GLAM/Newsletter/March 2016/Contents/Belgium report

This Month in GLAM – Volume VI, Issue III, March 2016

Belgium report

Just For The Record: March; Wiki Loves Art; Brussels writing weeks

Just For The Record: March

Just For The Record is a project addressing how gender is represented in new media and writing/publishing tools like Wikipedia, and what influence this has on the way history is recorded. To address these issues Just For The Record organised a series of events in Brussels starting in January 2016.

On 8 March the team of Just For The Record was present with a stand during International Women's Day at Muntpunt, the library, meeting place and activity centre in the heart of Brussels. There visitors from the library were informed about the project and the problems Wikipedia faces with gender neutrality. The project received much interest and positive reviews from the library's public.

During the Ladyfest 2016 on 18-20 March in Brussels, the team of Just For The Record gave two presentations about their project.

Ladyfest is originally an American project that was created in order to react to the invisibility of women on the artistic and musical scene. It has grown into an international non-profit event that takes place in more than 50 cities all over the world.

— source

Read also the reports on the events in January and February.

Wiki Loves Art

In the summer of 2016, during the months of July and August, Wiki Loves Art is organised in Belgium. The photo contest is similar to Wiki Loves Monuments, but instead of cultural heritage sites, a different part of the Belgian heritage is photographed: Art.

For this project we work together with Packed vzw, FARO, Open Knowledge Belgium, and Creative Commons Belgium.

In March we worked on a call for action (invitation) for museums and other organisations to participate in our project, and have sent it out.

Brussels writing weeks

After some acts of hate in Brussels in March, in April it is again time for love. For some weeks, already before the bombings, we were working on organising two writing weeks with a focus on the Brussels Capital Region. This event will be largely online, but also on location in various libraries in Brussels.

To prepare for the writing sessions at the libraries, we organised together with the Flemish Community Commission multiple training days where staff of the libraries in Brussels learned how Wikipedia works, what they need to think of with writing an article, and an understanding of what Wikipedia and Wikimedia are.

The upcoming writing weeks are planned on 4 to 17 April 2016. More information will be available here: Writing week/Brussels.

Next "Belgium report" →

← Previous "Belgium report"