improving wikipedia show and tell
TRANSCRIPT
OCLC Research Webinar, 8 December 2014
Merrilee Proffitt, OCLC Research
Improving Wikipedia Show and Tell
Mary Elings, University of California, Berkeley
Andra Darlington, Getty Research Institute
Daniel Reboussin, University of Florida
Mairelys Lemus-Rojas, University of Miami
Elizabeth McCarthy, Bodleian, University of Oxford
#glamwiki
Aug 2014 OCLC Research Library Partners Metadata Management Interest Group Poll
Do you assign staff in metadata services to write and improve Wikipedia articles, such as adding links to your local collections?
“Discovery happens elsewhere…”
Lorcan Dempsey, circa 2007
• In order to collaborate, negotiate with… who?
• Community of editors is
–Distributed and virtual
–Pulled in by heterogeneous interests
• Culture of combating “link spam”
Special challenges
Wikipedia’s mission
Imagine a world in which every person on the planet shares in the sum of all human knowledge. That is what we’re doing.
Wikipedia’s scale
30m articles, 4m English
16 million images
8000 views per second
500 million unique visitors per month
3.7 billion monthly mobile pageviews
2.1 billion edits, 700 million English
Show and Tellers
Andra DarlingtonGetty Research Institute
Mary Elings,University of California, Berkeley
Daniel ReboussinUniversity of Florida
Liz McCarthy,Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Mairelys Lemus-Rojas, University of Miami
• “Doing less more often” (@tjowens) gets material in hands of users
• “Bear” minimum = good enough (MPLP tenet)
Why bear minimum?
• 2009 Bancroft launched web initiatives to move archival information into “elsewhere” environments
• Connect collections with users where they are working and playing
We can Wikipedia!
Wikipedia project: 2009
• Phase I: October 2009 to July 2010
• Goal to add links to Bancroft finding aids
• Prioritized links based on:
– Providing substantive content
– Relevant articles present on Wikipedia
• Linked finding aids both with and without digital objects
What we did
• Researched what others had done
• Learned about the culture, rules, and practices
• Came up with a plan for metrics– Checking links ex post facto
– Monitoring traffic before, during, and after
• Chose a group of materials to link
• Set up personal accounts and got started
What we did
Link format:
[Finding aid or collection name] at The Bancroft Library
Finding aids
Digital objects
What we saw
• 359 links to online finding aids
• 500% increase in traffic from Wikipedia
• 37% increase in overall traffic
• Finding aids with digital objects
got 4X more traffic than finding
aids alone
• Edits remained in place
Wikipedia workflow
• We add links to new finding aids as part of publishing workflow
• We are “doing less more often” by doing the “bear” minimum
Taking Baby Steps and Clearing Wikipedia
Hurdles
Andra DarlingtonGetty Research Institute
Hurdles
• 2011: Perceived conflict of interest
Users blocked
• 2013: Perceived copyright violation
Text and links deleted
Solutions
• Conflict of Interest Statement on Wikipedia User Pages
I, User:Adarlington, am an employee of the Getty Research Institute, a cultural institution per WP:GLAM that is dedicated to advancing knowledge and understanding of the visual arts and art history. I will only make edits that are beneficial to the goals of Wikipedia.When editing articles, I also try to improve access to related primary sources in libraries and archives. I do occasionally insert links to archival resources held by the Getty Research Institute, my employer, when they are pertinent to a topic.I will modify my editing behavior in response to problems cited by other editors or if my editing conflicts with Wikipedia guidelines. I welcome other editors to contact me via my user talk page if I appear to do anything contrary to Wikipedia etiquette or editorial guidelines.
Solutions
• Creative Commons license for finding aids
http://creativecommons.org
Current Wikipedia activities
• Adding links from articles to finding aids
• Editing articles with additional information from finding aids
• Writing new articles (occasionally)
• Experimenting with RAMP
Looking forward
Wikipedia edit-a-thon!
To be hosted by the Getty Research Institute in partnership with L.A. as Subject in February 2015
Demo
• GRI Collection Inventories and Finding Aids
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa
• Wikipedia
https://www.wikipedia.org
Improving Access to Primary Sources
Daniel Reboussin University of Florida
Patrons most often do research outside libraries
“Search engine optimization (SEO)is the craft of elevating web sites or individual web site pages to higher rankings on search engines through programming, marketing, or content acumen.”
