Following on from Fae and myself meeting Robin Urquart of the National
Archives of Scotland, I'm looking for people who may be interested in
working on a WW-I related GLAM project.
The Archives have an extensive collection of letters that soldiers wrote
to be delivered to family members in the event they were killed. Due to
the accessibility requirements imposed on any body like the archives,
there is a need to transcribe such documents before they can make them
widely available.
Each letter generally has associated personal effects, such as tickets
to the last theatre show someone saw before going to the front. So, they
make for a beautiful piece of very personal history. With WW-I having
"pals regiments" and the entire young male community from towns and
villages serving - and dying - together, these can readily be focussed
on small geographic areas. Perhaps even readily covering everyone listed
on specific war memorials.
I'm open to any and all ideas on how we could work with the National
Archives of Scotland on this; there's work for those who shun sunlight
in transcribing handwritten letters (to meet their accessibility
requirements), linking letters and effects to specific monuments, and
anything else people might can come up with.
To me, it doesn't seem unreasonable to aim to use Commons, Wikisource,
*and* Wikibooks. A QR code could be placed at a relevant war memorial,
it points to a Wikibook collecting all the soldiers' letters, with scans
and transcripts. If the relevant items in the National Archives are
properly referenced there should be nothing to stop a local venue such
as a church having an exhibition of the original letters and associated
items like tickets to the theatre the night before someone died. Doing
that in the 2014-2018 window is not going to be difficult.
Since I'm unemployed after Friday this week, I'd like to devote some
time to getting the ball rolling on this. But, I've a hunch this is
something that could be excellent for waking the wider public up to
projects other than Wikipedia, recruiting local history buffs as new
content contributors, and getting cultural institutions to 'think
outside the box' around working with us.
Feel free to throw in suggestions and comments!
Brian McNeil.
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Folks,
I learned today that
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordanhill_railway_station was the
one-millionth English Wikipedia article so I've boldly written to
Transport Scotland to see if they'd be interested in putting a (blue)
plaque on the station, noting that fact, and featuring a QRpedia code
- after all, the article has 22 other-language versions.
Fingers crossed!
--
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-16359364
I've just seen this article. I'd somehow missed this is the planning stages
(I was vaguely aware of some discussion about qr codes, but hadn't realised
anything had progressed this far) - it looks like a great idea.
It's a good article too, I particularly like the quote from John about
being told he should implement his idea himself - that's exactly the
attitude wmuk should have and we should make everyone aware of that.
The only thing I don't like about the article is that it makes it sound
like a Wikipedia project, rather than a Wikimedia UK project. It's not a
big deal, but we should try and get the chapter's role more emphasis.
All,
There's been an awful lot of fundraiser emails coming in from donors who are
asking about how to edit. The following statements aren't direct quotes -
I've reworded them for privacy's sake, but they're 'based on a true story'
and indicative of the sort of emails we're getting:
Some of the emails are very keen:
" I know how to use a computer, and was wondering if I could
proof read for you!"
"I can't donate each month, but maybe I can help you run the
Wikipedia? "
Some are confused about policies:
"I'm afraid that if I edit about X, I'll contravene the
second and third pillars, but I'm not sure about the fifth pillar."
Some are just confused about editing:
"How do I edit a page? This is all very difficult"
One or two are genuinely thrilled at the idea of being able to edit:
"I would love to be part of a thing as amazing as this - my
generation would never have dreamt of something as wonderful as wiki. I
think Wikipedia is great, and I'd really like you to teach me how I can be a
part of it"
Rather than point them straight at some tutorial page on Wikipedia (which
may not be helpful), or at OTRS (which tends to be a hit hit-and-miss) I am
hoping we can run a 'learn to edit' session, advertised to those donors who
have expressed an interest, at some point in the new year. It'd be aimed at
complete beginners, and probably somewhere with a dense population, like
Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cardiff, London etc.
Potentially there would be businesswomen, elderly war veterans, foreign
students all at the same event: we'd try to target it as much as possible,
but that might not be easily possible.
Is there anyone who'd be interested in running this, or helping out at it?
All the best,
Richard Symonds
Office Manager
Wikimedia UK
+44 7885 764 613
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Registered Charity No. is 1144513. The Registered Office is 4th Floor,
Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT.
Wikimedia UK is the local chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate
Wikipedia, amongst other projects). It is an independent non-profit
organization with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its
contents.
Visit <http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/> http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and
@wikimediauk
Hi,
I have a couple of unclaimed complementary tickets to the V&A
Postmodernism exhibition which are valid up until 13 January;
excluding weekends.
If anyone would like to go along (preferably with a view to updating
related Wikipedia articles!), drop me an email and I post them to you.
First come, first served.
* http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/postmodernism/
Cheers,
Fae
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http://enwp.org/user_talk:fae
Guide to email tags: http://j.mp/faetags
Dear all,
The Government has recently announced a consultation on about changes to
copyright law. This follows a review of the existing arrangements by
Professor Hargreaves over the summer.
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/pro-policy/consult/consult-live/consult-2011-copyrigh…
Do people feel we should respond? (Or to reverse the question, can anyone
see good reasons for us *not* to respond? Just to be clear, charities are
quite allowed to do things like this so long as lobbying doesn't become
their main purpose...)
If we are going to respond, who would be interested in helping work on our
response? Do you know other people who we should be working with or talking
to on issues like this?
Regards,
Chris
*Tuesday, January 17th, 6 p.m.* We plan to have a tour of the exhibition
for about an hour, guided by Joanna Fronska, one of the curators for the
exhibition, followed by a brief session to discuss who can do what,
before moving to a pub around 7.30. For a nice change, an event that
working stiffs can also attend!
If interested, please sign at the page
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/BL/Royal>. It may be
possible to have a second group, either on the same or another day.
There are only 10 places per group. If over-subscribed, priority may be
given to those with a record of participation in terms of writing
articles or other things, but please express your interest anyway. Hope
to see you there!
Johnbod
All,
Wikimedia UK are now accepting applications for the role of Events Organiser
- full details are on the wiki at
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Events_Organiser_job_description. Please spread
this as widely as you can, as we're keen to get the best candidates possible
applying for the position.
All the best,
Richard Symonds
Office Manager
Wikimedia UK
+44 7885 764 613
--
Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited, a Company Limited by
Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Our
Registered Charity No. is 1144513. The Registered Office is 4th Floor,
Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT.
Wikimedia UK is the local chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate
Wikipedia, amongst other projects). It is an independent non-profit
organization with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its
contents.
Visit <http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/> http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and
@wikimediauk
All,
Jon and the Board would like your input on our proposed open source policy.
This would cover the general IT policy of the office - broadly defining what
hardware/software we would be using as a chapter, and other IT-related
issues. The policy is at http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Open_source_policy:
we're really keen to have comments on this from WMUK members and supporters.
All the best,
Richard Symonds
Office Manager
Wikimedia UK
+44 7885 764 613
--
Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited, a Company Limited by
Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Our
Registered Charity No. is 1144513. The Registered Office is 4th Floor,
Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT.
Wikimedia UK is the local chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate
Wikipedia, amongst other projects). It is an independent non-profit
organization with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its
contents.
Visit <http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/> http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and
@wikimediauk