Hello all,
Dominic and I are excited to share an article that we had the opportunity
to write for the American Historical Association's newsmagazine, *Perspectives
on History*. We have a bit more context about why this is an exciting
opportunity here on the GLAM-Wiki US blog (which also includes the article
in full).
http://blog.us.glamwiki.org/2012/12/historians-in-wikipedia/
Typically this publication keeps its most recent online articles gated, but
they released ours to the public early due to the nature of our content.
Here's the AHA blog announcing this.
http://blog.historians.org/publications/1870/reading-list-two-new-articles-…
This article would not have happened without Sarah, who was first
approached about the opportunity and who helped in the shaping of the
article. So this was truly a group Wiki-in-Res effort : )
For mobile-friendliness and general ease, here is the article text in its
entirety...
*Historians in Wikipedia: Building an Open, Collaborative History*
What will the historian's craft look like in the age of social media,
>> crowdsourcing, and Wikipedia? It is a question often addressed in the pages
>> of this magazine, and here we want to expand on one answer offered last
>> year by AHA President William Cronon, who encouraged historians to
>> "contribute to the greatest encyclopedia the world has ever known." As
>> Wikipedians in residence, we facilitate the contribution of subject matter
>> expertise from cultural institutions—such as the Children's Museum of
>> Indianapolis, the National Archives, and the Smithsonian—to Wikipedia. The
>> future will see more of this type of engagement, which brings the insights
>> of authorities to the world's most widely accessed online encyclopedia.
>
>
> Many see Wikipedia's open, collaborative editing model to be contradictory
>> to established processes within the academic world. In fact, the work of
>> academics is not in competition with Wikipedia, but is the key to its
>> quality and development. Ultimately, if the field of history is to become a
>> part of an online collaborative culture, historians will need to be full,
>> participating members of the Wikipedia community. We see this happening
>> through partnerships with cultural institutions and through an embrace, by
>> Wikipedians and historians alike, of an emerging model of collaboration
>> called "open authority."
>
>
> In urging historians to join in the improvement of Wikipedia, Roy
>> Rosenzweig, founder of the Center for History and New Media, called
>> Wikipedia an example of "the massive democratization of access to
>> knowledge."1 As the world's fifth most-visited website, Wikipedia and its
>> sister projects receive around 490 million unique visitors a month, and its
>> openly licensed content frequently appears on other websites.2 The
>> popularity of Wikipedia, and especially of its history articles, makes it,
>> for better or worse, the most prominent public history project in the
>> world. Compare, for example, the 20 million page views in 2011 of
>> Wikipedia's "United States" article to the 17 million views of all the
>> National Archives webpages on archives.gov in the same year. Trends like
>> these prompted the National Archives to make a concerted effort to
>> collaborate with Wikipedians. In the words of Archivist of the United
>> States David Ferriero, "You need to be where the people are."3 Historians
>> will continue to publish their scholarship in academic journals, but that
>> scholarship is best communicated to the general public through Wikipedia.
>
>
> Wikipedia needs the contributions of expert historians. Although Wikipedia
>> generally succeeds at providing an amazing breadth of knowledge, it needs
>> historians and other experts on specific topics who can provide depth.
>> However, because any person is entitled to contribute to Wikipedia
>> regardless of credentials, experts often struggle with their role as
>> authorities within Wikipedia. They often fear worthy contributions are not
>> given proper recognition in a community of amateurs. But, in fact,
>> collaboration with Wikipedia does not undermine scholarly authority.
>> Rather, it enhances it by putting it to work and adding value to a
>> high-profile public representation of the topics experts are passionate
>> about.
>
>
> The combination of expertise and transparent collaboration is an emerging
>> model known as open authority.4 Public historians, academics, and many
>> others have expressed concern over the shifting role of expert authority in
>> an increasingly connected digital world where everyone is a curator. Open
>> authority is the coming together of expert authority with user-generated
>> content on free and open platforms. This typically takes the form of
>> dialogue between experts and the public on a virtual forum, leading to a
>> more inclusive representation of a topic. Wikipedia, as an open forum for
>> discussion and collaboration, is one of the best examples of open
>> authority. The open-source software movement from which Wikipedia evolved
>> has demonstrated that open, collaborative communities can create large,
>> complex projects that meet even the highest standards of the profession.
>> Experts in diverse fields are learning to embrace the potential of
>> collaborative online communities, and are entering dialogue within
>> transparent, open forums that reflect the connected environment in which we
>> live.
>
>
> It is important to understand that Wikipedia contributors are not amateur
>> historians but encyclopedists. Wikipedia, as a tertiary source, does not
>> seek to crowdsource the interpretation of the past, but to document the
>> state of the field on a given topic. Scholars sensitive to this mission
>> will understand Wikipedia's policy of "no original research," which ensures
>> that all interpretive claims are referenced to a published and accepted
>> source. This insistence on verifiability is necessary to maintain the
>> reliability of contributions, and avoids the slippery slope of (sometimes
>> eccentric) self-proclaimed experts promoting unpublished interpretations.
