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[[File:Summer 2023 newsletter header.png|alt=Photo of yellow buttercups against green grass in the sunshine|center|frame|File:Henllys Buttercups.jpg by WelshDave CC BY-SA 4.0]]
[[File:Friend's Newsletter winter 2023.png|alt=Text reading: Wikimedia UK, winter 2023 newsletter, thank you for your support this year on a green, red, and orange background featuring flora and fauna illustrations from Wikimedia Commons|center|frame|Collage of images from Wikimedia Commons, filenames in the description of this page - [[:File:Giving Tuesday 2023.png]]]]


== Welcome to the spring/summer 2023 newsletter ==
== Welcome to the winter 2024 newsletter ==
Welcome to Wikimedia UK’s summer newsletter. While the weather hasn’t been what you’d expect it to be at this time of year - at least here in the UK - there are plenty of good things going on in the charity. I hope you enjoy reading about some of these activities - from our involvement in Wiki Loves Earth, through to our advocacy around the Online Safety Bill. Last month, we launched a new publication, [[commons:File:Wikimedia_and_Democracy_-_Wikimedia_UK_report_2021_(full_report).pdf|Wikimedia and Democracy]], which highlights the impact of our work on information literacy and active citizenship. And if you didn’t catch it in our last newsletter, please do have a look at our [https://2022strategicreport.wikimedia.org.uk/?_gl=1*15lkvl3*_ga*MTc3NDAyMzI2Mi4xNjY2NjEzMjU3*_ga_HC8K1E60XT*MTY4MDI2MzQ5MS45MC4wLjE2ODAyNjM0OTEuMC4wLjA.*_ga_39J3EQWPXC*MTY4MDI2MzQ5MS41Ny4wLjE2ODAyNjM0OTEuMC4wLjA.&_ga=2.9895926.233472741.1680180989-1774023262.1666613257 Strategic Report for 2022/23]. It’s a great snapshot of the work we’ve been doing over the last year, with videos, case studies and statistics, and it’s beautifully illustrated with images from Wikimedia Commons.
Season's Greetings and welcome to the last newsletter of 2024! As I'm wrapped up in the festivities of the season I'm once again impressed by the incredible portfolio of work from our volunteers and staff this year.


I’m delighted to share that our Director of Programmes and Evaluation, Daria Cybulska, has recently secured two Fellowships, both of which connect to Wikimedia UK and our work in information literacy and citizen activism. Next summer, Daria will be exploring different approaches and tools for safe and effective online activism, through the highly regarded Churchill Fellowship. Meanwhile, during the 2023/24 academic year Daria will be a Storytelling Fellow at the University of the Arts, London, with a focus on information literacy.
In September we moved into our new office at the British Library. The vibrant environment of the Library has already fostered our staff's creativity and innovation, while being a strategic location to enable better connection with partners, volunteers, and the public.


Whilst our partnership activities tend to be a bit quieter over the summer, the Wikimedia movement never sleeps, and several of our team (including myself) will be giving presentations at the annual Wikimania conference. Whilst Covid brought about changes in our programme that we want to retain, particularly in terms of remote participation, I’m personally looking forward to reconnecting with Wikimedians from around the world at the first in-person Wikimania since 2019.
Earlier in the autumn we were delighted to welcome two new trustees to our board, following the election at our 2024 AGM. Andrew Russell brings substantial experience in public affairs while Monica Westin is a keen Wikimedian with a professional background in knowledge information.  


Lucy Crompton-Reid
Congratulations to Fran Allfrey, Wikimedia UK’s Wikimedian of the Year for 2024, along with GLAM-E Lab who received the Partnership of the Year award, and Perigrinate Avellana, our Up and Coming Wikimedian of the Year. You can read more about the awards and the nominees [[UK Wikimedian of the Year 2024|here]].


Chief Executive
Finally, you may have seen our ''[https://wikimedia.org.uk/home/education/ Education through Wikimedia]'' campaign to boost our work in secondary schools. Education is at the heart of our work as the national charity for open knowledge, and we believe that equipping the next generation with essential information literacy and digital skills is crucial for their success in an increasingly complex digital world. This is why we are launching a dedicated campaign aimed at secondary school students, focusing on developing these fundamental abilities.
[[File:Community Celebration 2024.png|thumb|Wikimedia UK community celebration]]


== Wikimania 2023 ==
== Community Celebration 2024 ==
[[File:Wikimania 2023 Singapore Banner logo.svg|alt=Wikimania 2023 Singapore Banner logo with illustration of flowers around it|thumb|Wikimania 2023 Singapore Banner logo]]
In November we hosted our 2024 Community Celebration. It was a chance for our community to gather online, share and celebrate the work that’s taken place over the last year and recognise that work through the UK Wikimedian of the Year awards and celebrate the winners of the Wiki Loves Earth competition.
We have a few staff members giving talks and presentations at Wikimania 2023. Dr Sara Thomas will be presenting a session on how to build a [[wmania:2023:Program/Submissions/Building_capacity:_designing_a_train_the_trainer_programme_for_your_affiliate_or_community_group_-_BLLNMH|Train the Trainer]] programme, drawing on Wikimedia UK’s experience of running regular Train the Trainer courses. This hands-on workshop is designed to give you a framework for building a Train the Trainer programme in your own affiliate or community group.


Lucy Crompton-Reid and Tatjana Baleta will be doing a [[wmania:2023:Program/Submissions/Sharing_insights_from_the_UK's_first_residency_for_Climate_-_Q9UM3G|Climate]] talk. This session will focus on the work of the Wikimedia Visiting Fellow at the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute, Tatjana Baleta, appointed by Wikimedia UK in October 2022. Tatjana and Lucy will share some of the key insights from this project, which represents Wikimedia UK's first Wikimedian in Residence for our strategic theme of Climate & Environment.
It was heartening seeing so many of our community at the celebration. There were around 40 community members, attending from all over the UK. With the event being online in the midst of Storm Bert raging, it meant that people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend were able to do so.


Daria Cybulska will talk about the grant-funded project with the Sheila McKechnie Foundation, '[[wmania:2023:Program/Submissions/Changemaker's_toolbox_-_brainstorming_introductory_resources_to_campaigning_and_advocacy_-_AFCAKW|Changemakers toolbox]]'. This workshop is to present, gather feedback on, and build engagement for a suite of introductory materials about changemaking, advocacy, and campaigning. This addresses a skills development content gap in the 2030 implementation strategy. These materials, sitting within a portal space on Meta, could then be used by Wikimedia communities globally to facilitate their thinking on how Wikipedia can be used for change, and to build their introductory skills in advocacy. Advocacy here is thought about broadly, not just in terms of copyright lobbying, but in all areas of change making that Wikimedia has potential for.
We had a series of short talks which can be watched in this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hf31R8QPKQ&list=PL66MRMNlLyR694Vod7X2MWHCZhb-WSG-m&index=1 playlist].


