Planet Wikimedia

Wikipedians on their way to the editathon

The history of the World War One inevitably attracts a great deal of attention and interest, especially on Wikipedia. That’s why Wikimedia UK and JISC teamed up for our first WWI edit-a-thon at the British Library last month.

The editathon brought together academic experts and editors of Wikipedia (Wikipedians) to create and improve Wikipedia articles on WWI. The aim of the event was to increase coverage and make the information as accurate, consistent, wide-ranging and up-to-date as possible, as well as building bridges between Wikipedian and academic communities.

The Wikipedia page about World War One attracts approximately 7.3 million page views per year – 597,945 for the month of June 2012 alone. Other key articles attract impressive numbers of readers, such as the Treaty of Versailles (114,190, ~1.4m/year) and the Battle of the Somme (56,071, ~680k/year).

JISC note in their blog post about the event: “With so many students and researchers increasingly using Wikipedia to, at the very least, inform further research, the need for improved accuracy is a pressing issue.”

The event resulted in 33 new or improved articles. This was just a start, as the process raised a debate about the content itself and the wider issue of academic engagement with Wikipedia and its educational and research benefits.

Chris Keating, Wikimedia UK trustee and World War One project lead, said:

“When the centenary of World War One begins in just two years’ time, hundreds of thousands of people will use Wikipedia’s coverage of the war as the beginning of their personal journeys of commemoration and remembrance. It’s important that Wikipedia’s coverage of the subject is as good as possible.”

“I’m very pleased that we are working with JISC on this project. Both the academic community and the volunteers who edit Wikipedia are in their own ways absolutely committed to the pursuit of knowledge. Bringing the two communities together can help demystify Wikipedia to people who work in higher education, while helping improve Wikipedia articles which form a lasting resource for students at all levels.”

As successful as the event was, it’s just a beginning. The legacy of this event is more than accurate content on a key topic – which in itself shouldn’t be under-estimated – but wider academic engagement with Wikipedia, which can establish a model for the future.

JISC is the UK technology consortium for education and research providing leadership, advice and guidance. For more information visit www.jisc.ac.uk and view more resources put online by JISC at www.jisc-content.ac.uk/explore-themes. For media enquiries please contact press@jisc.ac.uk

• Show all the text as text and not as graphics
• Allow for the Arabic text to be shown in fonts representing different writing styles
• Allow for the explanations to be shown in a language that can be selected

How I wish this announcement came in time for Hallowe’en!

The latest institution to benefit from QRpedia is Washington D.C.’s Congressional Cemetery.

Here’s the coverage from a local news channel.

The cemetary is 205 years old and is now the world’s largest outdoor encyclopedia of American history.

You can see photos of some of the codes over on Wikimedia Commons, including J Edgar Hoover, John Philip Sousa and many other distinguished “residents”.

Massive thanks to Peter Ekman for all his hard work and to the staff of the Congressional Cemetary for agreeing to take part in this project.

So I’ve been in Washington, D.C for the past few days for Wikimania 2012. I’ve never been to a Wikimania before so it’s been really interesting and exciting.

It all began on Thursday evening at the Library of Congress. I was told that it was meant to represent all the world’s knowledge and it did that pretty well; the intricate paintwork and marble that covered the roof and walls brought a brightness to the old building. There was a small music group (2 violins, double bass, accordian) playing and a seemingly bottomless supply of food brought out by bow tie-wearing waiters and waitresses. I got to chat to loads of cool people (some Wikimedia-y, some not) and eat some good food.

Thursday, the first day of the main conference began with Mary Gardiner’s keynote. She made several good points about editor retention and increased participation (hopefully I’ll have a blogpost vaguely related to this, soon). Jimmy’s “State of the Wiki” presentation included some of his choice fundraiser banner parodies and gave out his now-annual “Wikipedian of the Year” and “WMF employee of the year” awards.

There were loads of good talks on various topics. The only problem I’ve noticed with the conference is a lack of chairs in the non-theatre rooms.

In the evening, I went to a GLAM networking event at the Newseum. I started talking to some men from the Library of Congress but I got confused when they started debating the difference between modern and contemporary art. Apparently the early 20th century is modern and since then is contemporary. I don’t even… what?

Jonathan Morgan draws a dinosaur on his badge during Wikimania 2012.

There were more good talks on Friday and at the end I headed over to the Wikia metup for free Pizza and T-shirts (W00t).

