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In English

Catalan Wikipedia is especially active with GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) projects, but beginning in summer 2012, we started developing “Viquimodernisme“, an unprecedented wikiproject in Catalonia. For the first time, a research group on contemporary design and art history — Universitat de Barcelona’s GRACMON — and around 100 art history students at the same university have made a combined effort to improve Catalan Wikipedia’s content related to their area of expertise, Catalan modernism.

A preliminary audit (in Catalan) revealed that from both a quantitative and a qualitative point of view, modernism articles on the Catalan Wikipedia needed serious improvement. And we took other key factors into account. First, Wikipedia’s prominent position among the main reference sources when information is sought on the Internet makes it reasonable to work to provide Wikipedia readers with high quality content. Second, Catalan modernism is one of the main assets of our artistic heritage, and Wikipedia is a very useful tool to explain Catalonia to the world. Also, we cannot forget that free knowledge projects in public education entail an important social return, which makes them even more valuable. Finally, plunging on such a wikiproject involved adopting a new paradigm of academic work: assignments became an open task, a permanent, free and widely available work in progress.

The wikiproject planning was based on data provided by the preliminary audit, and once devised, it was presented to students enrolled in several subjects related to Catalan modernism (plastic arts, theatre, design…). Each student commited to edit a Wikipedia article related to the subject they were learning, aiming to obtain or get as close as possible to a featured article. We reached a lucky crossroads: students acquired new knowledge and improved their command of references; professors — members of the research group — provided the needed criterion to assess the assignments and also optimised their research by providing Wikipedia with new data, while the community had an active participation by helping inexperienced editors and intervening when it was necessary. Despite that the experience was positive, several tense situations arose among students and the community, mainly due to a lack of knowledge of Wikipedia’s working dynamics by novice editors. Also, this experience helped us to spot a flaw we need to improve as soon as possible: the need to clarify Wikimedia Commons’ operation and special features, as their command was one of the most difficult issues students had to cope with.

Currently, we can only provide preliminary results of this wikiproject, as we have just started phase 2, which will last until June 2013. During this second semester we will be glad to welcome a fourth actor, Barcelona’s Museu de les Arts Escèniques, which will participate of the wikiproject by offering students a backstage pass to high quality references. But we can state that the results of the first phase of the wikiproject have been very satisfactory and have exceeded even the most optimistic estimates. The signs determined in the preliminary audit show an astonishing growth of Catalan modernism-related articles in Catalan wikipedia, either by number and quality.

Most assignments involved creating new articles, and Catalan wikipedia currently has 416 articles about Catalan modernism available, while in late summer 2012 there were 372! Also, a survey among phase 1 students revealed they were mainly satisfied with the project and their results. Among the most interesting comments, we must stress their willingness to take part again in a similar experience and their satisfaction to know that their assignment has been something useful to the society since the very beginning.

Viquimodernisme is a milestone-setting project among GLAM wikiprojects. Once finished, we will be able to determine protocols and mechanisms that will serve as a reference for future similar experiences. This unprecedented collaboration between academia and Wikipedia has revealed an amazing potential, but we are only on the tip of the iceberg: things are changing, and this is a shared success!

Esther Solé (User:ESM), Amical Viquipèdia

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The Ideal City, attributed to Fra Carnevale, created between circa 1480 and 1484.This was the first image contributed to Commons by the Walters Art Museum.

This blog post originally appeared via the OpenGLAM Blog.

The Walters Art Museum, located in Baltimore  Maryland, is a model OpenGLAM institution. With a forward thinking staff aimed at opening their collections in unique and innovative ways, and a collection consisting of over 35,000 objects that are public domain, the Walters is prime real estate when it comes to OpenGLAM.

In early 2012, the Walters started partnering with volunteers from the Wikimedia community. The idea for the partnership was hatched out of GLAM Baltimore 2011; a series of events that brought volunteers from the Wikimedia community to the Walters to present about GLAM-Wiki projects. GLAM-Wiki is a project that focuses on fostering relationships between cultural institutions and the Wikimedia community, the community that maintains websites like Wikipedia.