There’s plenty of other sessions at Wikimania, some of which are only available to those attending in person such as the Wikimania Hackathon running from the 15th-19th August. The Hackathon will feature a Newcomer Track with introductory sessions and workshops, and an Unconference Track with breakout rooms for sessions identified during the event. A main hacking space will be available throughout the event for collaborative work.
Jason Evans, Open Data Manager and National Wikimedian at the National Library of Wales told us about AI, Placenames and Time Machine experiments at the National Library of Wales.  


== Wiki Loves Earth ==
Dr Kirsty Ross from the University of St Andrews, who is also one of the co-founders of the IDEA network told us about how Scottish Brick History (SBH), Wikimedia UK, and researchers from the School of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews collaborated to get a unique dataset about Scotland’s brickworks onto Wikidata, and built web visualisations to showcase the work.
[[File:Three Cliffs Bay, Gower.jpg|alt=Photo of Three Cliffs Bay, Gower at sunrise|thumb|Three Cliffs Bay, Gower]]
Northern Ireland and Wales have been taking part in the 2023 Wiki Loves Earth competition. Wiki Loves Earth is an annual competition for photographers to enter pictures of the natural world in participating countries. By photographing Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty etc. we can raise awareness for the need to protect the flora and fauna of these areas. Future snapshots could be used to show the differences in the biosphere and the impact of climate change. If Wikipedia could better illustrate this change, we could help negate the effect.


There’s still time to enter the competition before the deadline of the 31st July if you have not yet done so. You can submit your photographs for Wales [[commons:Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2023_in_Wales|here]], and for Northern Ireland [[commons:Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2023_in_Northern_Ireland|here]].
Lucy Moore, a Wikimedian based in Leeds, and who won UK Wikimedian of the year 2022 told us about her Wiki Year!


== Wiki Loves Monuments ==
Nick Sheppard, Open Research Adviser based at the University of Leeds Libraries told us about his journey from his first tentative edit in 2017 (flagged as spam) to becoming a committed advocate for Wikimedia in Universities.
Hot on the heels of Wiki Loves Earth, we turn our attention to Wiki Loves Monuments. The photography competition themed around historic sites will return on 1st September and run throughout the month. Through the competition we aim to improve our visual record of heritage sites in the UK. You can take part by submitting your photographs to the competition. Full details, along with what sites are eligible, are on the [https://www.wikilovesmonuments.org.uk/ competition website].


Whether you’re shaping a snapshot of a local historic building or making a trip especially to take the perfect photo in the right light, photographers of all skill levels are welcome to take part. Photographs don’t have to be taken in September, so you can get a head start and organise your photos now and check out what places are [https://www.wikilovesmonuments.org.uk/eligible-buildings eligible subjects].
Jonathan Deamer from Liverpool, who describes himself as a Wikimedia hobbyist, told us about attending his first Wikimania in Katowice in Poland this year. He shared with us his highlights from the event and how these have had a tangible impact on his daily editing.


If you would like to organise a photo walk in your area, please contact richard.nevell@wikimedia.org.uk for support.
Joanne Forster-Martin, a student at the University of Oxford, and who we met at our recent Train the Trainer weekend told us about the Wiki Women in Red project to uncover the hidden female figures of Jesus College, Oxford.  


== UK Online Safety Bill ==
Adam Harangzo, Wikipedian in Residence at the National Institute for Health and Care Research talked to us about his experience of working with researchers in an impactful way where they contribute to Wikipedia without directly editing it.
The UK’s Online Safety Bill (OSB) addresses important safety issues to protect children and adults online. However, in its current state, the Bill unduly threatens the survival and welfare of projects that prioritise the public interest over profits. The Bill neglects to protect free knowledge, privacy, freedom of speech, and the strength of civic society in the UK.
[[File:View of the Kings Library, British Library.jpg|thumb|View of the Kings Library, British Library, by Mike Peel]]


In an attempt to weed out the worst parts of the internet, the OSB jeopardises the best parts of the internet. So, we are calling on the UK Government and Parliament to exempt public interest projects from the OSB.
== Wikimedia UK moves into new offices at the British Library ==
Wikimedia UK is excited to announce our relocation to new offices at the prestigious British Library. The new office space will provide a vibrant environment that fosters creativity and innovation, allowing our team to work flexibly and collaboratively with a wealth of resources and opportunities available at one of the world’s largest libraries. This strategic location will enable us to better connect with partners, volunteers, and the public. Staff will continue to work remotely and occasionally come into the office, ensuring we adapt to the evolving needs of our team and the communities we serve.


As it is currently written, the Online Safety Bill could require the Wikimedia Foundation to collect data about Wikipedia users’ identities, track their actions, intervene in their editing processes, and interfere with their ability to set and enforce rules for what constitutes well-sourced neutral content about a given subject. Such requirements are counter to Wikipedia’s editorial guidelines and policies, as well as its privacy policy. In short, the requirements would jeopardise volunteers’ ability to contribute to the website and offer linguistically relevant cultural and educational content — including information that reflects and serves the lives and experiences of minorities and historically marginalised groups.
Wikimedia UK Chief Executive Lucy Crompton-Reid, says: ''“We are looking forward to our new office space within the British Library after a year of being fully remote.”'' As the national charity for the global Wikimedia open knowledge movement, there are lots of areas of shared interest with the Library. Director of Science and Innovation, Maja Maricevic, adds ''“We are delighted to welcome Wikimedia UK. Over years we have regularly collaborated with Wikimedia UK and hosted Wikimedians-in-Residence, so are delighted with an opportunity with an even closer proximity to an organisation that we have the existing close links with and share the common vision to open access to knowledge.”''


We have written a blog about the risks the bill poses to public interest projects, which you can read [https://medium.com/freely-sharing-the-sum-of-all-knowledge/protect-the-future-of-wikipedia-in-the-uk-9c1bbc5d039a here]. You can also see a list of [https://wikimedia.org.uk/2023/06/frequently-asked-questions/ FAQs], read the open letter and, if you have not already, sign it [https://wikimedia.org.uk/2023/06/online-safety-bill-open-letter/ here].
== New trustees at the Wikimedia UK AGM ==
Following a successful AGM we’re very pleased to share that '''Andrew Russell''' and '''Monica Westin''' have joined Wikimedia UK's board of trustees. We’re also delighted that '''Caroline Ball''' was re-elected for a second three year term. You can read their candidate statements [https://eu-west-1.protection.sophos.com/?d=wikimedia.org.uk&u=aHR0cHM6Ly93aWtpbWVkaWEub3JnLnVrL3dpa2kvMjAyNF9Bbm51YWxfR2VuZXJhbF9NZWV0aW5nL0NhbmRpZGF0ZV9TdGF0ZW1lbnRz&i=NjVhZmE0ZjY3MDExZmY1Y2Q3NDE3Yjc3&t=elRCdDZpbjBKZERlRXJtcmdSNEdYais5SDVWTWluOE9HV0pXV3lyYndMTT0=&h=2661eaa127054042af9ffe8ba157c4b0&s=AVNPUEhUT0NFTkNSWVBUSVZaFAaacHBa1XXlgRscq_crzoGlUi68xQtfbYwMm-_cdbNaheb163x6NaWPPdLeY2s here] if you’d like to find out more about them.


