and Birmingham Railway

Basic information

Project Title (If applicable)

London & Birmingham Railway site visits and photography

Proposed by

Harry Mitchell

Are you currently a member of Wikimedia UK?

No

Project description

Briefly describe the issue or problem that motivates this application. What needs are you meeting?

This project is an evolution of my previous project grants, especially Project grants/Railway architecture. That was always intended to be a lightweight project but has resulted in nearly 50 new or improved Wikipedia articles so far, including five featured articles and at least one more potential FA. Recently, I have been writing articles on the surviving original structures from the London and Birmingham Railway (now the southern section of the West Coast Main Line) and creating/improving Wikidata items and Commons categories along the way. These are spread out through north-west London, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, and the West Midlands, often in awkward locations. All are listed buildings. Many of the existing freely licenced photos are of poor quality, mostly imported from Geograph.

Describe project activities. What will you use the funding to do?

I am asking for funding to cover public transport costs and car hire to visit as many of these locations as possible and take encyclopaedia-quality photographs of the objects (mostly tunnels, bridges, and viaducts). These will be uploaded to Commons and used to improve the relevant Wikipedia articles which will enable the articles to better illustrate defining features. This is probably best done as two separate trips—one by public transport from Euston Watford Junction (cost: train fare to London plus Travelcard equivalent; c. £40) and one by car from Watford to Rugby (further if daylight allows but I've been to most of the targets beyond Rugby).

Describe your plan for evaluating this project. How will you measure success? What types of things will you measure (e.g. content, participants)?

Success would be visiting all the structures identified as original Robert Stephenson designs (around 30, list). Measurables include number of photos uploaded to Commons, number used on Wikipedia (potentially multiple photos per article), number of articles improved with the photos. There are also non-quantifiable benefits to writing architecture/engineering articles having seen the subject in person. It also shows a continuing benefit to the encyclopaedia from the original project grant.

Identify key people involved in this project. How will or could the wider Wikimedian community be involved?

Harry Mitchell (me) and Chris McKenna (chauffeur and fellow photographer). This project does not lend itself to wider community involvement but could be done in conjunction with Wiki Loves Monuments or could inspire similar projects.

If applicable, identify partnering organisations for this project (not essential)

N/A

If you feel that there is more information that could be for example resources needed, how successes can be measured, and how it fits in with the aims of Wikimedia and Wikimedia UK. Please note that these answers don't have to be definite now, and can be expanded on in conversation with the programme team.

What targets have you set? What will you measure?

Target will be to take good-quality photographs of 30 structures over two trips, upload 150-300 photographs to Commons, and use 30 of those in Wikipedia articles.

What contribution will the project make to our strategic goals?

The availability of good-quality images will further support the development of encyclopaedic content begun with the original grant. This will contribute towards the goal "Our work has significantly increased free, online access to knowledge and information".

Who will be recording/measuring the project metrics, and writing up a project report?

Harry Mitchell (me)

What staff support is being requested?

Processing of expenses, minor logistical support.

How can you get other volunteers involved? What roles could they have?

Not in this project but could inspire people to pay more attention to historic infrastructure in their area.

What meeting or other space is needed?

None.

Are other resources needed (such as computers, books, camera equipment, food, contacts, infrastructure)? How will they be sourced?

If Wikimedia UK still lends out a camera, that could be extremely useful.

If any partner organisations have been identified, have they been contacted and are they committed?

N/A

Does this project require more extensive funding? What would any WMUK funds be used for?

No.

Are external funds needed that we can apply for? If so where will they be sought?

N/A

Are there any resources that you can contribute? Such as equipment.

We will be contributing our time and our own equipment to upload the photos as well as research already done to identify and locate the targets.

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