GLAM/Newsletter/May 2016/Contents/Mexico report

This Month in GLAM – Volume VI, Issue V, May 2016

Mexico report

Forestry and the Longest Edit-a-thon in history

Forestry and Nature Reserves

On June 4, to celebrate World Environment Day, Wikimedia Mexico held its first collaboration with Reforestamos México (RM), a non-profit organization dedicated to making concrete actions towards environmental education, landscape restoration and teaching corporate responsibility towards the environment. We focused on Mexican National Parks and forestry resources, aiming to complete the list of National Nature Reserves in Wikipedia.

This was RM's first approach to Wikipedia and its sister projects, so the event began with a workshop about Wikimedia, Creative Commons and the Five pillars of Wikipedia. The Workshop facilitator, Carmen, reports that few groups have been as attentive and inquiring as the RM staff.

With a generous serving of pizzas, we managed to learn more about Mexican forests, the National Nature Reserves Registry and the general state of our forest resources. We all realized not just the vast magnitude of Mexico's biodiversity, but the critical steps we must take in order to protect them from further degradation. We hope the public at large can learn more about out natural treasures and falls in love with them after reading about them on Wikipedia.

WMMX volunteer Andy helping RM staff
Main editing area
Some of our offline sources

The Longest Edit-a-thon Record is about to be broken (again)

Wikimedia Mexico's history of collaboration with Museo Soumaya, while already long and prosperous, is about to get larger. We edited about art for 50 continuous hours in September 2014. We proceeded to break our own record in December 2015, writing about Mexican history. Now, starting June 9, we will write about art, Mexican museums and Auguste Rodin for 72 continuous hours.

This edit-a-thon falls right after two major events at the museum that will improve our experience. The museum will host a Seminar in Art Collections, where representatives from museums and art galleries around the country will gather to discuss the state of art collections in Mexico. Secondly, the museum has just received one of its major art pieces: the eight bronze cast of Rodin's The Gates of Hell, adding to its collection of the French sculptor.

We're in the last stages of preparing appropriate sources for our editors and the museum staff to use, as well as a vast cultural program for the general public. As in past editions of edit-a-thons at Soumaya, the museum will stay open for everyone during these continuous 72 hours, so if you or a friend wants to come in for a late night visit to the museum, you'll enjoy guided visits non-stop. Stay tuned for the details in next month's issue.

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