== Wikimedia UK’s 2023 AGM: election results ==
On Saturday we also said thank you, but hopefully not goodbye, to outgoing trustees '''Julian Manieson''' and '''Rod Ward'''.
Many thanks to those of you who attended Wikimedia UK's AGM. For those who weren't there, we’re pleased to report that Sammy Tarling was elected to the Board of Trustees. Sammy is a long standing Wikimedian, having served as a functionary on the English Wikipedia and globally across the Wikimedia projects as a Steward until late 2022. Sammy has worked as a software engineer on the Community Tech team at the Wikimedia Foundation since early last year, and has experience as a company director.


Sammy replaces Kelly Foster as an elected trustee. Our thanks to Kelly were recorded at the AGM and we would like to reiterate them here. Kelly has served a three year term as a trustee, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience of the global Wikimedia movement. Whilst she is stepping down from the board, she has agreed to remain on the Community Development Committee as an independent member. We are very grateful to continue to benefit from Kelly’s insights and networks in this capacity.
Many thanks to all those who attended the AGM, or who submitted a proxy vote.
[[File:Brixton Library Black History Month editathon presentation.jpg|alt=A photograph of Stuart Prior delivering a presentation to a room of volunteer editors at Brixton Library|thumb|Programme Coordinator, Stuart Prior, delivering Wiki editing training at the Brixton Library Black History Month meetup]]


All the ordinary board resolutions were passed, and the minutes from the 2022 meeting were approved.
== Brixton Library Black History Month editathon ==
Brixton Library’s monthly Wikipedia meetups show participants how to contribute to the encyclopaedia. For the October meetup, the event focused on learning about and contributing to the recording of Black history. We wrote about and enhanced articles about Black people, history and society. Participants used the session to explore Brixton Library’s Black Interest book collections, the library service’s online subscriptions to packages like the British Newspaper Archive and Who’s Who and much more. We also looked at Wikimedia Commons and how you can use photographs and images.


This is just a reminder that if you want to be able to vote at future AGMs, please sign up for membership [[Membership|here]]. At the recent meeting, members voted to keep the membership fee at just £5 a year for individuals, although we always welcome additional donations!
== 100 Days 100 Edits for climate (GSI) ==
The University of Exeter’s resident for climate and the environment, Tatjana Baleta, recruited 31 researchers from 11 different institutions to cumulatively propose 100 edits to 35 articles over 100 days. As of the 10th of November 2024, these articles have been viewed over ~662,000 times.


== Wikimedia and Democracy ==
''"Through this 100-day campaign, I upped my normal Wikipedia editing, highlighted how unprecedented CO₂ levels are over millions of years, and dispelled two common myths about global warming: that humans are only "mainly" responsible, and that further warming stops when emissions stabilize, rather than when they reach net zero.”''
[[File:Wikimedia and Democracy - Wikimedia UK report 2021 (summary brochure).pdf|thumb|Wikimedia and Democracy - Wikimedia UK report]]
Wikimedia UK has long believed that our workshops and training sessions make a difference in empowering people – by building their information literacy skills, providing an opportunity to collaborate, and capturing their heritage. In 2021, together with Agnes Bruszik, a research colleague, our Director of Programmes and Evaluation Daria Cybulska undertook a critical investigation into how engaging with Wikimedia projects contributes to the strengthening of civil society and democratic processes in the UK.


The main inquiry was to understand how improving information literacy skills contributes to Wikimedia UK’s vision of a more tolerant, informed and democratic society. Does our work increase participants’ information literacy, and does this in turn lead to a more engaged civil society?
– Dr Femke Njisse, University of Exeter (edited Grid storage and Climate change)


Ultimately, we found that working on Wikimedia UK projects can facilitate a spirit of working towards a common good, aka free knowledge for all. It also enables cooperation with others and activism, which in the long run encourages an empowered civil society. This we believe can go a long way towards realising Wikimedia UK’s vision of a more informed, democratic and equitable society.
''“Promoting widespread scientific literacy is a key issue in addressing anthropogenic climate change, environmental degradation and injustice. Platforms like Wikipedia provide an excellent opportunity to disseminate scientific information to an extended audience, where this information is otherwise often only accessible by academics in the global north. I hope that my contribution to the campaign can help bring greater clarity to a topic (i.e. biochar) that is often discussed in the context of climate change mitigation.”''


Daria delivered an online workshop on the findings of the report, with a curated Q&A facilitated by our trustee - and founder/director of Wise Kids, Sangeet Bhullar. You can read the report [[commons:File:Wikimedia_and_Democracy_-_Wikimedia_UK_report_2021_(full_report).pdf|here]], and watch a recording of the workshop [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0lsrZoPj6M&ab_channel=WikimediaUK here].
– Dr Oscar Kennedy-Blundell, University of Exeter (edited Biochar)
[[File:The Devils Pulpit.tif|thumb|The Devils Pulpit in Scotland, by Gaverlaa, This image won the 2<sup>nd</sup> prize in the national contest of '''Scotland''' in '''[[commons:Wiki Loves Earth 2024|Wiki Loves Earth 2024]]''']]


== Connected Heritage ==
== Wiki Loves Earth winners ==
In May the Connected Heritage team said farewell to Leah Emary as she took up a full-time post with the University of Sunderland. Since the project started in August 2021 Leah and Lucy Hinnie have been instrumental in advancing WMUK’s work with the cultural heritage sector.
Wiki Loves Earth is an annual photography competition themed around the natural world. This year Ireland, Scotland and Wales took part in the competition. Over 5000 photos were submitted of nature from across these three countries, helping to illustrate Wikimedia with the flora and fauna that is so at risk from climate change and human development. The winners have now been announced, see them for [[commons:Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2024_in_Scotland/Winners|Scotland]], [[commons:Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2024/Winners#Wales|Wales]], and [https://wikimedia.ie/2024/09/13/announcing-the-winners-of-wiki-loves-earth-2024/ Ireland.] The natural world changes from season to season, but climate change poses a threat to our environment and its durability. Extreme temperatures, drought, or rainfall all disturb the balance that has cultivated these environments and biodiversity. The photos submitted to the competition capture the state of our natural world at a point in time, and remind us what we stand to lose.