This case study, written by myself and Dylan Kinnett, Manager of Web and Social Media at the Walters, showcases the projects that evolved out of this ongoing partnership. It summarizes key aspects of this partnership:

• The image donation of over 18,000 images to Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository that supplies websites like Wikipedia with images. These images are used in thousands of Wikipedia articles in over 40 languages. They have been viewed on Wikipedia over 10 million times and additional metrics are included.
• The changing of licenses on the Walters website to be more open, allowing the public to utilize the Walters website, or Wikimedia Commons, as locations to collect media and curatorial descriptions without copyright restriction.
• An internship modeled after the Wikipedian in Residence concept. This internship is structured for museum studies students interested in new media and open culture. The first Wikipedia intern wrote numerous articles about artworks in the museum, and learned skills focused around art history research, Wikipedia mark-up and policies, collaborative editing and other skills.
• The importance of outreach events in bringing together GLAMs and OpenGLAM community members. Without the GLAM Baltimore event, this partnership may have been delayed or not have happened.

The case study will be expanded to include coverage about the newly developed transcription project, which has the Walters working with Wikimedia community members to transcribe and translate rare Latin documents in the museum collection. These documents will then be shared via Wikisource, a free online library.

We hope that this case study will inspire and engage others to develop open sharing projects and programs. Please forward, share, and brainstorm how your GLAM can share its collections and knowledge holdings to provide further access to the public through OpenGLAM and GLAM-Wiki.

–Sarah Stierch, Wikipedian and US OpenGLAM Coordinator for the Open Knowledge Foundation

(This blog post originally appeared on the GLAM-Wiki US blog, under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.) 

Graduate student and Wikipedian Michael Barera became the first Wikipedian in Residence at a U.S. presidential library last week. Barera, who attends the University of Michigan’s School of Information, is serving as resident at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum, which is located on the university’s Ann Arbor campus.

This fresh partnership is a wonderful example of how outreach and education about Wikimedia projects can be key components for fostering opportunities such as this. Barera, who has been editing Wikipedia articles and uploading photographs to Wikimedia Commons for over five years, joined the Michigan Wikipedians, a student club on campus, and the first of its kind in the United States. Through the club, Berera attended a seminar held by the Wikipedia Education Program in the fall of 2012. The seminar educated attendees about the opportunities for using Wikipedia in the classroom as a learning tool and showcased partnerships being held around the country.

Little did Berera realize that the woman who would spearhead the development of his future residency was also in the audience: Bettina Couisneau, Exhibit Specialist at the Ford Library & Museum.

Berera and Couisneau connected at the seminar and Barera started volunteering at the Ford Library, using his skill set to categorize images that the Ford had uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, which totals over 11,000 images to date. Berera also created WikiProject Gerald Ford, a project that brings together Wikipedians from around the world to edit content about the 38th president of the United States. The opportunity for a more formal partnership was clear; Berera would be the natural choice for a Wikipedian in Residence at the Ford.

“This position is perfect for me,” said Barera, “It combines my academic passion for history, archives, open source advocacy and technology. I see my role as a facilitator, helping to bridge the gap between those who have the content and those who have the technical skills to make that information accessible to the whole world.” Barera will do just that by serving as a liaison between the international e-volunteer community of Wikimedia and the collections and staff at the Ford. By working with both parties, Wikipedians will gain more access to collections to improve Wikipedia and its sister proejcts, and staff will gain further awareness and knowledge about how Wikipedia works and how to better work with it and it’s community.

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum

With a collection that comprises almost exclusively openly licensed content – federally created public domain materials – the Ford’s collection and resources are a perfect match for Wikimedia projects, which require freely licensed contributions. “With these core similarities, I believe that this collaboration can be rewarding for both parties, as well as the Ford’s visitors, Wikipedia’s readers and the general public,” said Barera.

By improving coverage about President Ford on Wikipedia and related projects, and by educating staff about open sharing, the Ford will be able to expand it’s mission to provide the public increased access to their collections and resources. “Our goal is to have our content accessible to everyone, everywhere,” said Couisneau. “Wikipedia is a new outreach venue for us. Not everyone can visit our museum and library in person, but everyone can visit us online.” With the skill set of Barera, and the advocacy of Couisneau, the Ford will be able to provide online access to their collection via the world’s 5th most popular website, Wikipedia.

Elaine Didier, Director of the Ford, hopes that Couisneau – who went from Wikipedia reader to Wikipedian over the course of developing the residency project – will inspire others to get involved. “I hope that this partnership also inspires more people like her to join with us, become Wikipedians, and help broaden our perspectives and our horizons to inch us ever closer to our goal of collecting ‘the sum of all human knowledge,’” she said.