Carroll, Nicholas. 2011. “Search Engine Optimization.” Encyclopedia of library and information sciences, 3d ed. Boca Raton, Florida: Taylor and Francis.
Impact on ranking
Landing page
Impact on file access
Using RAMP to Highlight Cuban Theater Collections in Wikipedia
Mairelys Lemus-Rojas,
University of Miami
Remixing Archival Metadata Project
Browser-based tool
Easy to install and run from your desktop
Derives, creates, and enhances EAC-CPF records• Extracts relevant data from EAD files• Pulls in external data from OCLC APIs:
– Virtual International Authority File (VIAF)– WorldCat Identities
Transforms EAC-CPF records into wiki markup • Direct publication to English Wikipedia through its API
Remixing Archival Metadata Project
UM Pilot Project
Pilot Project: CHC Theater Collections
RAMP Workflow
Theater Collections in the Cuban Heritage Collection
• LibGuides: http://libguides.miami.edu/chctheater
• 32 collections total
• Wiki pages for 18 collections
Pilot Project: CHC Theater Collections
RAMP Demo
Detailed installation instructions on GitHub: https://github.com/UMiamiLibraries/RAMP
RAMP homepage
Record selection
XML
WorldCat Identities
Wiki markup
Wiki page
Pilot Project: External links example
Pilot Project: Rights statement example
UM finding aids: Total Web traffic
RAMP pilot pages in context
Google Knowledge Graph
Using Editathons to Explore Library Content
Liz McCarthyBodleian, University of [email protected]
An editathon is:• a scheduled time where people edit Wikipedia
together (not necessarily in person!)
• typically focused on a specific topic, such as science or women's history
• a way to recruit new Wikipedians and teach them how to contribute
Why run an edit-a-thon?
1. It helps build Wikipedia.
2. It helps library build relationships in the community.
3. It helps the Wikipedia and community understand the resources the library have to offer.
4. It helps library extend the global reach of collections online by increasing the amount of content in the public domain.
5. It is an opportunity for editors to learn from each other.
6. It can convince people to become new Wikipedians.
7. It can help new Wikipedians to contribute.
8. It is an opportunity to improve the quality of Wikipedia by accessing offline materials and experts.
• Digitized library content• 16 participants• 38 articles improved or
created
Queen Victoria’s Journals (May 2013)
• Digitized library content (Tudor house & history –images and manuscripts)
• 2 events: one public and one for high schoolers
• 15 adult participants• 30 high schoolers
Rycote House (November 2013)
Women in Science (Oct 2013 & 2014)
• No specific content focus –provided print resources and guidance on online sources
• 2013: 18 participants, 22 articles improved (7 new articles!)
• 2014: 24 participants, 18 articles improved
Planning an editathon
• Format & goals• Venue• Trainers & helpers• Project page on Wikipedia• Advertise!
Running an editathon
• Training & account creation
• Snacks• Friendliness!• Track impact
Tips for overcoming challenges
• Above all else, be transparent about editing– Create a conflict of Interest (CIO) statement on your user page– Fill out the edit summary – say what you did!
• Be here to help – don’t act like a link spam machine– If you are adding links to your collections, add links to other major
collections at other institutions– Contribute content, not just links to your collections
• Become familiar with Wiki community norms– Become comfortable with communicating on talk pages– If you aren’t sure, ask questions (the talk page is great for this!)– If your edits are reverted ask why (and try to understand and
improve)– But “be bold” – you ARE here to help.
Finding Wikipedians
• Look for local (or subject) project pages
• Become GLAMorous and join GLAM-WIKI
Questions? Your plans?
http://oclc.org/research.html
Mary Elings: [email protected] Darlington: [email protected] Reboussin: [email protected] Lemus-Rojas: [email protected] McCarthy: [email protected] Proffitt: [email protected]
Explore. Share. Magnify.
©2014 OCLC, Merrilee Proffitt, Mary Elings, Andra Darlington, Daniel Reboussin, Mairelys Lemus-Rojas and Elizabeth McCarthy. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Suggested attribution: “This work uses content from “Registering Researchers in Authority Files” © OCLC, Mary Elings, Andra Darlington, Daniel Reboussin, Mairelys Lemus-
Rojas and Elizabeth McCarthy, used under a Creative Commons Attribution license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/”
Merrilee ProffittSenior Program Officer
[email protected]@MerrileeIAm
User: Merrilee