A partnership with the Royal Albert Memorial Museum is a key part of the Connected Heritage project, and Lucy Hinnie is acting as their Wikimedian in Residence. Lucy has led online training workshops for volunteers over the spring and summer, with an online wikithon on the theme of Exeter’s built heritage. We intend to follow this up with an [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/devon-in-red-wikithon-ramm-connected-heritage-tickets-679361377167?aff=oddtdtcreator in-person wikithon] in September, writing about Devon’s history.
== Climate Change & Health Wikipedia Workshop ==
In November two of our Wikimedians in Residence held joint workshops between the University of Exeter and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Tatjana Baleta is the resident for climate at the GSI hub at Exeter University, and the health effects of climate change overlap significantly with Adam Harangozo’s residency on medical research at the NIHR.


Over the summer we also ran a wikithon with the Washington Partnership in Tyne and Wear as part of events to mark the 60th anniversary of the new town. We also have an event planned with the Faversham Society in mid August.
Wikipedia is often the first and only place where most people go for health information. What readers find there matters. Contributing to Wikipedia offers a great opportunity to use an effective platform to mobilise evidence-based information, research and expert knowledge in an accessible way for a wider audience all around the world.


== New College Lanarkshire: become a Wikimedian course ==
Researchers with expertise in climate change and health were invited to attend one of the three workshops in November. The workshops drafted an article – titled Climate change and health in the UK – on this important topic at the intersection of the climate crisis and health research.
This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the merger of New College Lanarkshire and as part of this the college offered a large number of free evening courses. One of these courses was Become a Wikimedian, which was an 11 week course that was conducted online. Throughout this course 10 students learned how to make positive contributions to multiple Wiki platforms, such as Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.


For many years Wikipedia has been viewed in a negative light by educators, however, this course has highlighted what a positive tool Wikipedia can be for learners.  Knowing how to use the platform properly to bolster research is key to its success.  The students quickly understand how Wikipedia can be used as a springboard to delve deep into research on a specific topic.
== Wiki Loves Monuments 2024 ==
Over 5000 photos of monuments, architecture and protected buildings were submitted to the 2024 Wiki Loves Monuments from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Wiki Loves Monuments is best known for being the world’s largest photo contest. It highlights humanity’s cultural heritage through the buildings, structures, and other assets that have gained importance due to their artistic, historic, political, technical, or architectural significance. You can see the entries for [[commons:Category:Images_from_Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2024_in_Scotland|Scotland]], [[commons:Category:Images_from_Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2024_in_Wales|Wales]] and [[commons:Category:Images_from_Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2024_in_Northern_Ireland|Northern Ireland]].
[[File:The discovery of witches, Matthew Hopkins.jpg|thumb|Matthew Hopkins’ Discovery of Witches (1647), Held by The British Library]]


== Code the City ==
== The history of witch trials in Newcastle and Scotland ==
Aberdeen-based civic hacking initiative Code The City is back with a weekend dedicated to the past, the present and future of Union Street and the City Centre area of Aberdeen.
In 2023, one of our volunteers, Sophie Whitfield, led a Wikipedia workshop for students on  the Digital Cultures and Media course at Newcastle University. This year, WMUK again collaborated with the course leaders to give the students an opportunity to learn about Wikipedia.


At this in-person event they'll be working with the team from Our Union Street; cultural organisations and heritage groups; planners and designers; citizens; and our multi-skilled volunteers, to work on a number of identified challenges over the weekend, which includes a Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons editathon to coincide with Wiki Loves Monuments. More information on their [https://codethecity.org/what-we-do/hack-weekends/ctc30/ website].
The plan was to have the class of twenty students collaboratively write a Wikipedia page about an overlooked part of Newcastle’s history: the 1650 witch trials. Overlooked for Wikipedia at least, [https://twmuseumsandarchives.medium.com/the-newcastle-witch-trials-62fc652cdef Tyne and Wear Archives & Museums] have excellent resources on the trials and the events were the subject of a [https://candleandbell.com/newcastle-witches-podcast podcast.] But there are no local memorials to the accused, and Wikipedia hardly mentions events in Newcastle.


== University of Edinburgh residency ==
The trials took place in 1649 and 1650, and resulted in the execution of sixteen people. As with many other similar persecutions, the majority were women.
[[File:Torture types illustrated on map of accused witches in Scotland.jpg|alt=Torture types illustrated on map of accused witches in Scotland|thumb|Torture types illustrated on map of accused witches in Scotland]]


=== Wikidata Map of Accused Witches project - new student intern ===
The Digital Cultures and Media course introduces students to a range of different platforms and media: social sites, mapping, video creation, and of course Wikipedia. They are taught to be adaptive and explore. With a class of this size, we organised them into groups so that they could work on different elements of the article. Some worked on the imagery, others on the list of the accused and what happened to them, while another group detailed the context within which the trials took place.
Our previous intern, Claire Panella, worked from February to May and has [https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/witchcraft_visualisation/finding-impossible-witches-part-one/ blogged] about her experience and created a markdown document for anyone wishing to quality assure the data in Wikidata when comparing csvs from it with csvs from the 'golden copy' of information in the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database. Claire also created a sample 'change log' to keep track of any changes made to Wikidata and/or the Survey database so we can better track of amendments in the longer term. A new [[d:Wikidata:WikiProject_Scotland's_Accused_Witches|Wikidata project page]] has also been set up.


=== Wikimedia in the Curriculum paper ===
Two hours raced by, and in the final thirty minutes there was an avalanche of writing. As students saved their edits the skeletal page suddenly took shape - populated by the names of people who had lived and died in Newcastle more than 370 years ago.
Ewan McAndrew contributed case studies of Wikimedia in the Curriculum to a paper co-authored by Lorna Campbell and Dr. Melissa Highton on Supporting open education practice: What works for the EDUTEC Journal on Open Educational Practices in Higher Education at the invitation of Daniel Villar-Rubia at the University of Cadiz. This has now been completed and submitted.


== Inclusive Digital Arts and Humanities Research Skills ==
The history of witch trials has also been a project at the University of Edinburgh, with version 2 of the ''[https://witches.is.ed.ac.uk/ Map of Accused Witches in Scotland]'' – created using Wikidata – launching at the Edinburgh Futures Institute on 23rd October 2024. E. Whitehead has completed an expanded Glossary of terms to help explain and contextualise the Scottish witch trials. R. Imrie has completed the Nuxt.js upgrade and added filters for the accusations (demonic pacts, property damage, ritual objects used, meeting places etc.) the accused were subjected to along with all the temporal data so the Scottish witch hunts can now be explored in place and time through Wikidata.
Wikimedia UK is collaborating with the London College of Communication on a one-year project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The Inclusive Digital Arts and Humanities Research Skills (DAReS) CoLab aims to pilot a new digital skills curriculum for researchers, giving them the knowledge to carry out research and share results digitally. We are supporting the project and bringing a Wikimedia perspective to proceedings. As the project develops, Wikidata is taking a stronger role as a source of information and potentially a place that researchers can share data.


