UK involvement in Wiki Loves Public Art 2014? - WikiLovesPublicArt

29 Jan 2014

Hi,

I have just discovered the existence of Wiki Loves Public Art and even
though it's rather behind schedule I would really like to see the UK being
involved. I have edited many list articles on public art in London (most
notably List of public art in the City of
Westminster<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_art_in_the_City…er>,
which I am hoping to bring to featured status -- in fact I'm going to ask
for a microgrant to do the necessary travel, which I could time so as to
upload the photos in May) and one of Cardiff (the capital of Wales) on the
English Wikipedia.

The relevant body to contact in order to obtain a database for making
structured lists is the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA),
who already have a database online in the form of the National Recording
Project (NRP). Details are
here<http://www.pmsa.org.uk/national-recording-project/>.
Unfortunately this does not cover the entire UK, only about 70% of it. I
know of three further online databases which cover areas not in the NRP:
Sussex <http://www.publicsculpturesofsussex.co.uk/>, Norfolk and
Suffolk<http://www.racns.co.uk/>
 and Sheffield <http://public-art.shu.ac.uk/sheffield/index.html> (though
this last one is not, to my mind, very good). UK involvement in the WLPA
would presumably be dependent on the PMSA being willing to give us a copy
of their database to create the necessary lists in time for May.

I am on good terms with Robin Owain, the Wales Manager of Wikimedia UK so I
could contact him next in order to set the ball rolling. Is it best for the
local chapter to contact the relevant institutions?

Best regards,

Marc Haynes (User:Ham)