Sarah Stierch, Wikipedia administrator

Participants at the recent Wikipedia edit-a-thon at the Smithsonian

(This is a guest post from Sara Snyder, the webmaster at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.)

Librarians and archivists in the United States have been, and will continue to be, mostly female. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 81 percent of current students pursuing a Masters in Library and Information Science (MLS) degree are women. As of 2011, women accounted for 83 percent of all librarians in the U.S. Archivists—a closely related profession, which also frequently requires an MLS degree—are also female. As of 2004, 64 percent of archivists were women.

Wikipedia editors have been, and will continue to be, mostly male. The Wikimedia Foundation’s 2011 editor survey reported that 92 percent of Wikipedia editors are male. Though important work is being done to try and close the gender gap, the disparity will likely continue to be pretty significant in the immediate future.

Yet—other than gender—librarians and archivists and Wikipedia contributors share much in common. Both groups are motivated by a deep desire to share knowledge with the world, to the point that they have committed their free time to working on the encyclopedia, or have chosen to focus professionally on helping researchers. Both groups have a strong understanding of how to conduct research and how to evaluate and cite authoritative sources. Both frequently have technical expertise with markup languages, metadata standards and information design. But most of all, both groups tend to hold strong beliefs that all people have a right to accurate, unbiased, high quality information, free from barriers and paywalls.

Phoebe Ayers, one of Wikipedia’s best-known and most eloquent advocates, is an academic librarian by profession. In her essay “Why Work on Wikipedia?” she describes the connection between her profession and her contributions to Wikipedia:

For me, the answer is a matter of scale. As a librarian, I am in the business of helping make sure that people get the information that they are looking for in order to do their jobs, educate themselves, satisfy their curiosity and live a fulfilling life…. [Wikipedia] is also working towards these goals, but on a global, multilingual and hitherto unprecedented scale…. It’s a simple matter of efficiency—I work on Wikipedia, and try to make it better, in order to reach as many people as possible.

This desire to maximize the impact of her work as an information professional is one that many of Ayers’ professional colleagues probably identify with. However, many librarians and archivists may not yet realize that the Wikipedia community welcomes and values their contributions.

A backstage pass tour was also a part of the edit-a-thon event

Given the demographics and goals of workers in these professions, recruiting a greater numbers of librarians and archivists to contribute to Wikipedia is a smart strategy to help close the gender gap on Wikipedia. I have some additional, anecdotal evidence for the wisdom of this strategy: me. I am an archivist by training, and if it weren’t for outreach on the part of Wikipedians allied with the GLAM-Wiki project, I would not be writing this blog entry. Even though I created my first Wikipedia article over six years ago, I only began to contribute to Wikipedia on a regular basis after two very talented Wikimedians–Katie Filbert and Sarah Stierch–reached out to me and my Smithsonian colleagues in the spring of 2011. They worked to demystify the platform and the community, and explained how institutions like the Smithsonian could partner with Wikipedia in a relationship of mutual benefit. Their efforts led to the ongoing Smithsonian GLAM-Wiki Partnership, which at this point has yielded two Wikipedian-in-Residencies, hundreds of edits and Commons contributions, five Smithsonian-hosted edit-a-thon outreach events and myriad new and recommitted Wikipedia editors.

Two years later, Smithsonian librarians and archivists are the ones demystifying Wikipedia and promoting its ideals of openness and the free sharing of knowledge to our colleagues and to the public. On October 12, 2012 the Smithsonian Libraries and Wikimedia DC jointly sponsored “Wikipedia Loves Libraries: Backstage at the Smithsonian Libraries,” which took place in the main library in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. It was our largest edit-a-thon at the Smithsonian to date. The results of the day included a Wikipedia training session for over 40 staff members and volunteers and at least seven new user accounts registered. But the best part of the event for me was looking around the room and not seeing “92 percent this” or “84 percent that.” The room was filled with people of diverse genders, ages, and backgrounds, united in their enthusiasm for learning new skills and for sharing what they know with new audiences around the globe.

That is the Wikipedia community that I am proud to be a part of.