In early summer we took part in inclusion workshops to establish common ground between the project collaborators, create a behavioural policy, and share insights into inclusion and barriers. The next major landmark will be data handling workshops in October and November. We expect Wikidata to feature here, and ultimately we may end up sharing learning resources on one of the Wikimedia sites such as Wikiversity of WikiBooks.
== IDEA network ==
The University of St Andrew’s [https://theideanetwork.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/ IDEA network] (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility in Open Knowledge Network) was launched during lockdown. We’ve been working with them for years to make the Wikimedia projects more inclusive, diverse, equitable and accessible locations for open knowledge.


== Climate Change residency ==
Some recent highlights include:
[[File:Aerial photo of center pivot irrigations systems (9364).jpg|alt=Aerial photo of center pivot irrigations systems|thumb|Aerial photo of center pivot irrigations systems (9364)]]
Highlights in Tatjana’s work include co-leading an editathon in New York with the Earth Alliance. The New York City Editathon was held on Saturday the 15th June and was a successful event. It was organised as a collaborative effort between Depths of Wikipedia, WikimediaNYC, Earth Alliance, Su-Laine Yeo Brodsky and Tatjana Baleta. The themes were how we move, how we live, how we eat and what inspires us. 27 editors joined (including some totally new to Wikipedia editing), and they worked off a task list put together by Tatjana and Su-Laine that focused mostly on content relating to individual action (e.g. food waste, air travel). There were a number of useful edits, likely due to the detailed instructions provided in the task list.


Tatjana has been working with [https://climatevisuals.org/ Climate Visuals], an image library by Climate Outreach to help tell compelling stories about the impacts of climate change. Tatjana has helped them share hundreds of images from their collection which you can now find on [[commons:Category:Climate_Visuals_upload|Wikimedia Commons]]. WikiProject Climate Change have been very positive about the detailed descriptions that accompany the images, making them easier to use.
* [https://eu-west-1.protection.sophos.com/?d=st-andrews.ac.uk&u=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVpZGVhbmV0d29yay53cC5zdC1hbmRyZXdzLmFjLnVrLzIwMjQvMTAvMTIvZGlnaXRhbC1pbmNsdXNpb24td2lraWNvbm5lY3QtMm5kLWludGFrZS1hbm5vdW5jZW1lbnQtJWYwJTlmJTkzJWEyLw==&i=NjVhZmE0ZjY3MDExZmY1Y2Q3NDE3YmE2&t=WkVQNTQxL0lkRXBVbi9CZFhFbTVLUGtoakxNd3g5QTdXOU1zMGZzb2JMaz0=&h=d7f9b3811681459ca66d519430646d0a&s=AVNPUEhUT0NFTkNSWVBUSVbHWJeG47eUEa4cyL61CbXm66L8ziY8ITXWL9dY4Kpf7Q Digital Inclusion WikiConnect] – staff and students are working on content relating to digital literacy and digital poverty.
* [https://eu-west-1.protection.sophos.com/?d=st-andrews.ac.uk&u=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVpZGVhbmV0d29yay53cC5zdC1hbmRyZXdzLmFjLnVrLzIwMjQvMDkvMTYvaWRlYS1uZXR3b3JrLWxhdW5jaGVzLXRoZS1yb2xlLW9mLXVuaXZlcnNpdGllcy1pbi10aGUtZXRoaWNhbC1kaWdpdGFsLW5hdGlvbi1wcm9qZWN0Lw==&i=NjVhZmE0ZjY3MDExZmY1Y2Q3NDE3YmE2&t=bncweEg5dUFSUFcyTEZGQ25ISW11T1NpYU9MbXY1V0k5UHZUL1N4Q0tURT0=&h=d7f9b3811681459ca66d519430646d0a&s=AVNPUEhUT0NFTkNSWVBUSVbHWJeG47eUEa4cyL61CbXm66L8ziY8ITXWL9dY4Kpf7Q Ethical Digital Nation event series] – exploring how universities can play a pivotal role in addressing digital challenges through collaborative research, training programs, and the development of socio-technical solutions.


Hot on the heels of the Climate Visuals upload, Tatjana has been working with Our World in Data to share a collection of suitably licensed charts and maps on Wikimedia Commons. Jason Evans' support with Pattypan has been especially helpful. You can see the images [[commons:Category:OWID_climate_graphics_upload|here]]. All images from the residency are [[commons:Category:Files_uploaded_from_Global_Systems_Institute_Wikimedian_in_Residence_project_activities|here]], which is part of the 'Supported by Wikimedia UK' category tree.
== Wikimedia in Interfaith Education ==
Interfaith Explorers is a set of resources to support primary and secondary education about religions. As well as classroom resources, it has guidance for teachers on encouraging respectful discussions about faiths and cultures. It is listed by the UK Government's "Educate Against Hate" portal.


== Right to a healthy environment ==
The site recently completed a major update in which Wikimedia content played a crucial part. Short text extracts adapted from Simple English Wikipedia and English Wikipedia were combined with colourful, diverse images from Wikimedia Commons to add nearly 200 pages of new content about religions and how they are practised. The result is an [https://www.interfaithexplorers.com/resources/ interconnected web] of child-safe educational material, with automated translation into a dozen other languages.
This is the 3rd year for Wales to participate in this activity arranged by Wikimedia Foundation and the United Nations on Meta. A list of articles on the ‘Right to a healthy environment’ was published in March, and the Welsh language Wikipedia became the first to complete all suggested articles (around 200). See [[m:WikiForHumanRights/Topic_List|Meta]] for further information: please note that Welsh language (cy for Cymraeg) is the 3rd column.
 
Dr Martin Poulter is Wikimedian In Residence at the Khalili Foundation, which maintains Interfaith Explorers. He adapted the wiki content with the help of expert reviewers. Interfaith Explorers are looking for teachers, religious institutions, and educational charities to join the community that will further develop the resource further, including covering non-Abrahamic religions. [https://www.interfaithexplorers.com/contact-us/ Get in touch.]
 
== Memory of the World ==
Dr Martin Poulter is now focusing increasingly on the [https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world Memory of the World] project. The Khalili Foundation is supporting and fully funding work to improve the visibility of UNESCO Memory of the World inscriptions on the Wikimedia platforms, in parallel with UNESCO's database which is being re-developed. This will bring some of the world's most precious documentary heritage to the widest possible audience. We will be coordinating with the team at UNESCO to improve Wikimedia as they improve the official online database.
 
