Progress report for the British Library/AHRC Wikipedian in Residence Program, February 2013

1. Wikipedian in Residence
http://enwp.org/WP:GLAM/BL
Andrew Gray // andrew.gray@bl.uk // @generalising

2. What does a WiR do?
 A Wikipedian in Residence “serves as a liaison between the
organization and the Wikimedia community to promote a mutually
beneficial cooperation.”
 Liaison between two communities
 Aware of the interests and demands of both sides
 Responsive to institutional focus
 Traditionally content-oriented
 Overlaps with a number of existing projects
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3. Varied projects in the past
 British Museum
 …extensive increase in coverage of artefacts
 100,000 images from the Tropenmuseum and the Bundesarchiv
 …and metadata flowing back again
 QRpedia – multilingual “item tags” for museums
 on-demand content in the reader’s desired language
 V&A focused on one artefact…
 …and got it back in ten languages
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4. Institutional benefits
 Improved coverage of material
 Content available to more readers
 Engages new communities
 Innovative reuse of content
 Lasting partnerships
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5. …and academic benefits
 Research dissemination
 Extending reach of projects
 Capturing secondary research
 Improving public awareness
 Giving context to better understand research
 Student programs
 On-going projects to “teach by writing”
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6. Objectives
Improving content Building skills
 Identify gaps & problems in  Guidance on engaging with
“relevant” Wikipedia content Wikipedia volunteers
 Support volunteers in  Training and support for
improving articles interested contributors
 Workshops for staff, for
 Integrate existing collections
academics, and for the public
and projects
 Plan for ongoing development
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7. Content: what’s happened so far
 Review of “BL related” content
 Continuing growth of articles – up 125% in eighteen months
 Handling specific content issues
 Support for individual contributors
 Content uploads
 Collections identified and suggested by curators
 Working to ensure copyright clearance & metadata links
 BL material illustrates thousands of articles
 Canadian Copyright Collection
 VIAF links – authority control within Wikipedia
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8. Canadian Copyright Collection … cats?
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9. Skills: what’s happened so far
 Around 350 people have attended 40+ practical workshops
 British Library staff; AHRC researchers; wider public
 Librarians, academics, researchers, students, support staff.
 Emphasis on “Wikipedia as information literacy”
 General tool – gaining understanding for future
 Building confidence and skills to engage
 Encouraging people to consider initiating projects
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10. Workshop responses
 Feedback was (as always) somewhat limited, but…
 From a sample of respondents:
 All would recommend a similar workshop
 Half planned to edit articles or engage with contributors;
 Only one did not intend to engage at all
 Average “useful” rating 4.7 out of 5
 Some very encouraging interest – many sessions oversubscribed
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11. Events
Multiple events for varied audiences:
 Regular practical workshops – at least fortnightly
 “Community” events for Wikipedia contributors
 Talks aimed at researchers – using & studying Wikipedia
 GLAM-Wiki conference (12-14 April 2013)
… The National Archives, Institute of Education, Royal Opera House, School of Advanced Study,
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Institute of Historical Research, Museum of London,
Shakespeare Institute, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Senate
House Library, Institute of Classical Studies, CWGC, EDINA, British Museum, Birkbeck,
Birmingham, California Irvine, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Exeter, Goldsmiths, ICL, KCL, Keele,
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Manchester, Northumbria, Notre Dame,
Nottingham, Oxford Brookes, Portsmouth, Queen Mary, Royal Holloway, Royal Veterinary
College, Sheffield, SOAS, Southampton, UCL, UEL …
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12. Project-oriented work
 Supporting engagement, dissemination and reuse
 Individualised advice for interested projects
 - advising on planning for volunteer engagement
 - supporting practical reuse in both directions
 - building a portfolio of case studies
 … best practice & cautionary tales
 … informal guidance documents
 Occasional internal resistance to overcome!
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13. Royal Society : Ada Lovelace Day
 Not an AHRC project – a proposed one!
 Event to tie in with Ada Lovelace Day (16th October)
 Theme of “Women in the History of Science”
 20 contributors in London:
 ...many of whom subject experts
 ...and events elsewhere – Oxford, Harvard, Stockholm, India
 Exceptional press coverage - Independent, BBC, Guardian, Telegraph,
Discover, Scientific American, Nature
 A textbook case of what can go well
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14. International Dunhuang Project
 Focused collaboration around a specific project
 Aimed to increase public engagement with a specific collection
 Several approaches:
 Outreach to Wikipedia contributors
 Content created by project staff
 Contributions from ~30 students
 …unexpectedly successful!
 Lessons: coordination is hard!
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15. Royal Manuscripts
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