>> That said, Wikipedia does not reject the use of primary sources altogether.
>> Wikipedia editors will, however, question contributions based on primary
>> sources alone when they offer an interpretation that cannot be found in the
>> secondary literature.
>
>
> Just as historians are moving towards a better understanding of the
>> Wikipedia community, the Wikipedia community itself is becoming more
>> welcoming and accessible to new contributors, professional historians
>> included. To this end, the Wikipedia community is developing an improved
>> editing interface and supporting new editors through various projects. In
>> recent years, a community-driven project known as GLAM-Wiki ("GLAM" stands
>> for Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) has united hundreds of
>> Wikipedians around the world with the goal of supporting cultural
>> institutions as they share subject matter expertise with Wikipedia.5
>> Initiatives like these will lower the barriers to entry for new expert
>> contributors—but there is still much more work to do. And, as with any open
>> community, the best way to make it reflective of one's values and
>> experience is simply to join in.
>
>
> In the meantime, Wikipedians in residence are bridging the gap between the
>> Wikipedia community and cultural professionals by providing insight,
>> outreach, and in-person assistance for institutions committed to
>> establishing partnerships with Wikipedia. Wikipedians in residence work for
>> an institution—often a museum, library, or archive—to serve as a liaison
>> between experts and the Wikipedia community. Wikipedians in residence have
>> been supported in esteemed institutions around the world, from the British
>> Museum and the Smithsonian Institution to the United States' National
>> Archives and the Israel Museum—and interest continues to grow. This
>> enthusiasm illustrates the cultural sector's growing acceptance of
>> Wikipedia, not only as a platform for sharing content, but as a valuable
>> community worthy of long-term partnership. This coupling of expert
>> authority with the collaborative community of Wikipedia is open authority
>> in action.
>
>
> Issuing a challenge to scholars, Rosenzweig wrote, "historians probably
>> have a professional obligation to make [Wikipedia] as good as possible."6
>> While Wikipedia continues to provide free knowledge to millions each day,
>> the discipline of history risks becoming isolated if scholars do not become
>> more engaged with the online communities of this new information
>> commons. Contributing to Wikipedia makes a scholar's work more accessible
>> than ever before. As a wiki that is open to everyone, Wikipedia only works
>> if everyone feels empowered to be involved. To this end, we urge historians
>> to make the first step in contributing. Follow Wikipedia's unofficial
>> mantra and "Be Bold!" Do not be afraid to click that edit button.
>
>
> —Lori Byrd Phillips is the 2012 US cultural partnerships coordinator for
>> the Wikimedia Foundation and a digital marketing content coordinator at The
>> Children's Museum of Indianapolis. She has served as the Children's
>> Museum's Wikipedian in residence since 2010, and holds a Masters in museum
>> studies from Indiana University and a BA in history from George Mason
>> University.
>
> —Dominic McDevitt-Parks has been the Wikipedian in residence for the
>> National Archives and Records Administration since May 2011. He holds a BA
>> in history from Reed College and is currently completing his MS in library
>> science from Simmons College.
>
> Notes
>
>
> 1. Roy Rosenzweig, "Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future
>> of the Past," Journal of American History 93:1 (June 2006), 117–146.
>
> 2. All figures include information from all Wikimedia projects, including
>> all Wikipedia languages and projects such as Wikiquote, Wikinews, etc.
>> Monthly stats can be found in the Wikimedia Foundation's Monthly Report.
>
> 3. David Ferriero, "Remarks of Archivist of the United States David S.
>> Ferriero" (Speech presented at the Wikipedia in Higher Education Summit,
>> Simmons College, Boston, MA, July 9, 2011).
>> www.archives.gov/about/speeches/2011/7-9-2011.html.
>
> 4. Lori Byrd Phillips, "Defining Open Authority in Museums," MIDEA Blog
>> (New Media Consortium, January 13, 2012).
>
> 5. "GLAM-Wiki US," Wikipedia. (2012).
>
> 6. Rosenzweig, see note 1.
>
> --
Lori Phillips
Digital Marketing Content Coordinator
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
US Cultural Partnerships Coordinator
Wikimedia Foundation
703.489.6036 | http://loribyrdphillips.com/
Hi all.
I am very pleased to present you the first GLAM collaboration started by
Wikimedia Spain.
In September we first contacted the press department of the Science Museum
of Valladolid, one of the most important museums in the Spanish region of
Castile and León. We did so because this museum was uploading materials to
Wikimedia Commons and starting articles on the Spanish Wikipedia, so we
assumed that they might be receptive to further cooperation... and here we
are!
After some meetings in October and November now we can see the first steps
made by this GLAM cooperation.
The Science Museum has included QRpedia codes in the exhibitions related
with some scientists like Louis Pasteur, Dmitri Mendeleev or Rosalind
Franklin. They have called this feature "Stars of the science", and the
museum sees QRpedia codes as an unique opportunity to approach the ~2600
foreign visitors per year they have.
