Hi all,
My colleague, Eryk, alerted me to this thread (I'm subscribed now). I think I can shed a little light as to what's going on with Visiting Scholars.
For a brief introduction, I'm the Community Engagement Manager with the Wiki Education Foundation. My "official" username is User:Ryan_(Wiki_Ed) and my volunteer account is User:Rhododendrites.
Since the Wikipedia Library is growing rapidly and Wiki Ed wanted to dedicate time and resources to grow this program in particular, Wiki Ed will be running Visiting Scholars in the US and Canada. But that hand-off only just happened with the announcements this week, with five institutions already ready to go (see posts on the Wiki Ed blog http://wikiedu.org/blog/2015/07/13/visiting-scholars/ and WMF blog https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/07/13/wikipedians-as-visiting-scholars/), so I want to try to apologize in advance for what I'm sure will be a few hiccups/areas of confusion.
Pine, regarding why you weren't in the loop about UW: Though Jake or Alex could probably say more definitively, it looks like the person who signed up to supervise the position, Paul Constantine, was contacted by the OCLC representative working with the Wikipedia Library. She wouldn't likely have known how to find out if Wikipedians are there first. You may want to connect with Paul, but in the future I'd be more than happy to work with you. Since we work with so many universities at Wiki Ed, we're pretty committed to maintaining a database of people we can talk to about this or that at different institutions.
Then there's the implicit question of why no UW contact was listed for the UW position. I've centralized the application process to have them go through me rather than going directly to the institutional contacts. That way I can do some screening, looking for the kinds of things a non-Wikipedian would have difficulty determining. It's also because I'd like to do more recruitment in the other direction, reaching out to Wikipedians to apply even if there's no open position and/or having conversations with people who want access to research materials. If I'm managing the applications, I can better make those connections. So the reason the contact isn't there is because I wanted to avoid the confusion of having a second email address someone might accidentally send their resume to. Upon reflection, it probably would be a good idea to include the contact's name and maybe a link to their faculty/staff bio.
Sorry for the long message. If you have questions or comments about Visiting Scholars, please send an email or leave a message on my talk page.
Thanks!
Ryan
On Tue, Jul 14, 2015 at 2:37 PM, Eryk Salvaggio eryk@wikiedu.org wrote:
On Tue, Jul 14, 2015 at 8:12 AM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Lane, I wasn't aware that this position was planned at all. We have contacts at the UW libraries and at Wiki Ed but they seem to have planned this without us being in the loop. That said, I'm glad that UW and Wiki Ed arranged for this position. Pinging Jake and Sage to see of they will let us know the contact people for this position at UW and Wiki Ed, off-list if necessary.
Thanks, Pine On Jul 14, 2015 7:50 AM, "Lane Rasberry" lane@bluerasberry.com wrote:
Note the UW position- do we know this contact?
---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Jake Orlowitz jorlowitz@gmail.com Date: Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 5:28 PM Subject: [Wikimedia-l] 5 New Visiting Scholars Positions Open (now under Wiki Ed) To: wikimediaannounce-l@lists.wikimedia.org < wikimediaannounce-l@lists.wikimedia.org>,
wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
< wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
The Wikipedia Library https://enwp.org/wiki/WP:TWL is pleased to announce five new Wikipedia Visiting Scholars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:VS positions with US and Canadian universities and research organizations as part of
an
program expansion.
Visiting Scholars are remote, unpaid Wikipedia editors who become affiliated with top research libraries. They receive full access to the partner library’s e-resources to expand topics of institutional interest which also need development on Wikipedia. This marks the second
successful
round of institutions participating in the program http://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/03/17/wikipedia-research-library/.
These new positions will be coordinated and managed by the Wikipedia Library’s movement partner, the Wiki Education Foundation https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Education_Foundation (Wiki Ed). Wiki Ed will process applications, connect to schools, and drive the growth
of
the program in the North American region. They are in an excellent
position
to help expand Visiting Scholars because of their extensive existing connections to universities and desire to support Wikipedia’s best
content
creators.
We invite Wikipedia editors who specialize in content creation, and
would
like access to a full research library, to apply for these new unpaid, remote affiliate positions at the following research libraries:
- *McMaster University
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMaster_University* is a public university in Hamilton, Ontario https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton,_Ontario, Canada. The library’s holdings in their Division of Research Collections and Archives
contain
many valuable and unique resources, with emphases in areas such as
peace
and war (with a particular emphasis on the Holocaust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust and resistance), Bertrand Russell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell, Canadian literature and popular culture.
- *DePaul University <
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DePaul_University%3E*
is a private university in Chicago <
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago
,
Illinois. The library is looking for Wikipedians who can focus on Chicago history, Catholic social justice studies, and/or Vincentian Studies (including French history during the Napoleonic Era https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Era).
- *The Smithsonian Institution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smithsonian_Institution*, established in 1846 “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge,”
is a
group of museums and research centers administered by the Government
of
the United States. The Warren M. Robbins Library of the National Museum
of
African Art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_African_Art is looking for a Wikipedian in Residence that can focus on modern
African
art and artists.
- *The University of Pittsburgh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Pittsburgh* (PITT) is
a
state-related research university in Pittsburgh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This
Visiting
Scholar position will work with PITT’s Archives Service Center,
Special
Collections and Center for American Music to focus on: Pittsburgh and Pennsylvanian history including urban renewal in Pittsburgh,
childhood
in the industrial era of Pittsburgh, music composers of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh theater or significant literary figures from Pittsburgh; Colonial American history; historic American songs; or philosophy of science.
- *The University of Washington
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Washington* (UW), commonly referred to as Washington or, informally, UDub, is a public research university in Seattle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle, Washington. This Visiting Scholar position will work with UW’s
Special
Collections and focus on labor and the working classes in the Pacific Northwest, all aspects of Pacific Northwest history and literature,
and
Pacific Northwest architecture.
Full application information is available at the Wiki Education
Foundation
signup page http://wikiedu.org/visitingscholars/apply/.< http://wikiedu.org/visitingscholars/apply/%3E
Wiki Ed also invites editors to apply for a Visiting Scholar placement pool. The pool will help grow the Visiting Scholar program by creating a list of willing and interested candidates to offer to new partner libraries. With the interests and needs of pre-qualified Wikipedians in hand, Wiki Ed can work to find libraries that match your interests.
Access to research libraries as part of one of these visiting scholar positions creates considerable opportunities for Wikipedia editors. It allows them access to services and tools, including multiple paywalled databases, integrated search and discovery tools, research collections
and
recommendations from specialist librarians, and expert consultation. In return, editors can begin a conversation with the library, which creates opportunities for greater understanding and communication between these universities and the wider Wikipedia community.
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