GLAM/Case studies/Archives of American Art/E-volunteers
To maintain and encourage contributions by Wikipedians, the resident developed an e-volunteer program. The Wikipedian-in-Residence serves as the liaison between the institution and Wikipedians, and by providing a meeting space, easy access to resources, information about the project, and an award system the resident has developed a healthy list of e-volunteers who unite on the Archives project through one interest: a desire to improve and maintain American art coverage on Wikipedia.
Project page[edit]
The Wikipedian-in-Residence developed an on-Wikipedia resource page which serves as the main hub for communications between Wikipedians and the resident. The resident developed a collection of pages:
- Welcome: This page explains the basis of the project, news coverage, upcoming project opportunities, information on the Archives itself, materials within its collection, and general information about the goals of the project.
- Discuss: This page serves as a discussion page for the project in general. E-volunteers can ask questions, provide thoughts about the project and have general related discussions about Archive subjects; this discussion page is monitored by the resident and other e-volunteers.
- Participants: This page provides a list of e-volunteer opportunities, information on the AAA Barnstar, and a list of the e-volunteers involved in the project. This sign-up page is where e-volunteers publicly announce they are active in the project and also include their interests regarding American art.
- Archivist-Wikimedian collaborations: This page serves as a brainstorming space for potential opportunities for partnerships between archivists and e-volunteers. It's an ongoing work in progress and allows for the resident and staff to develop potential ideas - including ideas which can be explored by future Wikipedian-in-Residences at the Archives.
- Requests: This page serves as a space for e-volunteers to request materials from the Archives.
- To-do: This page serves as the residents "to-do" list which can be expanded on easily.
- Outcomes: This page provides an impressive list of article and content outcomes by e-volunteers, including articles that are featured articles, good articles and have made the front page as a do you know...?.
Keeping in touch[edit]
An important part of developing and maintaining an e-volunteer network is keeping in touch with the volunteers. The resident actively visits the talk pages of the e-volunteers to thank them for their contributions, request help on pages, invite contributions and inform them of upcoming events or subject focused projects. The simplicity involved in merely keeping in touch is a way to help motivate and inspire the ongoing participation of the projects e-volunteers.
Archives of American Art Barnstar[edit]
The resident worked with Archives staff to develop a unique "Archives of American Art Barnstar". A Wikipedia barnstar is an award given to Wikipedia contributors by fellow Wikipedians. The Archives Award utilizes the public domain photograph of the palette of American artist James McNeill Whistler, which is from the collection of the Archives, combined with the barnstar design. The award is given by the resident and Archives staff for contributions of all levels by e-volunteers.
Reflection[edit]
Keeping in touch and staying aware of e-volunteers contributions and participation not only makes the e-volunteers feel valued and special, but allows the resident and the GLAM to stay aware of what subjects are being focused on, what tasks e-volunteers enjoy, and the productivity levels of those e-volunteers. The opportunity is there for an even more developed program; a program where a GLAMs volunteer department can coordinate the e-volunteers and maintain their project contribution hours and engage in them as one would offline volunteers. E-volunteers are the key to a strong and ongoing project, and to have a dedicated resident on hand, or staff member, who can develop ongoing relationships with these volunteers will only strengthen and improve the mission of the project and the organization.
The question is often asked by GLAM Outreach Ambassadors: "You have a volunteer program, but do you have an e-volunteer program?"