Furthermore, we have planned activities for the first months of 2013 like a
Wikipedia workshop and an Edit-a-thon, but we will keep you posted about
this in the coming months!
I attach you some pictures of the final result and we will thank you any
help with the translation of the article about the museum :-) (
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_de_la_Ciencia_de_Valladolid)
PD: any suggestions about how to keep this posted on the Outreach wiki??
Best,
--
------------------------------
Miguel Ángel García
Wikimedia España
www.wikimedia.org.es
Hi!
In the Danish Wikipedia, we have contributions from a number of museum and
library professionals, and several of them have begun using user boxes
linking them to their respective institutions. That is in it self all good,
and it helps them find each other, but what would be really cool would be
to say "contributors with user box X have contributed to these Y articles,
and those articles have had Z visits in this period".
I know we can to it manually, but automatic would be better. Does this
exist, or should we prod someone?
Regards,
Ole
--
http://palnatoke.org * @palnatoke * +4522934588
Just mentioning that I have managed to run baglama through on all supported
projects for October and November, thanks to a partial software rewrite.
Trying to fill up older gaps now.
http://toolserver.org/~magnus/baglama.php
Cheers,
Magnus
I wrote a page <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Translate_us>
to offer guidance to translators wishing to translate Wikipedia
articles /from/ English to other languages.
You may wish to have that translated for your own languages; or to
"interwiki" link pages which already exist for that purpose.
The English guidance for people translating from other language
Wikipedias /into/ English is at
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Translation>.
--
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
Thanks for sharing, Bob. And I'm glad some local NYC-ers were able to
attend this event. I know Neal was very excited about it, and I was sad to
have not been able to attend.
Another link made its way to me as well:
http://centerforthehumanities.org/events/The-Commons-and-Digital-Humanities…
I think it's interesting that they called out GLAM-Wiki in the description
of the event. I think the fact that they didn't talk about Wikipedia very
much is telling of the fact that we've arrived. It doesn't need to be
discussed much anymore (at least among the forward thinking folks like
Neal, Tina, Michael and presumably William : ).but instead it's "this is
great, now what can we do."
This was the same feeling I got at Museum Computer Network in Seattle a few
weeks ago. The sense was that, "GLAM-Wiki is an inspiring first step, and
you all have emerged as leaders in regards to open culture in GLAMs. Now
help us come together around a broader initiative of Open Culture in the
US," (speaking of something similar to OKFN and Open Cultuur Data, which
are so strong in the UK, the Netherlands, and elsewhere.)
This is in fact the next step that we're working on here in the US. I'll
have more to report in another couple weeks.
I'm working on a blog post about our time at Museum Computer Network where
I'll be going into more details on my thoughts about this. But couldn't
resist piping up now, too. : )
Thanks Bob! I look forward to the video.
Best,
Lori
On Thu, Nov 29, 2012 at 10:07 AM, Bob Kosovsky <bobkosovsky(a)nypl.org> wrote:
> Last night the Graduate Center of the City University of New York held a
> panel discussion with four museum professionals:
>
> Christina DePaolo, Balboa Park Online Collaborative
> Michael Edson, Smithsonian Institution
> William Noel, University of Pennsylvania
> Neal Stimmler, Metropolitan Museum of Art
>
> The web announcement for the event is here:
>
> http://cunydhi.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2012/11/07/wednesday-november-28-the-com…
>
> Although the evening was billed as a session on museums and digital
> humanities, it was devoted to thoughts, ideas and strategies about museums
> engaging with the digital world. Although Wikipedia was mentioned only
> once, all of these individuals appeared extremely determined to open their
> collections to the public through digitization, and creating/adding value
> to them by harnessing the knowledge of the communities that are attracted
> to them.
>
> One of the questions at the end wondered why all the institutions used
> Flickr instead of their own websites. The responses made an argument for
> being "out there," that people will find the materials more easily when
> they're on Flickr than if kept within the museums' sites.
>
> You can still catch most of the tweets if you search the hashtag: #cunydhi
>
> I mention it here because they video-recorded the panel. I strongly
> suspect the video could become a forceful argument for convincing
> organizations to partner with GLAM-Wiki people. I'll watch out for when
> the video become available and maybe someone can post the link on the
> Wikimedia GLAM pages.
>
>
>
> --
> Bob Kosovsky, Ph.D. -- Curator, Rare Books and Manuscripts,
> Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
> blog: http://www.nypl.org/blog/author/44 Twitter: @kos2
> Listowner: OPERA-L ; SMT-TALK ; SMT-ANNOUNCE ; SoundForge-users
> - My opinions do not necessarily represent those of my institutions -
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> GLAM-US(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/glam-us
>
>
--
Lori Phillips
Digital Marketing Content Coordinator
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
US Cultural Partnerships Coordinator
Wikimedia Foundation
703.489.6036 | http://loribyrdphillips.com/