An Introduction to

-Wiki Projects

Digital Heritage Conference, 2013

Shani Evenstein

National GLAM Projects Coordinator

Wikimedia Israel

glam@wikimedia.org.il

Part 1 –

An Intro to Wiki Projects Around the World

Wikipedia’s Mission

“to provide a free, high quality encyclopedia

to every single person on the planet in their own language”

Jimmy Wales, Jan 2011

Our Rules

Set Knowledge Free

By the People, For the People

• Created by the public, worldwide

• Maintained by the public, worldwide

• Supported by the public, worldwide

Giving Back and Reaching Out:

Wiki projects

1 - Strengthen the weak: Outreach Projects

2 – Make the strong even stronger: Wiki in the Academia & GLAM

Outreach Wiki Projects –1

The most general goal:

to encourage the expansion of smaller language Wikipedias through advice, encouragement,

and general assistance.

• Empowering the “global south” via access to free

knowledge.

• Preserving cultural knowledge on the verge of extinction.

Quantity & Quality

“content improves with more people involved. There are now 10.000 very active

editors. Many eyes checking and editing loads of information. System mistakes are fixed by

the community.

So, we want universities, research centers, professionals and specialists from different

areas to become part of the community, sharing their experience. This will automaticly improve the quality”.

Kul Wadhwa (UOC, Open University of Catalonia, 2010)

Wikimedia Head of Bussiness Developement

& GLAM EductionWiki in the –2

Collaborations with Educational institutions

• “Campus Ambassador” projects

• More “expert” writers

• Writing articles as an academic assignment:

education the next generation

• A new, full academic wiki course!

-2 Part

What’s , anyway?

• GALLERIES

• LIBRARIES

• ARCHIVES

• MUSEUMS

To begin with..

Could it ever work..?

GLAMs

© Texts and images Academicism Paid work Scientific Rigour Original research Vulnerable contributions Transmitting information Closed & reserved world

WIKIPEDIA

Free and reusable texts Populism Volunteer work Questionable reliability Referenced sources Erasing promotional contents Is considered advertising Open and shared world

What’s in it for GLAMs?

• It’s affordable (and usually free)

• E-volunteers from around the world

• More traffic back to your site

• A new platform to share your resources; which often falls in line with your mission

• New energy to an often stale work in environment

• Challenges traditional GLAM practices

And.. the future is here, baby!

WIKIPEDIA

- Free encyclopedia - Most consulted in the world - +250 active editions

MUSEUMS - Expertise content - All knowledge areas

Comitted to collaborate

Spreading knowledge reaching the maximum audience

with the highest quality

Ways to Collaborate

• Creating a “Wikipedian-in-Residence” program

• Image & Media donation to Commons

• Coordinating GLAM outreach events

• Updating your Institution’s articles

• Using Wikipedia QR codes

• Sharing historical footage

• Allowing Wikimedians to digitally restore images

• Adding a Wikipedia citation template to your database

• Improving and using Wikipedia articles for an exhibition

• Improving the quality of OCR

Success Stories: Museums & Galleries

Smithsonian

MOMA

Museu Picasso, Barcelona

The Children’s Museum, Indianapolis

? ?

Success Stories: Libraries

Australia

UK

France

Success Stories: Archives

Bundesarchiv

NARA

Regional Archive, Norway

Archives of American Art

Success Stories: More

Public Art in Milwaukee

Federal

government of the

United States

This is a worldwide movement;

And Israel has joined the party!

Part 3 -

Israel Joins the Global Efforts!

• 09/2011 – “GLAM: Israel Museum, Jerusalem” Project

• 12/2011 – “GLAM: National Library of Israel” Project

• 08/2012 – “GLAM: Library of Haifa University” Project

• 09/2012 – “GLAM: Wiki Loves Monuments” Contest

GLAM in Israel: Some Challenges

• Increasing “GLAM awareness” –

– within the Hebrew Wikipedia community

– within the general public: new editors

• Collaborating with more GLAMs & Academic world

• Smaller editing community

• Technical tools

• Lack of infrastructure [WLM, Public Art]

Other / future collaborators

- Bezalel Academy of Art and Design - Israel State Archives ? - Museum of Jewish Diaspora ? - The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra ? - The Israeli Opera ? - The Haifa Museums ? - The Israeli Museum Portal ?

- 10/2013 – “GLAM: Shenkar”! - 12/2014 - GLAM-Holon

- And --

11/2013: GLAM-Fashion!

An Invitation --

Fashion Edit-A-Thon!

Thanks you for Listening!

An Introduction to

-Wiki Projects

Digital Heritage Conference, 2013

Shani Evenstein National GLAM Projects Coordinator

Wikimedia Israel

glam@wikimedia.org.il