Within the project, Indonesian Wikipedia has given a Featured Article award to [[:en:id:Hajj:_Journey_to_the_Heart_of_Islam|their translation]] of the Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam article. This resulted from a long review process involving four users, and is a rare honour; Indonesian Wikipedia only has 394 Featured Articles out of 700,000 total articles. This is the fourth Featured Article award achieved by this project: two in English, one in Urdu and now one in Indonesian.
[[File:Celtic Knot 2024 Reginold Tower.png|thumb]]
 
== Celtic Knot 2024 ==
In late September, Wikimedians from as far away as Malaysia gathered in Waterford in Ireland to share stories of success, challenges, and to learn from others, all with a focus on minoritised languages. WMUK collaborated with Wikimedia Community Ireland (WCI) to organise and run the event. The Celtic Knot Conference is a space for different communities to connect and support each other in their efforts to improve their languages’ representation online, and WMUK have been involved in the conference since its inception in 2017. 2024 was the first in-person Celtic Knot since 2019, and across the three-day conference, 150 people attended in-person or online, with 35 different language communities represented. Each of the three days had a different theme in the programme: the past, the present, and the future of language communities. The programme was topical, with the launch of WCI’s WikiWomen Erasmus+ Project and talks on translation tools and the impact of large language models. Large language models present challenges and opportunities to Wikipedia, especially smaller language communities, so it was an important topic to discuss. The conference enthused those present, sharing stories of success that inspired others, from editing campaigns such as #wici365 on the Welsh Wicipedia and using digital TV channels to recruit editors.
 
== University of Edinburgh ==
[[File:Carpenter portrait of Ada Lovelace - detail.png|thumb|Detail of Margaret Sarah Carpenter's portrait of Ada Lovelace]]
 
==== Women in Red workshops ====
A number of  'Women in Red' workshops took place at the University - in September, to coincide with WIki Loves Monuments, the event was themed as [[:en:Wikipedia:University_of_Edinburgh/Events_and_Workshops/Scottish_Castles_and_Witchcraft|Scottish Castles and Witch Lore.]] New wiki pages were created about Scottish castles and heritage locations were created. These include [[:en:Bass_Castle|Bass Castle]], [[:en:Logie_House_Garden|Logie House Garden]], and [[:en:Poldrate_Mill|Poldrate Mill.]] As part of this event, the University also hosted an exhibition of material about Scottish castles and witchcraft that the university's special collections hold. Read the [https://thinking.is.ed.ac.uk/wir/witch-lore-and-scottish-castles-september-editathon/ blog article] by Ellie Whitehead. In October the workshop was tied with [[:en:Wikipedia:University_of_Edinburgh/Events_and_Workshops/Ada_Lovelace_Day_2024|Ada Lovelace Day event]] celebrating Women in STEM (with a Robotics/AI theme).
 
==== History of Witchcraft in Edinburgh walking tour ====
E. McAndrew and E. Whitehead made use of Wikipedia and Wikidata to develop an [http://curiousedinburgh.org/history-of-witchcraft-in-edinburgh/ 18 Stop walking tour] of locations in central Edinburgh related to the Scottish witch hunts and recorded 18 short Youtube clips presented by Prof. Julian Goodare and BBC broadcaster Louise Yeoman to accompany each stop.
 
==== Edinburgh Award 2024/2025 – Digital Volunteering with Wikipedia ====
29 students have registered for the 4th iteration of the extracurricular Edinburgh Award for academic year 2024/2025. Each student is to choose 3 graduate attributes to develop over the 55-80 hours from mid October 2024 to end of March 2025 and a topic area of Wikipedia to significantly improve topic coverage in.
 
==== Global Health Challenges Programme Online ====
Masters students working online from geographically remote locations all over the world have been trained how to edit Wikipedia. The students are working in groups to significantly improve topic coverage of natural and manmade disasters in short stub articles as part of a 5-6 week assignment. So far they’ve added almost 40k words to Wikipedia.
 
== Finding sources through Wikipedia’s citations ==
We had an online Wikipedia workshop focused on adding Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to Wikipedia. Those DOIs point towards publications in the Archaeology Data Service. It helps Wikipedia's readers and editors as it makes the sources used in articles easier to find, and it helps the ADS because more people are visiting their site.
 
As it was a very specific kind of editing, the how-to element of the event was short, but because it involved changing references which aren't standardised there were a few tricky cases (especially if incorrect dates were used).
 
At the start there was something like 2,000 articles on the English Wikipedia. In three hours, we made a good dent in the [https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Archaeology_Data_Service/Help_the_ADS_improve_DOIs_on_Wikipedia/home worklist] with more than 140 articles edited.


== Join us ==
== Join us ==
We’re very grateful to and proud of the network we’ve built around our chapter. You can support the governance of the charity by becoming a [[Membership|member]], or support our projects through a [[Donate|donation]], or [[volunteer]] on some of the projects above.
Come give us a follow on social media, we just launched our [https://bsky.app/profile/wikimediauk.bsky.social Bluesky] account, and we're also on [https://wikis.world/@wikimediauk Mastodon,] [https://twitter.com/wikimediauk Twitter,] [https://www.facebook.com/WikimediaUK Facebook,] [https://www.instagram.com/wikimediauk/ Instagram] and [https://www.linkedin.com/company/496119/admin/feed/posts/ LinkedIn.] We’re very grateful to and proud of the network we’ve built around our chapter. You can support the governance of the charity by becoming a [[Membership|member]], which will allow you to vote on our board elections at the 2024 AGM on the 21st September. You can also support our projects through a [https://wikimedia.access.charity/donate/donate donation,] or [https://wikimedia.org.uk/get-involved/ volunteer] on some of the projects above. Our blog has more details on some of the activities mentioned in the newsletter.
 
We’re on social media if you’d like to connect with us there, we always appreciate new followers and sharers of our news; Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. You can also follow our blog, which has more details on some of the activities mentioned in the newsletter.


<nowiki>[[ Category:Friends' Newsletter ]]</nowiki>
<nowiki>[[ Category:Friends' Newsletter ]]</nowiki>

Latest revision as of 13:08, 19 December 2024

Text reading: Wikimedia UK, winter 2023 newsletter, thank you for your support this year on a green, red, and orange background featuring flora and fauna illustrations from Wikimedia Commons
Collage of images from Wikimedia Commons, filenames in the description of this page - File:Giving Tuesday 2023.png

Welcome to the winter 2024 newsletter

Season's Greetings and welcome to the last newsletter of 2024! As I'm wrapped up in the festivities of the season I'm once again impressed by the incredible portfolio of work from our volunteers and staff this year.

In September we moved into our new office at the British Library. The vibrant environment of the Library has already fostered our staff's creativity and innovation, while being a strategic location to enable better connection with partners, volunteers, and the public.

Earlier in the autumn we were delighted to welcome two new trustees to our board, following the election at our 2024 AGM. Andrew Russell brings substantial experience in public affairs while Monica Westin is a keen Wikimedian with a professional background in knowledge information.

