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Wikipedia:GLAM/Bodleian/8th month report

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Institution Resident's Name Period Covered Date of Report
The Bodleian Libraries, Oxford User:MartinPoulter 1 November-30 November 2015 9 December 2015

Content[edit]

Summary objective: To make content from the Bodleian available for use on the Wikimedia projects.

There were no new uploads this month: we intend to proceed by bulk uploading with the GLAMwiki toolset rather than small batches as done so far, and are looking into the process for this. The technical infrastructure nearly exists: images can be grabbed from Digital Bodleian over the web but at the moment the metadata exists in individual files. By Christmas 2015, Digital Bodleian will be able to export individual flat files and I will be able to write scripts to convert them to the flat XML needed by the GLAMwiki Toolset.

Community[edit]

Summary objective: to expand, diversify and train the contributor community

November was packed with events and with planning for future events:

  • An "Under the Bonnet" of Wikipedia lunchtime workshop involved 16 participants - a majority of them women - in basic wiki-literacy. Evaluation was very positive (see the link) and we will email these attendees to invite them to the Engage course next year.
  • The World War I editathon was attended by five women and one man, of whom three women and one man were new accounts. We edited eleven articles and discussed a historical document in a local museum that one of the attendees is going to try to get a copy for Wikisource.
  • A "Working with the Open Culture movement" workshop for Bodleian Libraries staff attracted five women and two men, including staff from the Sackler Library, with whom we are looking at sharing some material from an Egyptology collection.
  • A talk for 50 of the university's social media staff (no precise numbers for gender, but mostly women) urged them to register accounts on Wikipedia so as to interact with other users and request edits to articles about their organisations.

An overview blog post for October's Women In Science events went online.

We have been planning a four-part Open Knowledge Ambassador course, to run for Oxford staff and students in the coming term. We have also set the details for an editathon at the Oxford Internet Institute, combined with talks about the work of researchers who investigate Wikipedia. This is taking place on Wikipedia's birthday and I have listed it with the other Wikipedia 15 events.

We are also looking to do a staff development session at the John Radcliffe Library and possibly another lunchtime session for staff. The women in science events generated such interest that we are looking to run another Wikipedia improvement event to keep this community involved.

Policy[edit]

Summary objective: Shape and implement policies and workflows for licensing and releasing digital media and reporting their use and impact.

  • My article appeared in CILIP Update, urging librarians to improve Wikipedia and Wikisource about historic figures to promote interest in their collections.
  • In my talk to social media staff, I urged them to shape policies in their own units and colleges to release media under Wikipedia-compatible licences. I have followed up with Oxford University's media unit, who have responded positively, and I expect some video clips to be created or re-licensed for Wikipedia as a result.
  • I have raised the issue of making Digital Bodleian compatible with the GLAMwiki Toolset and urged the extra functionality for the Digital Bodleian to make this possible.