Dear WikiFriends,
I'm hoping you & yours are all well, safe and healthy in these
unprecedented times we have all found ourselves in.
I'm writing you today with my 'educator & researcher' hat on, with a
special request to help Piotr Konieczny & I spread the word about a new
global research we are conducting.
While using Wikimedia-related assignments (Wikipedia, Commons, WikiBooks,
WikiSource, Wikidata, Wiktionary etc) in the classroom has been used all
over the world for over a decade, very little research was conducted about
what instructors who have tried it actually think about the experience.
We are hoping that answering the questions in the survey will help us
better understand:
- Whether this teaching approach is effective (or not)
- What are some of the challenges experienced by instructors
- How the process could be improved
The questions are meant for any instructors running a wiki assignment,
whether it is in k-12 or higher education, formal or informal educational
setting. We are hoping the results will allow us to globally share
experiences and learn from one another, so we can make it smoother, easier
and more effective for educators joining these efforts.
It is important to note that this would be the first time (that we know
of!) that an academic research of this type has been conducted around the
world, so we really need your help in spreading the word about it in your
local communities. We're hoping that any of you, supporting such
initiatives around the world over the years, would forward it to your local
Education contacts and ask them to participate. The more instructors
participating, the better.
We realize that it would have been great to have the questionnaire in a
variety of languages, but in order for us to process the data properly and
not via third-party translations and keep the anonymity and privacy of
participants, it was decided to release the survey just in English.
Here is a link to the survey - https://tinyurl.com/yd6dfata
<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2Fyd6dfata%3Ffbcli…>
.
Thank you all in advance, and of course, if there are any questions, Piotr
& I are here.
Stay healthy & safe!
Shani.
-----------------------------------------------
*Shani Evenstein Sigalov*
* Lecturer, Tel Aviv University.
* EdTech Innovation Strategist, NY/American Medical Program, Sackler School
of Medicine, Tel Aviv University.
* PhD Candidate, School of Education, Tel Aviv University.
* Azrieli Foundation Research Fellow.
* OER & Emerging Technologies Coordinator, UNESCO Chair
<https://education.tau.ac.il/node/3495> on Technology, Internationalization
and Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University
<https://education.tau.ac.il/node/3495>.
* Member of the Board of Trustees
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/profile/shani-evenstein-sigalov/>, Wikimedia
Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>.
* Chairperson, The Hebrew Literature Digitization Society
<http://www.israelgives.org/amuta/580428621>.
* Chief Editor, Project Ben-Yehuda <http://benyehuda.org>.
+972-525640648
Greetings everyone,
The PCC is launching a Wikidata Pilot to further advance the movement toward identity management. Stated broadly in its Strategic Directions document, the PCC hopes to “Accelerate the movement toward ubiquitous identifier creation and identity management at the network level … attain an environment where identity management work activity is characterized by much greater proportions and numbers of entities receiving identifiers … strategic partnerships and collaboration existing among cultural heritage organizations, rights management agencies, Wikidata, and others … collaborate with other identity management communities to facilitate and promote the use of unique identifiers.”
More specifically, this Pilot is anticipated to involve
• Comparing ease of use and benefits of Wikidata to other registries (LCNAF, ISNI)
• Assessing the productivity and quality assurance tools that exist (or should exist)
• Learning about the culture of the Wikidata community
The upcoming Pilot was featured in the LD4P Wikidata Affinity Group meeting of June 16 and more background information and discussion can be found in the presentation recording<https://stanford.zoom.us/rec/share/_eAtNuzb_HNLcK_97GzcBJ95MN2-T6a8hHRI-PYO…>, slides<https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NpkAQdGGft1Wi2vX0zgMtIxwXWjPq96NtXx…>, and notes<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z1SSAp4c4tftOGW3BbJ6Fxfd8oRIhfzveh0zjeb…>.
Participants can choose to experiment in a range of focus areas based on what is of interest to their own institution, sharing their findings without each being required to delve into all the areas that are covered by the pilot. Projects of any size, however small or large, and at any stage of progress are welcome. The PCC invites interested institutions (both PCC and non-PCC) to participate by completing a short survey<https://forms.gle/5VEHS8sbQbG1JyQa9> describing their project and the issues of interest to them. Initial expressions of interest by the end of July will allow the Pilot to get underway with a kick off meeting in early August. We will solicit firm commitments for ongoing participation at a later date.
The pilot is anticipated to last about 12 months. If you have questions, please write to John Riemer<mailto:jriemer@library.ucla.edu> or Michelle Durocher<mailto:durocher@fas.harvard.edu>.
Hilary Thorsen, on behalf of the PCC Task Group on Identity Management in NACO
Hilary Thorsen
Resource Sharing Librarian
Stanford Libraries
thorsenh(a)stanford.edu
650-285-9429