Hello, 

This May, we are celebrating the International Museum Day 2024 with a series of activities in which anyone can participate following this year’s theme: Museums for Education and Research. Individual Wikimedians, affiliates, and user groups are invited to respond to three challenges to increase museum coverage on Wikimedia: translationmedia, and data.

1) Translation: Translate the New Definition of Museum, launched in 2022 by ICOM, into as many languages as possible. To participate in the challenge, follow the instructions on this page

2) Media: Document museums around the world working with education and research. Upload to Wikimedia Commons photos of their events, tours, and workshops; specialist libraries and archives; accessibility resources; or conservation in progress. Follow the instructions on this page, which includes a map of museums around the world.

3) Data

- Structured Data on Commons: Add or enhance the data for images of museum buildings and spaces, as well as the collections they hold, such as paintings, sculptures, photographs, historical and natural objects, and manuscripts. The data challenge page suggests the types of data you can add, how to find images to work with, and different approaches to making edits.

- WikidataAdd or enhance the items about museums. The data challenge page has queries to get started, such as museums on Wikidata without a country but with coordinates; paintings on Wikidata without an image; a list of curators by birthplace; as well as a table with a list of very important data missing from museums items on Wikidata by country.

If you register on this dashboard, your edits will be counted and shared with ICOM. This page has guidelines for organizing events and campaigns, including some beautiful visuals.

Museum Day Poster [blue].png

Wikimedia CH is also organizing a panel discussion for May 17th,
 about ‘Wikimedia, Museums, and Education’, including expert speakers from the museum sector. During the month, the chapter is also launching a series of short videos about museums. Stay tuned for those! 

More about the #IMD2024 on the Meta-Wiki portal or this Diff blog post.

Best,
Giovanna

Giovanna Fontenelle (she/her)

Program Officer, Culture and Heritage

Wikimedia Foundation