Sara Snyder (User:Sarasays)

(You can read more about the recent Smithsonian edit-a-thon: [http://blog.library.si.edu/2012/10/editing-wikipedia-better-with-friends-and-best-with-librarians/ Editing Wikipedia: Better with friends, and best with librarians!” also by Sara Snyder)

Merrilee wants YOU to work with your local libraries to improve Wikipedia!

Last year marked the start of Wikipedia Loves Libraries (WLL), and in 2012, WLL activities are in full swing, with many events planned in the coming month. WLL was originally conceived as a way of celebrating Open Access Week, but we now have WLL events throughout the year. As a librarian who is interested in seeing more coordination between libraries and other cultural heritage organizations (i.e. GLAM), I’d like to offer some perspectives on why libraries and Wikipedia are so well aligned with one another.

The bottom line is that we share a common mission. We are dedicated to providing free access to information and knowledge. Wikipedians want to strengthen their articles by citing credible sources. If those sources are in print, or hidden behind paywalls, it undermines the important tenant of free access.

Libraries collect those same credible sources and make them freely available to patrons. Partnering with libraries helps keep sources free. Librarians value “information literacy,” which means teaching the general public to recognize, appreciate and rely on credible sources. Sound familiar? Teaching basic Wikipedia editing skills can be a great, practical way to re-enforce information literacy skills.

Encouraging more librarians to become Wikipedians will also help address the gender gap. Librarians are an almost mirror image of Wikipedians in terms of gender – a March 2012 survey of members of the American Library Association found that 80.7 percent of those in the profession are female (versus about 10 percent of Wikipedians).

So, if you haven’t already, reach out to your local librarian. Suggest a WLL event, or find out if you can use library space to hold an editathon on a topic of local interest. Ask for help from your library in promoting events, not only to library patrons, but also to staff. Be patient, and recognize that librarians may move at a slower pace than Wikipedians (and that they have a range of other events and activities on top of their day-to-day duties). Be complementary to see if you can find a way for Wikipedia activities to harmonize with areas where the library is already investing. If you make the effort, I think you’ll have a good shot at creating a beautiful partnership, and creating some new Wikipedians in the process.

-Merrilee Proffitt, Senior Program Officer, OCLC Research (User:Mlet)

This post is available in 4 languages:

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Librarians during a Wikipedia workshop

150 librarians from all over Catalonia have been trained about Wikipedia to spread it among library users.

Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, with its own language, culture and history. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona.

During the months of June and July 2012, 150 librarians from all over Catalonia have received training about Wikipedia so they can later inform their library users. Meanwhile, the Catalan Ministry of Culture has reprinted 1,500 copies of the Welcome to Wikipedia guide for distribution through the network of libraries.

It is a pioneering collaboration between the Catalan Ministry of Culture and Amical Viquipèdia. The partnership is based on the principle that Wikipedia, as the online door to knowledge, and libraries, as the offline door to knowledge, should work together to provide new levels of access.

Engaging librarians and library users

One of the attendees to a Wiki Workshop in Palafrugell’s library is now a local-focused active Wikipedian

Wikipedia is hugely popular, but how it works internally is a mystery for many. Amical Viquipèdia chose to demystify the inner workings of Wikipedia by organizing Wikipedia workshops for librarians in five of the main cities of Catalonia. During these workshops, librarians learned about the wiki interface and the benefits of open knowledge. They also became familiar with ongoing GLAM-Wiki projects (collaborations between the cultural sector and the Wikimedia movement) from around the world, and were taught how to edit Wikipedia. The librarians now not only understand how to contribute to Wikipedia, but also how to use it as a tool for engaging their users and to reassess their collections and local funds. These newly-trained librarians will now return to their libraries and encourage users to expand their experience by contributing knowledge acquired through their research into Wikipedia.

One of the pioneering experiments within this collaboration has been at the local library of Palafrugell, a municipality on the Costa Brava. (more…)

Sculpture of Sahasra Devata, image taken at the Crafts Museum

Imagine talking about the world’s largest free encyclopedia on a rainy weekend with a bunch of weavers, artists, potters and curators – all experts and practitioners of Indian craft traditions. Imagine hearing them talk about intricate silk embroidery, metal casting, sari motifs, Internet and their edit counts – all in one breath! This is India’s first GLAM initiative running in collaboration between the staff members at the National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum in New Delhi, India (also known as the Crafts Museum) and the Hindi Wikipedia community. (Hindi is the language of choice for most of the staff members.)  We now have five new editors editing Hindi articles related to crafts like Bidriware, Madhubani paintings and Brocade.

