GLAM/Newsletter/December 2011/Contents/USA report
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Cultural Partnerships co-ordinator for the US, fine art editathon and QRpedia case study
US Cultural Partnerships Co-ordinator Announced
It has been announced that Wikimedian Lori Phillips (HstryQT/LoriLee) will be the US Cultural Partnerships Coordinator, a role that will support the growth of GLAM in the United States throughout 2012 with the aim of making programs there self-sustainable by 2013. This will involve leading in building the infrastructure needed to accommodate growing interest in cultural Wikimedia partnerships in the US. Phillips has served as the first Wikipedian in Residence in the US (and the longest-serving, to date) at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, a role she will maintain alongside her position with the Wikimedia Foundation. Upcoming events associated with the position include GLAMcamp DC, which will serve as a kick off for US GLAM-Wikimedia coordination in February, and a dedicated Wikipedia panel discussion at the American Association of Museums annual conference and Museum Expo in May.
QRpedia case study
As a result of increasing interest from both cultural professionals and Wikipedians, the Children's Museum of Indianapolis completed an extensive case study on the implementation of QRpedia codes over the past six months. The case study was also inspired by a visit from Roger Bamkin, Chairman of the Board of Wikimedia UK, in early December. During this visit to the museum, a number of suggestions, ideas, and analysis came out of a shared discussion with Roger Bamkin, Lori Phillips, the museum's CTO, and the exhibit developer responsible for implementing the codes. Details on this analysis, in addition to the museum's process, implications, outcomes, and challenges, are provided.
Recently Peter Weis noted the importance of tracking the percentage of total page views that result from scans. This statistic was indeed surprising for the Children's Museum, which found that a significant number of page views originate from QRpedia code scans. In one month, 67% of the page views of Captain Kidd's Cannon came from QRpedia scans alone. This illustrates that adding QRpedia codes to exhibits can greatly increase page views, in particular on specific topics that may not typically be found when browsing the web.
First ever Fine Art Edit-a-Thon brings over 20 new & expanded articles to English Wikipedia
This December, former Archives of American Art Wikpiedian in Residence, Sarah Stierch, planned the first Fine Art Edit-a-Thon in Washington, D.C. This event was inspired by the recent 250+ image contribution that the Archives gave to Wikimedia Commons, featuring photographs related to artists who participated in the Federal Art Project. Over 15 Wikimedians from the region, and as far away as New Jersey, attended the event at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, a venue on the National Register of Historic Places.
A "to-do list" was developed by Stierch, which was based on the artists included in the FAP photograph collection. This provided a guide for Wikipedians to work with, as did various online resources and a a collection of books pulled by Stierch for the Wikipedians to use as sources. For four hours, Wikipedians worked diligently to create and expand 20 articles on the to-do list or related to fine art. Online participants also helped, working on articles from as far away as the United Kingdom. Eight articles were also successfully nominated to Wikipedia's Do You Know...? front page section. After the edit-a-thon, Wikipedians joined others from the area at a local pub for drinks and conversation.
Articles created and expanded include contemporary American sculptor Rachel Feinstein, printmaker Kyra Markham, illustrator and sculpture Alexander Finta, and painter William C. Palmer.
News in brief
- GLAM outreach volunteer named new Wikimedia Foundation Community Fellow: GLAM Wikimedian, SarahStierch, was named the first Wikimedia Foundation Community Fellow for 2012. Stierch will be focusing on projects, online and offline, that will focus on "minding the gap" - the gender gap, in Wikimedia projects.
- GLAMcamp DC will take place in February: In February, the National Archives and Records Administration, in Washington, D.C., will serve as the venue for a GLAMcamp event focused around strengthening relationships internally between US Wikimedians and developing programming and best practices for GLAMWIKI US. GLAMcamp DC will bring together Wikimedians from across the country to help plan the future of the United States GLAMWIKI outreach practices, which have been severely lacking due to lack of organization nationwide.
- GLAM US represents at DISH 2011: GLAM outreach Wikimedian, Sarah Stierch, attended DISH 2011, a museum and cultural heritage conference in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Stierch was awarded a Wikimedia Foundation Participation Grant to attend, where she met with museum and heritage professionals from around the world and attended workshops and discussions related to digital heritage preservation.
