Source:
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/02/27/spain-catalan-modernism-from-the-c…
#Wikimodernism: Catalan Modernism, from the Classroom to the Web
Art history students in Barcelona are trading in traditional homework to
share their learning about Catalan
Modernism<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernisme>
, or *modernisme* in Catalan, with the world.
If you have ever visited Barcelona, you will remember the colorful and
curvilinear architecture of Antoni
Gaudí<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD>’s
fantastical buildings. Gaudí is essentially the crown jewel of the region's
art, and the foundation of this organic and dreamy aesthetic is the
political and cultural revolutionary movement that sought to transform
Catalan society at the turn of the twentieth century. Artistically, *
modernisme* was an eclectic movement inspired by similar currents from
other European countries, such as French Art Nouveau, but was nevertheless
charged with a nationalist sensibility that has given it a unique
personality.
After assessing a relatively low level of quality of Wikipedia's content on
the subject, a group of Catalan
wikimedians<http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amical_Viquip%C3%A8dia> [ca]
launched a thrilling new
wikiproject<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject>
:
Viquimodernisme<http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viquiprojecte:Viquimodernis…
[ca],
which has three aims: “improving the presence of Catalan Modernism on
Wikipedia”, “making the knowledge generated at the University level
accessible on the Internet” and “putting into practice new paradigms of
open education”.
During the first semester of the academic year 2012-2013, more than one
hundred art history
students<http://www.viquimedia.cat/viqui/Apunt:Viquimodernisme:_una_cru%C3%AFlla_afortunada>
[ca] from
the University of Barcelona produced quality Wikipedia articles instead of
completing traditional course work, under the supervision of six teachers
and researchers belonging to the GRACMON <http://www.ub.edu/gracmon/> [ca],
the group of research for contemporary art and design at the University of
Barcelona. They have created and edited more than a hundred articles
pertaining to Catalan Modernism so far.
*The perfect alliance*
The proposal came from Àlex Hinojo (@Kippelboy<https://twitter.com/Kippelboy>),
active #glamwiki <https://twitter.com/search?q=%23glamwiki> [ca] member, an
international group of wikimedians who work in order to increase ties
between cultural institutions and the free knowledge network. Besides being
one of the most active wikipedians, Hinojo is the person behind the project
@CatalanMuseums <https://twitter.com/CatalanMuseums>, offering information
in English about the museums of Barcelona and Catalonia.
Esther Solé (@EstherSole <https://twitter.com/esthersole>), Art historian,
wikipedian and coordinator of the Viquimodernisme project, wrote in an
article<http://www.viquimedia.cat/viqui/Apunt:Viquimodernisme:_una_cru%C3%AFlla_afortunada>
[ca]
published by Viquimedia, how this unprecedented proposal quickly defeated
all the suspicions that academics usually have of Wikipedia:
Suspicions soon gave way to curiosity and this was also replaced by the
enthusiasm inspired by an unprecedented proposal. […] Considering that
Wikipedia usually occupies the top positions on Internet search engines and
that it is often the first, and usually the only resource consulted by most
of the population to satisfy their doubts or curiosity, it makes sense to
propose that the information and data available in this online encyclopedia
be correct and adequate.
We asked Hinojo what he thinks about the suspicions shown by the academic
field:
Suspicion is often the result of ignoring a specific subject. That’s why we
develop these types of projects, so we can approach different spheres. One
thing that teachers repeat the most is: “I wasn’t aware either of the level
of control enforced by volunteers or the level of quality filter processes
that Wikipedia has. Wikipedians are even more “pernickety” than teachers”.
*Towards an open education*
GLAM wikiprojects try to involve professionals from cultural institutions
so they can coalesce to share their knowledge freely. In the case of
Viquimodernisme, Solé and Hinojo were responsible for bringing that
collaborative working culture which characterizes Wikipedia community
to the GRACMON professors, world authorities on Catalan Modernism.
Solé says in her
article<http://www.viquimedia.cat/viqui/Apunt:Viquimodernisme:_una_cru%C3%AFlla_afortunada>
[ca]:
Instead of performing traditional course work in the form of stapled sheets
of paper that probably ended up in the trash bin, students had to edit
Wikipedia articles. […] Thus participants were immersed in a world of
encyclopedic language, where the syntax –code-wiki– seemed weird, where the
community of Wikipedia editors was actively involved and intervened in a
work that didn’t belong to the student anymore for it had become free and
available to anyone thanks to creative commons licenses.
Articles have been improved, especially in Catalan, but they have also
edited articles in Spanish, French and English. Project managers made an
inquiry to evaluate its development by the end of the first semester, on
January 2013. You can check the results
here<http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viquiprojecte:Viquimodernisme/Revisi%C…
[ca].
After these first months of the project, Hinojo points out the positive
fact that “students find it really useful that their work has been
‘published’ in Wikipedia and is available to everybody”.
*GLAM Wikiprojects, getting art online*
Viquimodernisme belongs to a type of wikiprojects known as
GLAM<http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viquip%C3%A8dia:GLAM> [ca]
(Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums), an international initiative
that was born after the people in charge of the British
Museum<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/US/About> realized
many articles talked about their institution on Wikipedia and decided to
hire a wikipedian to correct and widen the existing content. Since then,
this initiative has been exported to other countries and institutions.
Viquimodernisme has raised interest among some academic institutions, and
the coordinators
hope<http://theglamwikiexperience.blogspot.com/2013/02/viquimodernisme-l…
the
project will become a model for others in the future. They will present
their final
results<http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=viquimodernisme&…
the CoupdeFouet
International Art Noveau Congress
<http://www.artnouveau.eu/ca/congress.php> [ca]
to be held in Barcelona on June 2013, which coincides with the project's
end.