Hi all,
I wanted to draw your attention to the US National Archives' new Open Government Plan for 2012-2014[1], which they just recently released. I am really proud of this publication, and I think it shows how far we've come. On page 1, David Ferriero writes:
Knowing we do not have all the answers, we are creating opportunities for citizens to provide substantive contributions, including tags, transcripts, and images. [...] We welcomed a Wikipedian-in-Residence and continue to collaborate on projects, scan-a-thons, and to contribute high resolution digital images to the Wikimedia Commons. Our work with Wikipedia is changing the way we think about our work.
Wikipedia is mentioned 9 times throughout the document, including under the "Tangible Results" section, and Wikimedia Commons and Wikisource each get two mentions as well. We're also mentioned in the timeline of the 2010-2012 plan's implementation on NARA's website.[2] This means that Wikipedia isn't just a cool experiment to NARA; they are drawing the connections between engagement with Wikipedia and fulfillment of their institutional mission. The US president gave the directive to the National Archives to implement a strategy for open government, and their work on Wikipedia is important enough to feature front and center in the document representing their official response. It also means that they think the project has been successful so far; it's worth talking about.
This spotlighting of our work actually isn't new. In December, Carl Malamud started a
whitehouse.gov petition drive called "Yes We Scan," calling on the government to create a national effort to digitize all federal public records. David Ferriero was chosen to give the response, and he mentioned Wikipedia in the first paragraph.[3] His own blog post on the matter used the photos from our most recent scanathon,[4] and he also mentioned us, and quoted me(!), in his remarks in the public teleconference he held.[5]
The Open Government Plan is important, I think, not just because it mentions Wikipedia favorably, but because of how it does so, by weaving it in throughout the plan as a part of a larger discussion of open government. It shows that a prestigious GLAM believes that Wikipedia is an integral part of its efforts in public engagement and increasing access, and it is not afraid to say so. Its principles—transparency, participation, and collaboration—and strategies—a "citizen archivist" initiative, which we are a part of—are important for any institution to recognize, and especially public ones. And it is just one short step to extrapolate from "open government" to a broader "open culture", for non-government institutions. I am hoping others around the world will find ways of putting this document to use in helping to carry our message to other institutions.
Dominic
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