GLAM/Newsletter/June 2021/Contents/Italy report

This Month in GLAM – Volume XI, Issue VI, June 2021

Italy report

Festival and edit-a-thon dedicated to the world of archives

Archivissima, the new routes of archives

Archivissima is the most important festival dedicated to the world of archives in Italy. This Year Wikimedia Italia was present in various containers, including the final conference organized by the Polo Dell'900, the biggest italian cultural center dedicated to the '900, in collaboration with Archivissima and the Italian National Archival Association (ANAI). This is the only festival in Italy dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of archival heritage and this year was held from 4th to 9th June, the International Day of Archives. "Generation" was the theme of the 2021 edition, and was explored through different media, involving experts in archival sciences, writers, actors and journalists.

The event was an opportunity to host experiences that at national and international level have developed projects of proactive use of wiki ecosystems to facilitate processes of access to and participation in data and information. Starting from concrete experiences, the conference aimed indeed to propose a comparison on the advantages and opportunities of the entry of archives into the world of free and open data and on the development of the Wikimedia ecosystem as a challenge to enter as contributors of quality content in the world of free knowledge.

On 9th June, during the final event “Nuove rotte. Gli archivi alla prova della conoscenza libera”, the president of Wikimedia Italia, Iolanda Pensa, presented also the results of some projects such as Wikidata and Wiki Loves Monuments, continuously active to collect and aggregate data open to all, freely accessible, usable and shareable.

Do all-nighter at the Archivio Ricordi

On 4th June 2021, Wikimedia Italia and Archivio Storico Ricordi participate at the Night of the Archives, organized throughout Italy on the occasion of the festival Archivissima, with an edit-a-thon on music magazines. All the volunteers already active on Wikimedia platforms, but also those who want to start contributing on Wikisource and Wikidata, were invited to do all-nighter at the Archivio Ricordi, to help make the magazines of the archive available online. The edit-a-thon was held entirely online, starting at 7:00 pm and ending at 10:00 pm. The event was also live on the Youtube channel of Wikimedia Italia.

In 2020, thanks to the help of a Wikimedian in residence at the Archivio Storico Ricordi, it was possible to make available on Wikisource the numbers of the Gazzetta Musicale in Milan ranging from 1842 to 1902, together with several issues of Rivista Minima, Musica e Musicisti, Ars et Labor and other magazines published by the publishing house Ricordi. Now that the scans of these historical documents are on the Wikisource platform, there was the need of the patient help of many volunteers to make them truly usable by everyone. To do this, we need to check automatic transcripts, correct errors, and then ensure that the digital text is identical to the original. A very accurate work, which will make it possible to consult decades of documents from all over the world.

The will of the event was to make this materials available, accessible and editable on Wikimedia platforms. This is an effective example of collaboration for knowledge sharing and free access to knowledge, that will benefit not only Italian scholars, but the entire global community.

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