Dear Friends, New York City Wikimedians,
I want to thank you all so much for your support of my role as Wikipedian-in-Residence at the Metropolitan New York Library Council https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/METRO, and the many events we’ve organized together since I first took the position in August, 2013. With the support of Wikimedia NYC, other institutional collaborators, and all of you, we’ve hosted around 15 public Edit-a-thons at places like the New York Public Library branches, the Queens Library Central, the Center for Jewish History, the Guggenheim Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, and the MoMA Education Deparment, and have encouraged an ethic of sharing in many New York institutions. I’ve also personally given around 20 staff trainings on Wikipedia editing to institutional staff, and hosted several more specialty events at the METRO office on 11th Street. Images of some of the events METRO has co-organized are available https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Metropolitan_New_York_Library_Council_Events in Wikimedia Commons.
While I’ve had a wonderful go as Wikipedian-in-Residence, all good things eventually come to a close. As you may know, I will be leaving my position shortly to pursue other opportunities for growth and learning, starting on April 2nd, 2015.
METRO and I have been discussing opportunities for METRO to continue collaborating with Wikipedia and library-specific Open Knowledge and Open Data projects to support our institutional members http://metro.org/corporatememberships/applications/search/. I have made sure to put my supervisor in touch with staff at the Wikipedia Library and the Wiki Education Foundation, as well as members of WMF Grants and the larger Wikipedia community, and I’m working to ensure that there is a referral process in place so that if METRO members have questions about Wikipedia, they know to contact WMNYC or other groups that will respond.
But METRO is also in a time of transition, after Jason Kuscma left his spot as Executive Director, we are currently in an interm period, and things are somewhat on hold until someone new is hired so it is yet to be determined whether METRO will create an Open Data / WiR position or expand its open initiatives in other ways. As you may have heard, METRO received a grant from the Knight Foundation for its Culture in Transit project http://www.knightfoundation.org/grants/201550377/, and is embarking on a large-scale initiative to scan and digitize print materials for public archiving. From being immersed in the culture here at METRO I can say with confidence and pride that whatever comes next, openness will be a big part of their considerations in their digital projects.
Going forward, if you need to get in contact with me, the best address in the future will be my personal e-mail: dorohoward@gmail.com, and you can always find me on Twitter @DorothyR_Howard https://twitter.com/DorothyR_Howard. But proverbially speaking, I’m not going anywhere- and will one way or another continue to take part in New York Wikipedia and Open-GLAM initiatives.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this transition, and thanks for your continual support.
All the best,
Dorothy Howard