Congratulations to Fran Allfrey, Wikimedia UK’s Wikimedian of the Year for 2024, along with GLAM-E Lab who received the Partnership of the Year award, and Perigrinate Avellana, our Up and Coming Wikimedian of the Year. You can read more about the awards and the nominees here.

Finally, you may have seen our Education through Wikimedia campaign to boost our work in secondary schools. Education is at the heart of our work as the national charity for open knowledge, and we believe that equipping the next generation with essential information literacy and digital skills is crucial for their success in an increasingly complex digital world. This is why we are launching a dedicated campaign aimed at secondary school students, focusing on developing these fundamental abilities.

Wikimedia UK community celebration

Community Celebration 2024

In November we hosted our 2024 Community Celebration. It was a chance for our community to gather online, share and celebrate the work that’s taken place over the last year and recognise that work through the UK Wikimedian of the Year awards and celebrate the winners of the Wiki Loves Earth competition.

It was heartening seeing so many of our community at the celebration. There were around 40 community members, attending from all over the UK. With the event being online in the midst of Storm Bert raging, it meant that people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend were able to do so.

We had a series of short talks which can be watched in this playlist.

Jason Evans, Open Data Manager and National Wikimedian at the National Library of Wales told us about AI, Placenames and Time Machine experiments at the National Library of Wales.

Dr Kirsty Ross from the University of St Andrews, who is also one of the co-founders of the IDEA network told us about how Scottish Brick History (SBH), Wikimedia UK, and researchers from the School of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews collaborated to get a unique dataset about Scotland’s brickworks onto Wikidata, and built web visualisations to showcase the work.

Lucy Moore, a Wikimedian based in Leeds, and who won UK Wikimedian of the year 2022 told us about her Wiki Year!

Nick Sheppard, Open Research Adviser based at the University of Leeds Libraries told us about his journey from his first tentative edit in 2017 (flagged as spam) to becoming a committed advocate for Wikimedia in Universities.

Jonathan Deamer from Liverpool, who describes himself as a Wikimedia hobbyist, told us about attending his first Wikimania in Katowice in Poland this year. He shared with us his highlights from the event and how these have had a tangible impact on his daily editing.

Joanne Forster-Martin, a student at the University of Oxford, and who we met at our recent Train the Trainer weekend told us about the Wiki Women in Red project to uncover the hidden female figures of Jesus College, Oxford.

Adam Harangzo, Wikipedian in Residence at the National Institute for Health and Care Research talked to us about his experience of working with researchers in an impactful way where they contribute to Wikipedia without directly editing it.

View of the Kings Library, British Library, by Mike Peel

Wikimedia UK moves into new offices at the British Library

Wikimedia UK is excited to announce our relocation to new offices at the prestigious British Library. The new office space will provide a vibrant environment that fosters creativity and innovation, allowing our team to work flexibly and collaboratively with a wealth of resources and opportunities available at one of the world’s largest libraries. This strategic location will enable us to better connect with partners, volunteers, and the public. Staff will continue to work remotely and occasionally come into the office, ensuring we adapt to the evolving needs of our team and the communities we serve.

Wikimedia UK Chief Executive Lucy Crompton-Reid, says: “We are looking forward to our new office space within the British Library after a year of being fully remote.” As the national charity for the global Wikimedia open knowledge movement, there are lots of areas of shared interest with the Library. Director of Science and Innovation, Maja Maricevic, adds “We are delighted to welcome Wikimedia UK. Over years we have regularly collaborated with Wikimedia UK and hosted Wikimedians-in-Residence, so are delighted with an opportunity with an even closer proximity to an organisation that we have the existing close links with and share the common vision to open access to knowledge.”

New trustees at the Wikimedia UK AGM

Following a successful AGM we’re very pleased to share that Andrew Russell and Monica Westin have joined Wikimedia UK's board of trustees. We’re also delighted that Caroline Ball was re-elected for a second three year term. You can read their candidate statements here if you’d like to find out more about them.

On Saturday we also said thank you, but hopefully not goodbye, to outgoing trustees Julian Manieson and Rod Ward.

Many thanks to all those who attended the AGM, or who submitted a proxy vote.

A photograph of Stuart Prior delivering a presentation to a room of volunteer editors at Brixton Library
Programme Coordinator, Stuart Prior, delivering Wiki editing training at the Brixton Library Black History Month meetup

Brixton Library Black History Month editathon

Brixton Library’s monthly Wikipedia meetups show participants how to contribute to the encyclopaedia. For the October meetup, the event focused on learning about and contributing to the recording of Black history. We wrote about and enhanced articles about Black people, history and society. Participants used the session to explore Brixton Library’s Black Interest book collections, the library service’s online subscriptions to packages like the British Newspaper Archive and Who’s Who and much more. We also looked at Wikimedia Commons and how you can use photographs and images.

100 Days 100 Edits for climate (GSI)

The University of Exeter’s resident for climate and the environment, Tatjana Baleta, recruited 31 researchers from 11 different institutions to cumulatively propose 100 edits to 35 articles over 100 days. As of the 10th of November 2024, these articles have been viewed over ~662,000 times.

"Through this 100-day campaign, I upped my normal Wikipedia editing, highlighted how unprecedented CO₂ levels are over millions of years, and dispelled two common myths about global warming: that humans are only "mainly" responsible, and that further warming stops when emissions stabilize, rather than when they reach net zero.”

– Dr Femke Njisse, University of Exeter (edited Grid storage and Climate change)

“Promoting widespread scientific literacy is a key issue in addressing anthropogenic climate change, environmental degradation and injustice. Platforms like Wikipedia provide an excellent opportunity to disseminate scientific information to an extended audience, where this information is otherwise often only accessible by academics in the global north. I hope that my contribution to the campaign can help bring greater clarity to a topic (i.e. biochar) that is often discussed in the context of climate change mitigation.”

– Dr Oscar Kennedy-Blundell, University of Exeter (edited Biochar)

The Devils Pulpit in Scotland, by Gaverlaa, This image won the 2nd prize in the national contest of Scotland in Wiki Loves Earth 2024

Wiki Loves Earth winners

Wiki Loves Earth is an annual photography competition themed around the natural world. This year Ireland, Scotland and Wales took part in the competition. Over 5000 photos were submitted of nature from across these three countries, helping to illustrate Wikimedia with the flora and fauna that is so at risk from climate change and human development. The winners have now been announced, see them for Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. The natural world changes from season to season, but climate change poses a threat to our environment and its durability. Extreme temperatures, drought, or rainfall all disturb the balance that has cultivated these environments and biodiversity. The photos submitted to the competition capture the state of our natural world at a point in time, and remind us what we stand to lose.

Climate Change & Health Wikipedia Workshop

In November two of our Wikimedians in Residence held joint workshops between the University of Exeter and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Tatjana Baleta is the resident for climate at the GSI hub at Exeter University, and the health effects of climate change overlap significantly with Adam Harangozo’s residency on medical research at the NIHR.