Saturday began with an opening plenary from Sue Gardner. She talked about the decline in editors and touched on the feedback dashboard (which is occasionally much lulz).

After our “WikiMen’s lunch” (because the women were all elsewhere) I headed over to finish off preparing for a QRpedia workshop that I had been co-opted to help out with. I had fun sharing what I knew about QRpedia with those there and live-tweeting the session from the @QRpedia Twitter account (which you should definitely go and follow if you don’t already)

From what some of the attendees said we can expect some great new QRpedia installations soon.

I’m off now to the closing party at Buffalo Billiards. I’ll see anyone who’s going there and hopefully everyone else at a Wikimedia event soon!

Wikimania 2012 has now concluded. Following a week of pure exhilaration that drew to a close on the afternoon of July 15, the 1,400 attendees from 87 countries turned off their laptops and exited the George Washington University Marvin Center one last time.

The theme for Wikimania 2012 was “Explore. Engage. Empower.” It was borne out of the organizers’ hope that those coming to Wikimania, whether from close or far away, used this great opportunity to explore new and exciting possibilities, engaged in active discussions and dialogue, and took what was learned here back with them in order to continue to empower people around the world through free access to global knowledge.

Roberta Shaffer, Associate Librarian of Congress for Library Services, welcomes guests to the Google Opening Reception (Alejandro Linares Garcia, CC BY-SA 3.0)

With support from sponsors and partners, over 700 people attended the Google Opening Reception at the Library of Congress, where the newest Wikipedian in Residence position was announced; more than 1,200 participated in the opening ceremony, which featured keynote speeches from the Ada Initiative co-founder Mary Gardiner and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales; and our community heard over 275 speakers, many of whom are already active contributors to Wikimedia projects, including the Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, Sue Gardner, and the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. In addition, we met and talked with the more than 200 participants at Tech@State: Wiki.Gov, and Richard Boly of the State Department’s Office of eDiplomacy shared a letter from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulating attendees on the opening of Wikimania  2012 and Tech@State.

Over the course of 5 days, our 1,400 attendees consumed 3,791 lunches, enjoyed 5,424 cups of coffee, and visited nearly every museum and monument in the Washington metropolitan area (although a citation might be needed).  On these explorations, our local Washington, DC, highlights were photographed and many are newly included in Wikimedia Commons, a database of freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.

One person in our community who is a great supporter of Wikipedia, to the surprise of some of our guests, is David Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States.  In his remarks at the closing ceremony on Saturday, Ferriero discussed the important role that Wikipedia and Wikimedia Projects have for preserving history and documenting cultural heritage. After reminding the audience that the National Archives has contributed more than 120,000 digital files and pictures to Wikimedia Commons, he told the crowd, “if Wikipedia is good enough for the Archivist of the United States, then it’s good enough for you.”

“David Ferriero’s closing plenary illustrated just how inspiring the Wikipedia community can be for institutions and governments looking to become more open and transparent,” said Lori Byrd Phillips, US Cultural Partnerships Coordinator for the Wikimedia Foundation. “What was the most inspirational for me was the respect and appreciation shown by the Wikipedia community during the standing ovation for Mr. Ferriero. I’ve known that the Archivist of the United States loves Wikipedia, but last week I was reminded that the Wikipedia community returns that love to those who advocate for the movement.”

David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, speaks at the Wikimania 2012 Closing Ceremony (Sebastian Wallroth, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Kat Walsh, the newly elected Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, returned the love to the organizers and volunteers of Wikimania 2012, recognizing the contributions they made to the overall experience.

“The organizing team did an amazing job putting on the largest Wikimania ever,” Walsh said, “bringing together people from all of the various parts of our movement around the globe and presenting a full program of talks, tours, and workshops. My congratulations and thanks for the great work they’ve done.”

Wikimania 2012 attendees at a Teahouse Meetup (Doctree, CC0 1.0)

The Wikimania 2012 organizing committee would also like to thank our amazing volunteers. Wikimedia DC, the organizer of the conference, has no paid staff, except for an amazing intern, and the Wikimania organizing staff included only one paid event planner, Julie Perlmutter, who did an excellent job handling all of the conference logistics. Everything else was planned by a group of dedicated international volunteers who donated their time and skills to ensure that all attendees had a wonderful and enriching experience. Wikimania would not have happened without the work of this amazing group of people.

Although not everyone on our great team is listed below, you can identify and applaud volunteers on Wikipedia through the Wikimania Barnstar. We encourage you to award one to those people who did something special, whether or not they formally volunteered!