It was particularly moving to see people from all walks of life, who have computer and internet access only at work, navigate the Indic keyboard layout to collaboratively improve these articles. As Krishan, a young stenographer at the museum said: “It’s not that beautiful craft traditions and objects don’t exist in India. In fact, they can be found in every house and village, but it is time to show the whole world what a rich culture we have. And, I am ready to contribute to Wikipedia so that millions of Hindi speakers are able read about them.”

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This post is available in 3 languages:

Español  • English •  العربية

In English

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.

The Rock of Gibraltar. Morocco can be seen in the background / El Peñón de Gibraltar. Marruecos se puede ver en el fondo / صخرة جبل طارق، يمكن رؤية المغرب في الخلفية.

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 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 begun, 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.”

Steve Virgin
Wikimedia UK

En Español

El esfuerzo de los voluntarios de Gibraltar gana el derecho a ser la primera Wikipedia ‘City’

Gibraltar Museum / Museo de Gibraltar / متحف جبل طارق

Tyson Lee Holmes estaba con amigos cuando leyó acerca de ‘Monmouthpedia’, la primera ciudad del mundo en ser declarada ‘Wikipedia town’. “Su primer pensamiento fue, ¿no sería fantástico si pudiéramos hacerlo aquí, en Gibraltar? Así que, al día siguiente, tomó la iniciativa. El contactó al Ministro de Turismo, Neil Costa, y le pidió permiso para hablar con el equipo detrás de Monmouthpedia.

La iniciativa de Tyson, al hablar con Neil Costa, e incitar un acercamiento en nombre de este territorio británico, impresionó mucho a los organizadores de Monmouthpedia, Roger Bamkin y John Cummings. Ellos habían sido inundados con ofertas de gente buscando que su ciudad sea nombrada la segunda ‘Wikipedia town’ del mundo, Ofertas habían llegado de la República Checa, EE.UU., Noruega y otros países. Pero ninguna de estas propuestas tenía un apoyo político tan fuerte detrás de ellos.

Dentro de pocas semanas, el equipo de Monmouthpedia estaba en Gibraltar. Se reunieron con Tyson y el Director del Patrimonio de Gibraltar, Clive Finlayson. A continuación, se reunieron con el Ministro de Turismo, Neil Costa. En compañía de Tyson, el equipo visitó Gibraltar y pudieron observar de primera mano su rico patrimonio cultural. Para finalizar la visita, se reunió con el numeroso grupo de voluntarios de comprometidos Wikipedistas locales y discutieron cómo este proyecto puede llevarse adelante en Gibraltar. Ellos consideraron que Tyson tenía todos los ingredientes claves en su lugar, tanto así, que algunos trabajos preliminares ya se habían iniciado, con Tyson produciendo artículos, y los editores voluntarios mostrando interés en comenzar a trabajar.

Roger Bamkin, quien co-creó QRpedia y Monmouthpedia dijo: “A medida que el proyecto GibraltarpediA evoluciona, los códigos QRpedia para cada nueva página de Gibraltar Wikipedia serán creados. Los jardines botánicos, el parque natural, todos los considerables monumentos históricos en este territorio de gran riqueza cultural, tendrán placas especialmente diseñadas para que enlacen con Wikipedia. Cualquier persona que escanee el código QR en estos signos con un smartphone verá páginas de Wikipedia acerca de estos tesoros culturales, en su propio idioma, si está disponible, enviadas directamente a su teléfono. ”

El líder del Proyecto Monmouthpedia, John Cummings, concluyó que: “Gibraltar es un lugar verdaderamente multicultural, estrujado en un istmo entre Europa y África. Debido a que está tan cerca de Marruecos y España hay oportunidades para alcanzar a las culturas de ambos lados del Estrecho de Gibraltar. De hecho, eso es lo que esperamos lograr mientras el proyecto se desarrolla.”

