GLAM/Newsletter/October 2015/Contents/France report
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From Brittany to Provence
First sound edit-a-thon EVER for Wikimédia France !
Enhancing sound archives on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons library is the common goal that set for themselves both Wikimedia France and the Mediterranean House of Human Sciences (MMSH), supported by the Europeana Sounds program. On October 23, 20 people - librarians, archivists, librarians, researchers, civil society actors, etc., as well as 3 Wikipedia editors - met in Aix-en-Provence, in the premises of MMSH. During one day, participants looked at three sound corpus of testimonials, collected by academics and respectively focused on the memory of the Armenians in the Bouches-du-Rhône, Italian immigrants from Marseille neighbourhoods and Greeks refugees in Syros. With the help of Wikipedians, participants added extracts of these testimonials (which were first uploaded on Wikimedia Commons) to articles of the encyclopedia, to illustrate them. Two articles were also created : the first one on Oddo camp, which hosted Armenian refugees in the 1920s, the second and third on the American orphanage in Syros.
Wiki takes botany ! (*spoiler alert* and archeology, as you'll read further below!)
On October 15, Wikimedians from Brest who edited Wikipedia articles about endangered plant species during the summer, organised a dedicated evening to share this experience. Hosted by the "Conservatoire Botanique National" of Brest (one of the 11 national botanic conservatory of France), which is officially in charge of protecting the threatened or protected plants in the Massif Armoricain area (a territory that includes the Brittany regions, Basse-Normandie and Pays de la Loire) the conference gathered about 25 people who came to discover this action and its results. The evening was also the occasion for Wikimédia France to sign a partnership agreement with the Conservatory, thus envisioning other initiatives. Pictures taken in the tropical greenhouses of the conservatory were displayed. Special attention was given to the Wikipedia article of the Micromeria glomerata that was created in only one day by Tsaag Valren, an editor from Josselin, currently requesting the vote of the Wikipedian community to label it "Good article".
Wiki Loves Monuments 2015
French Wikimedians took part in the 5th edition of the Wiki Loves Monuments contest. They gathered more than 12 000 pictures, and this year, the competition also included "big objects" listed in the Palissy database, and considered as cultural heritage as well. The award ceremony will take place on November 20th in Paris, at the Conciergerie, an extraordinary venue !
Wiki takes archeology
The Musée d'archéologie nationale is located in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (in the western suburb of Paris). Consisting of 19 rooms, it presents archaeological collections retracing the life of men on French territory from prehistory to the Middle Ages. Nearly 30,000 objects are on display, reflecting the evolution of techniques and artistic expression. The museum also hosts outstanding compared archeology collections or archaeological objects found outside of France, in the former Ballroom of the castle. Also called Comedy Lab, this is where were created many works by Lully, Molière ...and so on. ArkéoTopia went there for a one-day workshop to try and build the first steps of an initiative aiming at improving Wikipedia articles about the history of the National Museum of Archaeology, its collections, the history of the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
International festival of geography 2015
Once again, Wikimedians from the East of France (and elsewhere) were there to attend and take part in the Festival International de Géographie, one of the major geography-related event in the world. The theme of the 2015 edition of the International Festival of Geography was "Territories of the Imagination, Utopia, representation and Prospective", and the guest country was Australia. More than 25 different personalities were portrayed during this event: geographers, journalists, writers, politicians… A stand was also held by Wikimedians and more than 100 persons were informed on Wikimedia projects during these three days.
5th batch upload for the French national Archives
Jean-Fred completed the 5th upload for the National French Archives, which included unique documents in French history, such as this study for the Arch of Triumph, in Paris.
And also...
- The first training of GLAM agents from Isère thanks to the Grenoble local group !
- The interview and recording of Marie-Adèle, a kanak language speaker from New Caledonia in Paris
- A workshop on how to use and contribute to Wikipedia in the Université Montaigne located in Bordeaux, around the figure of Félix Arnaudin, a poet and photographer whose collection is currently in the Musée d'Aquitaine.