Thanks for visiting us in Washington, DC.  We hope to see you next year in Hong Kong for Wikimania 2013!

With sincere gratitude,

James Hare and Nicholas Michael Bashour

The Wikimania 2012 Organizing Committee

James Hare – Wikimania Coordinator
Nicholas Michael Bashour – Wikimania Deputy Coordinator
Katie Filbert – Technical Coordinator
Tiffany Smith – Program Chair
Orsolya Virág – Deputy Program Chair
Deror Lin – Deputy Program Chair
Sage Ross and Jessie Wild – Scholarships Coordinators
Chad Horohoe – Registration Coordinator
Danny B. – Volunteers Coordinator
Lisa Marrs – Information Desk Maven

Copyright notice: images are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license or the  Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication, as noted.

Over the past few days I’ve been busy upgrading the parser built into TranslateSvg, such that ~87% of all SVG files with strings in them can now be translated — up from ~75% before the upgrade.

More importantly, the parser is now of a kind that could support up to 100%, whereas the old one was effectively tied to 75%.

Wikimania 2012 has come to an end. A week of pure exhilaration, excitement, energy, and elation drew to a close on the afternoon of July 15, as the remaining attendees turned off their laptops and exited the George Washington University Marvin Center one last time. For some, this had been a chance to see old friends. For all, it was an opportunity to meet new ones.

Being at Wikimania, and particularly being here in Washington, DC, provided a great opportunity for open culture and free knowledge enthusiasts to share their passion with the world. For Wikimedia District of Columbia, Wikimania had been about exploring new and exciting possibilities, engaging in active discussions and dialogue, and taking what was learned here back so that we can continue the work to empower people around the world through free access to global knowledge. That is why we chose “Explore. Engage. Empower.” as the theme for Wikimania 2012. And over the course of the past week, the more than 1,400 people from 87 countries who had participated in Wikimania 2012 and its associated events did just that.

Roberta Shaffer, Associate Librarian of Congress for Library Services, welcomes guests to the Google Opening Reception (Alejandro Linares Garcia, CC BY-SA 3.0)

With support from our sponsors and partners, over 700 people attended our opening reception at the Library of Congress, where the newest Wikipedian in Residence position was announced; more than 1200 participated in the opening ceremony, which featured keynote speeches from the Ada Initiative co-founder Mary Gardiner and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales; and our community heard over 275 speakers, many of whom are already active contributors to Wikimedia projects, including the Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, Sue Gardner, and the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. In addition, we met and talked with the more than 200 participants at Tech@State: Wiki.Gov, and Richard Boly of the State Department’s Office of eDiplomacy shared a letter from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulating attendees on the opening of Wikimania  2012 and Tech @ State. Over the course of 5 days, our 1,400 attendees consumed 3,791 lunches, enjoyed 5,424 cups of coffee, and visited nearly every museum and monument in the Washington metropolitan area (although a citation might be needed).  On these explorations, our local Washington, DC, highlights were photographed and many are newly included in Wikimedia Commons, a database of freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.

Mary Gardiner speaking at the Wikimania 2012 Opening Ceremony (Helpameout, CC BY-SA 3.0)

One person in our community, to the surprise of some of our guests, is David Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States.  In his remarks at the closing ceremony on Saturday, Ferriero discussed the important role that Wikipedia and Wikimedia Projects have for preserving history and documenting cultural heritage. After reminding the audience that the National Archives has contributed more than 120,000 digital files and pictures to Wikimedia Commons, he told the crowd, “…if Wikipedia is good enough for the Archivist of the United States, then it’s good enough for you.”

Lori Byrd Phillips, US Cultural Partnerships Coordinator for the Wikimedia Foundation, reflected on the event, stating that “David Ferriero’s closing plenary illustrated just how inspiring the Wikipedia community can be for institutions and governments looking to become more open and transparent. Though, what was the most inspirational for me was the respect and appreciation shown by the Wikipedia community during the standing ovation for Mr. Ferriero. I’ve known that the Archivist of the United States loves Wikipedia, but last week I was reminded that the Wikipedia community returns that love to those who advocate for the movement.”