Steve Virgin
Wikimedia UK

العربية

جبل طارق، أوّل “مدينة” ويكيبيدية بفضل مجهود المتطوّعين

Gibraltar is the southerly most point in Europe / Gibraltar es el punto más meridional de Europa / جبل طارق هي أدنى نقطة جنوبية في أوربا

كان تيسون لي هولمس مع أصدقائه حينما قرأ عن “مونموثبيديا، أوّل مدينة ويكيبيدية في العالم”. أوّل ما خطر على باله كان: ألن يكون من الرائع لو طبّقنا نفس الفكرة هنا، في جبل طارق؟ ومن ثمّ، ومع اليوم الموالي كان تيسون قد أخذ المبادرة: تواصل مع وزير السياحة، نيل كوستا، وأخذ منه الإذن للحديث مع فريق مونموثبيديا.

لاقت مبادرة تايسون في التواصل مع نيل كوستا والعمل نسخة خاصّة لفائدة جبل طارق؛ إحدى مناطق التاج البريطاني ما وراء البحر، تقديرا كبيرا من منظّمي مونموثبيديا: روجر بامكن وجون كومينك، المنظّمان اللذان تلقّيا الكثير من العروض من أناس يرغبون أن تكون مدنهم ثاني مدينة ويكيبيدية في العالم. أتت العروض من جمهورية التشيك، الولايات المتحدة، النرويج ومناطق أخرى. غير أنّ جميعها لم يحظ بالدعم السياسي الذي حظيت به جبل طارق.

تواجد فريق مونموثبيديا في جبل طارق، لأسابيع قليلة. التقوا بتايسون وكذا كليف فينليسون، مدير تراث جبل طارق. ومن ثمّ التقوا بنيل كوستا، وزير السياحة. تناولت المجموعة جبل طارق وموروثها الثقافي الغنيّ في مقرّ شركة تايسون. ومع ختام الزيارة التقى الفريق بمجموعة كبيرة من الويكيبيديين المحلّيين المتطوّعين، كانت فرصة للحديث عن المشروع وكيف سيمضي بجبل طارق للأمام. يعتقد الجميع أن لدى تايسون المفاتيح اللازمة لإنجاح المشروع، بل إنّ بعض الأعمال الأولية تمّ إنجازها، مع مقالات جاهزة ومحرّرين متطوّعين على استعداد للمساهمة.

“بالتوازي مع تطوّر مشروع جبل طارق بيديا، فلكلّ صفحة ويكيبيديا جبل طارق رموز مربّعة جاهزة. الحدائق النباتية، المحمية الطبيعية، جميع المعالم السياحية البارزة في هذه الأرض الغنية ثقافيا، ستحظى بلوحات مخصّصة تربط بويكيبيديا. يمكن لأيّ شخص بهاتف ذكي نسخ الرمز المربّع الموجود في هاته اللوحات، وبالتالي تحويله مباشرة لمقالة ويكيبيديا عن هذه الكنوز الثقافية، مقالة بلغته الأمّ إن توفّرت، مرسلة مباشرة لهاتفه.” يقول روجير بامكن، الشريك المؤسّس لQRبيديا ومونموثبيديا.

خلص جون كومينك، مدير مشروع مونموثبيديا إلى: “جبل طارق منطقة متعدّدة الروافد الثقافية فعلا، منحصة في مضيق بين أوربا وأفريقا. ولأنّها قريبة من المغرب وإسبانيا فهناك فرص لأن يمتدّ المشروع نحو ضفّتي مضيق جبل طارق معا. في الواقع، هذا ما نأمل أن يحصل مع نموّ المشروع.”

ستيف فرجين
ويكيميديا المملكة المتحدة

2012/07/13: Edited to add Arabic translation

cc by-sa 3.0 Dilly Boase

You’ve probably heard the saying, “In theory, Wikipedia shouldn’t work, but in practice it does.” Three of the things that contribute to make Wikipedia work are topic-specific WikiProjects (“let’s write about a town), Wikimedia chapters (“let’s organize throughout the United Kingdom”), and unique ideas (“let’s use QR codes to share content”). This week these three things successfully came together to create Monmouthpedia, “The World’s First Wikipedia Town” in Monmouth, Wales.

The idea for Monmouthpedia began at a TEDx talk in Bristol when John Cummings, an occasional Wikipedia editor, suggested from the audience that the UK Chapter use QR codes to “do a whole town.” That challenge was handed to Cummings when the Wikimedia UK chapter backed the idea. He then moved to his home town of Monmouth where he assembled an ad hoc group of supporters who wanted to participate, including the local County Council.

