Scottish Libraries, Hidden Gems & a Wikimedian in Residence: open knowledge and working with Wikimedia for digital inclusion, literacy & learning

Editor's Notes

• #4: The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally. Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. ______ Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of the worldwide charity. There’s a lot more to Wikimedia than you might think - it’s a lot more than Wikipedia
• #5: So - where the objectives of each organisation overlap - which is in the preservation and dissemination of knowledge - the Wikimedian in Residence programme sits. For the resident it’s not about doing paid editing, upon which the community generally frowns - but to facilitate the increase of the organisation’s open knowledge capacity through training and mediation.
• #6: Varies from role to role. There are some key characteristics… but we’re a fairly varied bunch.
• #8: This residency, and the last, are quite different from other residencies. They’re not based upon a deep relationship with one organisation, instead, they’re about sector-wide action and advocacy. They’re about encouraging a sector to embrace the benefits of open knowledge through working with Wiki. 19 editathons 21 training sessions 27 speaking engagements 90 cultural institutions 983 recorded contact points 281 new users trained 110 new articles created 336 articles improved 277 images uploaded
• #9: Well, this is where I think we overlap, anyway. Wiki & Libraries are a good match. Both movements are invested in the spread of knowledge. Increase the quality and quantity of coverage of subjects that currently underrepresented on Wikipedia & the other Wikimedia projects Support the development of open knowledge in the UK, by increasing the understanding & recognition of the value of open knowledge & advocating for change at an organisational, sectoral, & public policy level To support the use of Wikimedia projects as important tools for education & learning in the UK (From WMUK Strategy 2016-19) Libraries promoting reading, literacy & learning Libraries promoting digital inclusion Libraries promoting economic wellbeing Libraries promoting social wellbeing Libraries promoting culture & creativity Libraries as excellent public services (From Ambition & Opportunity) the point being for this that these strategic aims are a relatively good fit, and that working with Wiki has the potential to help public libraries achieve the aims of Ambition & Opportunity.
• #10: Working with library services across the country to train staff, explore the possibilities in working with Wiki, with the aim of sharing the wealth of knowledge - particularly about underrepresented subject areas on Wiki - with a global audience. Steering group, made up of library reps, SLIC reps, and two people who’ve been involved in other Wikimedia residencies in Scotland. We’re currently in phase one of the project, and that runs from now until the end of January. After that we’re going to take a bit of stock, evaluate and then roll out phase 2, incorporating that feedback. During phase one, I’m delivering training to library staff who are interested in the programme, discussing with them how Wiki work might within the service - the different ways it which it could be applied, looking to see if there are images or texts which could be uploaded into WikiCommons or WikiSource on an open licence (& by that I mean CC-BY-SA) and if so, starting the process of preparing that upload, and then finally they have committed to run at least one editathon event before the end of January 2018. An editathon is a wiki-editing event, which usually focuses on editing Wiki articles on a particular theme. To start with we’re looking to focus on local history, and also Scottish women - Wiki has a gender gap.
• #11: So ok, our strategic goals are aligned. We like the same things. We want to move in the same direction. But, beyond being free & open - why would you want to partner with Wiki? Well - there are a number of reasons...
• #12: Writing on Wiki teaches information literacy - wiki has rules about reliable sources, it has rules about referencing, it has rules about taking a neutral point of view.
• #13: You want to learn how to use a computer, but don’t care about social networking? Older demographic? Wikipedia. Younger demographic? About to go to university? Learn how to reference. Wikipedia is digital education that isn’t focussed on the trivial, it has a more academic approach. If you are teaching digital skills, why not teach with Wikipedia? My experience with this has been that this type of skill can become more embedded with a project upon which to focus.
• #14: You will every once in a while get a news story about something on wikipedia being inaccurate; and it’s really quite misleading. Springboard for further discovery
• #15: Opportunity cost to your content not being here - front page of google
• #20: Catalonia example Case study Difference that they’ve been able to make Sense of national identity?
• #21: If this is what they could achieve in Catalonia - what could Scotland’s public libraries do?