Dear all,
We are pleased to announce that Wikimedia UK are collaborating on two of
the five Discovery Projects funded through Towards a National Collection, a
five year research project being launched today.
Towards a National Collection is aiming to connect the UK’s cultural
artefacts and historical archives in new and transformative ways.
You will find more information on the projects and our involvement in this
blog <https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2021/09/towards-national-collection/>,
across our social media
<https://twitter.com/wikimediauk/status/1440250072432709640?s=20> and the
new Wikimedia UK website <https://wikimedia.org.uk/> which is now live.
Many thanks
Natasha
P.S those on social media, please do like and share our posts to amplify
our involvement in these exciting projects.
--
Natasha Iles MCIOF (Dip)
Head of Development & Communications
Wikimedia UK
<https://donate.wikimedia.org.uk/>
*Wikimedia UK <https://beta.wikimedia.org.uk/>* is the national chapter for
the global Wikimedia open knowledge movement.
Wikimedia UK is a Registered Charity No.1144513.Company Limited by
Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827.
Registered Office Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London
SE1 0NZ
<https://maps.google.com/?q=5+-+11+Lavington+Street,+London+SE1+0NZ&entry=gm…>
.
Hi all,
We're hosting a Sci-Hub Meetup in London next week and I thought
some people from here might be interested.
Shortly about Sci-Hub:
Sci-Hub is an online website that provides access to millions of
research papers. It is also illegal, because to properly get access to
these papers one needs to pay to the publishers. However, poor
countries and universities cannot afford to pay—and a large
percentage of this world research is public funded.
The meetup will take place at Newspeak House, 133-135 Bethnal
Green Road, E2 7DG on Thursday, September 23, 2021.
Google maps: https://goo.gl/maps/7PGNugeR6dPika6W8
Event page: https://scihublondon.org/meetup-1/
Sci-Hub has a large impact to researchers from all disciplines, students,
activists, copyright pirates, politicians, law people, and eventually the whole
of society. This is the reason that we expect people from various different
fields of interest to join.
This is also the reason that even if one feels they are from a completely
irrelevant area and are not sure if they should attend, the answer is
definitely yes! I’m pretty confident everyone can fit it and talk about
Sci-Hub.
In terms of agenda, there will be a short presentation about the latest
developments around Sci-Hub and then various discussions around
Sci-Hub, ethical concerns, social impact, et al.
Hope to see you there :)
Kind regards,
Theodore Keloglou
Hello everyone,
The International Council of Museums and Wikimedia Switzerland have started
an initiative to raise awareness of illegal trade of cultural heritage
artefacts and antiquities from Afghanistan.
They are asking people to share images and data, and write Wikipedia
articles about Afghanistan's cultural heritage. Further details, including
how to join, are on meta-wiki:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CH/Afghanistan_Antiquities_at_Risk
The threat to tangible heritage is very real and significant. The project
focuses on trafficking, but the situation in Afghanistan reminds me of a
BBC News piece from 2015 explaining why the so-called Islamic State were so
focused on destroying tangible cultural heritage in Syria:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34112593
These are more than just objects. Heritage sites and artefacts are seen as
a threat as they can be a focus for national identity. They were also
destroyed to provoke an emotional reaction. The factors involved in the
destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in 2001 are also relevant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamiyan#Destruction
While writing about Afghan's cultural heritage and the threats, or sharing
images, it is important to contextualise it with the human context where
possible: what these artefacts mean to the people of Afghanistan. I will be
striving to do that while editing. This project can play an important role
in sharing information and helping mitigate trafficking of antiquities, so
please do take some time to lend a hand.
Kind regards,
Richard Nevell
--
Dr Richard Nevell
Programme Coordinator and Connected Heritage Project Lead
<https://donate.wikimedia.org.uk/>
Wikimedia UK <https://beta.wikimedia.org.uk/> is the national chapter for
the global Wikimedia open knowledge movement.
Wikimedia UK is a Registered Charity No.1144513.Company Limited by
Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827.
Registered Office Ground Floor, Europoint, 5-11 Lavington Street, London
SE1 0NZ
<https://maps.google.com/?q=5+-+11+Lavington+Street,+London+SE1+0NZ&entry=gm…>
.
Dear all
I hope you are well, and managed to enjoy the summer despite the rather
mixed weather, in the UK at least.
I wanted to get in touch about the development of Wikimedia UK's next three
year strategy, and outline some ways in which contributors, volunteers and
members can help to shape our future direction.
The chapter is halfway through the third year of our current three year
strategy
<https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Wikimedia_UK_Strategy_2019%E2%80%9322>,
which runs from February 2019 to January 2022. You can see our recently
published progress report on the first half of this year here
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2020-2021_round_1/Wiki…>.
This autumn we will be developing our next strategy, which will cover the
period 1st February 2022 to 31st January 2025. The process will start this
month and finish with the formal sign-off of the new strategy at the March
board meeting. Key milestones along the way will include board and staff
away days, and the development of our annual funding proposal to the
Wikimedia Foundation. I'm also keen to ensure that the wider Wikimedia UK
community is able to contribute to the new strategy in a meaningful way. My
current thinking (although I am open to feedback!) is that this might
naturally fall into two key stages:
1. Gathering input and feedback from volunteers/stakeholders at an early
stage of the planning process, both through asynchronous contributions to
documents and an *online community meeting in late September/early October*
(date and time tbc)
2. Feedback on the draft strategic framework, both through asynchronous
contributions to documents and an *online or in person meeting in December *to
discuss the draft strategy and develop ideas for implementation/delivery
(date and time tbc)
I have an idea that the December meeting could be combined with a little
festive gathering, probably in our offices in Southwark...but of course
this will depend on the appetite at the time for travelling into London and
gathering indoors.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about any of this,
please do get in touch. In the meantime I will share details of the
upcoming community discussion ASAP. If anyone is interested in helping to
organise or facilitate this, please let me know!
With very best wishes
Lucy
--
Lucy Crompton-Reid
Chief Executive
"C of E laser scanning project and free website to make ‘huge
difference’ to family history researchers"
"Funding for the programme has come from Historic England, the
National Lottery Heritage Fund and Caring for God’s Acre, a charity
which helps care for burial grounds, and genealogy research websites."
It is to be hoped that NLHF's new requirement, that the results of
what they fund be released under open licence, will apply, and that no
exemption to that has been granted.
--
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