Click image for Monmouthpedia video

The project has taken six months of preparation, including a commitment by the town to install a free, town-wide wi-fi network (the first of its kind in Wales). On 19 May the entire town will be bedecked with banners declaring Monmouth as the first Wikipedia Town in the world.

The Monmouthpedia project uses QRpedia to allow visitors to scan QR codes that link directly to the Wikipedia article in their own language. Because of Monmouth’s efforts to provide free wi-fi and implement QRpedia, the town is likely the only place where a visitor can tour in Hungarian, Hindi, Indonesian, Welsh, or numerous other Wikipedia languages using QR codes.

A plaque on Monmouth Shire Hall

Much of the success of Monmouthpedia comes from its ability to capture the imagination of the Wikipedia community, which has embraced the town virtually. Wikipedia volunteers have contributed nearly 500 new articles in over 25 languages, as well as videos on topics such as the historic Chartists movement.

The project also has a long list of partners, including 200 businesses, several universities and nearly every school and community group in the area. Wikipedia has partnered with museums and other institutions before, as in Derby, but in Monmouth you will see over 1,000 QR codes on every school, every important building, and hundreds of shops. The County Council itself has a QRpedia code in its reception that takes you to their Wikipedia article.

Lest you think this is a passing interest, the town of Monmouth is in it for the long haul. Many of the QRpedia codes are printed on ceramic plaques that should last for decades. The information in articles is backed by the Wikipedia community and will be continually improved and expanded. Physical guides and maps will become outdated, but the Wikipedia articles will always be able to be updated. This potential for on-site access to up-to-date information in any language is what makes the Monmouthpedia model so exciting.

How long can Wikipedia defy the theory and continue to deliver free information to the planet in over 280 languages? We think the Monmouthpedia story provides a very optimistic outlook.

If you want to find out more, visit the Monmouthpedia website and take a look at the associated articles on Wikipedia.

- Roger Bamkin, Director of Wikimedia UK (Victuallers)

The Tulip Folly, Jean-Léon Gérôme, from the Walters Museum collection

‪The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, has donated more than 19,000 freely-licensed images of artworks to Wikimedia Commons. The Walters’ collection includes ancient art, medieval art and manuscripts, decorative objects, Asian art and Old Master and 19th-century paintings. The images and their associated information will join our collection of more than 12 million freely usable media files, which serves as the repository for the 285 language editions of Wikipedia. ‬

‪The project began taking shape in February 2012, as part of the GLAM-Wiki initiative (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums). During GLAMcamp DC, a three-day conference hosted by the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C., the Walters Museum worked with several Wikimedians to develop a documented process for uploading images to Commons. The basic details of the upload procedure were established during the conference, and during the weeks that followed, the uploads were conducted, monitored and tested, while collaboration continued online. ‬

‪”The Walters has gone above and beyond throughout this collaboration with the GLAM-Wiki community, working alongside Wikipedians to serve as a model for our mass image upload process,” said Lori Byrd Phillips, U.S. Cultural Partnerships Coordinator for the Wikimedia Foundation. “The release of these images will not only improve articles in Wikipedia, but will also have the potential to be used freely throughout the web.”

‪The image donation is part of the Walters Museum’s larger initative to provide free public access to its collection, both online and offline, beginning with the removal of admission fees in 2006. In 2011, the Walters launched a redesigned works of art website with 10,000 online artwork images freely licensed under a Creative Commons license. ‬

Sarasvati image from Walters Museum

‪”By uploading our information in this way, we can share items of cultural heritage from around the globe, directly with people in those parts of the world. Already our images have been used in 48 different languages. The Walters’ collection is well-suited for this project because of its size and its breadth of topic areas,” said Dylan Kinnett, Manager of Web and Social Media for the Walters Art Museum. “By developing documentation and tools for this type of work, we hope that our upload project can serve as a prototype for other cultural institutions.”

‪Already, the museum’s images have had an impact in improving content on Wikipedia, such when they are used as illustrations in entries whose topic is not the artwork itself, but a related idea, such as a mythological figure, or a time or place. The Walters’ painting of the Hindu goddess Saraswati, for instance, has been added to five different language Wikipedia entries about the goddess.‬

We would like to thank to the Walters Museum for their donation and their commitment to promoting free knowledge on Wikimedia Commons, and to the GLAM volunteers who helped make this endeavor possible.

Matthew Roth, Global Communications Manager