David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, speaks at the Wikimania 2012 Closing Ceremony (Sebastian Wallroth, CC BY-SA 3.0)

We at Wikimedia DC would like to also return the love and thank our wonderful partners, collaborators, sponsors, and, especially, volunteers. Wikimania is an event that is put on largely by a group of dedicated international volunteers who donate their time and skills to ensure that all attendees have a wonderful and enriching experience. Wikimania would not have happened without the remarkable work of this amazing group of people. Kat Walsh, the newly elected Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, recognized the contributions that the conference organizers and volunteers made to the overall experience, stating that “The organizing team did an amazing job putting on the largest Wikimania ever, bringing together people from all of the various parts of our movement around the globe and presenting a full program of talks, tours, and workshops. My congratulations and thanks for the great work they’ve done.”

We’re grateful to Kat for her leadership, and we also appreciate our participants’ leadership going forward to make the great ideas shared a reality.  We, as diverse individuals and as a community, had the chance over this past week to explore many ideas and engage in lots of discussions during our conference.  We have aspirational goals, and we know that will see many positive outcomes from Wikimania 2012 in the months and years ahead.

Wikimania 2012 attendees at a Teahouse Meetup (Doctree, CC0 1.0)

Wikimedia DC strives to put on events in support of free global knowledge, and our journey has only begun with Wikimania. If you live in the District, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, or Delaware, we invite you to become a member and join our Meetup group. Even if you’re outside our area, you can still donate to help support Wikimedia DC’s various programs, such as the Embassy Outreach Initiative, the upcoming Wiki Loves Monuments US, or our other various events and programs, such as edit-a-thons, LibraryLab, or the Wikipedia Campus Ambassador program.

In closing, we’d like to thank our amazing volunteers one more time. We really could not have done this without the help, advise, and support of many people. Although not everyone on our great team is listed below, you can identify and applaud volunteers on Wikipedia through the Wikimania Barnstar. We encourage you to award one to those people who did something special, whether or not they formally volunteered!

Thanks for visiting us in Washington, DC.  We hope to see you next year in Hong Kong for Wikimania 2013!

With sincere gratitude,

James Hare and Nicholas Michael Bashour

The Wikimania 2012 Organizing Committee

James Hare – Wikimania Coordinator
Nicholas Michael Bashour – Wikimania Deputy Coordinator
Katie Filbert – Technical Coordinator
Tiffany Smith – Program Chair
Orsolya Virág – Deputy Program Chair
Deror Lin – Deputy Program Chair
Sage Ross and Jessie Wild – Scholarships Coordinators
Chad Horohoe – Registration Coordinator
Danny B. – Volunteers Coordinator
Lisa Marrs – Information Desk Maven

Copyright notice: images are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license or the  Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication, as noted.

I had the pleasure of participating in Day 2 of the Wikipedia Weekly podcast last week during the Wikimania conference, along with Lori Byrd Phillips, and hosts Andrew Lih and James Forrester.

We discussed the GLAM Night Out party, working with Consumer Reports and Wikipedia, and extending the Wikipedian in Residence concept beyond GLAM, with examples including the Open Knowledge Foundation and OCLC. We also discussed several of the Friday sessions we had attended, and the Saturday sessions we were looking forward to.

Episode 91 (Wikipedia page)

Today, BBC News Magazine featured 12 Wikipedians, interviewed at the Wikimania 2012 conference, on the front page of its U.S. & Canada web site. Lane Rasberry, a Wikipedian I worked to bring to Consumer Reports, is among them:

Consumer Reports Wikipedian in Residence Lane Rasberry, featured on the BBC News Magazine.

Dr. James Heilman, the driving force behind WikiProject Medicine, is another:

Dr. James Heilman, featured on BBC News Magazine

On Tuesday, July 10, the Russian Wikipedia community made a decision to blackout their project for 24 hours to protest a piece of legislation before the Russian Duma. The legislation, which has since been passed (although with important amendments) could threaten the mission of the Wikimedia projects in Russia – to spread free knowledge globally. Websites that publish facts or deemed to be inappropriate could be blacklisted and blocked from operating in Russia.

Wikimedia Russia blogged (in Russian and English) about the blackout this week.
The volunteers of the Russian Wikipedia undertook this initiative independently from other language projects and from the Wikimedia Foundation, however many in the Wikimedia movement recognize that this legislation is similar to other bills being proposed or passed around the world that could hinder free speech and produce situations where governments could censor information. Non-censorship and freedom of speech are core values of the Wikimedia movement and the Wikimedia Foundation.

The efforts of the Russian Wikipedia blackout on July 10 appear to have made a difference in the ultimate shape of this legislation. Although our