Wikipedia is often the first and only place where most people go for health information. What readers find there matters. Contributing to Wikipedia offers a great opportunity to use an effective platform to mobilise evidence-based information, research and expert knowledge in an accessible way for a wider audience all around the world.

Researchers with expertise in climate change and health were invited to attend one of the three workshops in November. The workshops drafted an article – titled Climate change and health in the UK – on this important topic at the intersection of the climate crisis and health research.

Wiki Loves Monuments 2024

Over 5000 photos of monuments, architecture and protected buildings were submitted to the 2024 Wiki Loves Monuments from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Wiki Loves Monuments is best known for being the world’s largest photo contest. It highlights humanity’s cultural heritage through the buildings, structures, and other assets that have gained importance due to their artistic, historic, political, technical, or architectural significance. You can see the entries for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Matthew Hopkins’ Discovery of Witches (1647), Held by The British Library

The history of witch trials in Newcastle and Scotland

In 2023, one of our volunteers, Sophie Whitfield, led a Wikipedia workshop for students on  the Digital Cultures and Media course at Newcastle University. This year, WMUK again collaborated with the course leaders to give the students an opportunity to learn about Wikipedia.

The plan was to have the class of twenty students collaboratively write a Wikipedia page about an overlooked part of Newcastle’s history: the 1650 witch trials. Overlooked for Wikipedia at least, Tyne and Wear Archives & Museums have excellent resources on the trials and the events were the subject of a podcast. But there are no local memorials to the accused, and Wikipedia hardly mentions events in Newcastle.

The trials took place in 1649 and 1650, and resulted in the execution of sixteen people. As with many other similar persecutions, the majority were women.

The Digital Cultures and Media course introduces students to a range of different platforms and media: social sites, mapping, video creation, and of course Wikipedia. They are taught to be adaptive and explore. With a class of this size, we organised them into groups so that they could work on different elements of the article. Some worked on the imagery, others on the list of the accused and what happened to them, while another group detailed the context within which the trials took place.

Two hours raced by, and in the final thirty minutes there was an avalanche of writing. As students saved their edits the skeletal page suddenly took shape - populated by the names of people who had lived and died in Newcastle more than 370 years ago.

The history of witch trials has also been a project at the University of Edinburgh, with version 2 of the Map of Accused Witches in Scotland – created using Wikidata – launching at the Edinburgh Futures Institute on 23rd October 2024. E. Whitehead has completed an expanded Glossary of terms to help explain and contextualise the Scottish witch trials. R. Imrie has completed the Nuxt.js upgrade and added filters for the accusations (demonic pacts, property damage, ritual objects used, meeting places etc.) the accused were subjected to along with all the temporal data so the Scottish witch hunts can now be explored in place and time through Wikidata.

IDEA network

The University of St Andrew’s IDEA network (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility in Open Knowledge Network) was launched during lockdown. We’ve been working with them for years to make the Wikimedia projects more inclusive, diverse, equitable and accessible locations for open knowledge.

Some recent highlights include:

  • Digital Inclusion WikiConnect – staff and students are working on content relating to digital literacy and digital poverty.
  • Ethical Digital Nation event series – exploring how universities can play a pivotal role in addressing digital challenges through collaborative research, training programs, and the development of socio-technical solutions.

Wikimedia in Interfaith Education

Interfaith Explorers is a set of resources to support primary and secondary education about religions. As well as classroom resources, it has guidance for teachers on encouraging respectful discussions about faiths and cultures. It is listed by the UK Government's "Educate Against Hate" portal.

The site recently completed a major update in which Wikimedia content played a crucial part. Short text extracts adapted from Simple English Wikipedia and English Wikipedia were combined with colourful, diverse images from Wikimedia Commons to add nearly 200 pages of new content about religions and how they are practised. The result is an interconnected web of child-safe educational material, with automated translation into a dozen other languages.

Dr Martin Poulter is Wikimedian In Residence at the Khalili Foundation, which maintains Interfaith Explorers. He adapted the wiki content with the help of expert reviewers. Interfaith Explorers are looking for teachers, religious institutions, and educational charities to join the community that will further develop the resource further, including covering non-Abrahamic religions. Get in touch.

Memory of the World

Dr Martin Poulter is now focusing increasingly on the Memory of the World project. The Khalili Foundation is supporting and fully funding work to improve the visibility of UNESCO Memory of the World inscriptions on the Wikimedia platforms, in parallel with UNESCO's database which is being re-developed. This will bring some of the world's most precious documentary heritage to the widest possible audience. We will be coordinating with the team at UNESCO to improve Wikimedia as they improve the official online database.

Within the project, Indonesian Wikipedia has given a Featured Article award to their translation of the Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam article. This resulted from a long review process involving four users, and is a rare honour; Indonesian Wikipedia only has 394 Featured Articles out of 700,000 total articles. This is the fourth Featured Article award achieved by this project: two in English, one in Urdu and now one in Indonesian.

Celtic Knot 2024 Reginold Tower.png

Celtic Knot 2024

In late September, Wikimedians from as far away as Malaysia gathered in Waterford in Ireland to share stories of success, challenges, and to learn from others, all with a focus on minoritised languages. WMUK collaborated with Wikimedia Community Ireland (WCI) to organise and run the event. The Celtic Knot Conference is a space for different communities to connect and support each other in their efforts to improve their languages’ representation online, and WMUK have been involved in the conference since its inception in 2017. 2024 was the first in-person Celtic Knot since 2019, and across the three-day conference, 150 people attended in-person or online, with 35 different language communities represented. Each of the three days had a different theme in the programme: the past, the present, and the future of language communities. The programme was topical, with the launch of WCI’s WikiWomen Erasmus+ Project and talks on translation tools and the impact of large language models. Large language models present challenges and opportunities to Wikipedia, especially smaller language communities, so it was an important topic to discuss. The conference enthused those present, sharing stories of success that inspired others, from editing campaigns such as #wici365 on the Welsh Wicipedia and using digital TV channels to recruit editors.

University of Edinburgh

Detail of Margaret Sarah Carpenter's portrait of Ada Lovelace

Women in Red workshops

A number of  'Women in Red' workshops took place at the University - in September, to coincide with WIki Loves Monuments, the event was themed as Scottish Castles and Witch Lore. New wiki pages were created about Scottish castles and heritage locations were created. These include Bass Castle, Logie House Garden, and Poldrate Mill. As part of this event, the University also hosted an exhibition of material about Scottish castles and witchcraft that the university's special collections hold. Read the blog article by Ellie Whitehead. In October the workshop was tied with Ada Lovelace Day event celebrating Women in STEM (with a Robotics/AI theme).

History of Witchcraft in Edinburgh walking tour

E. McAndrew and E. Whitehead made use of Wikipedia and Wikidata to develop an 18 Stop walking tour of locations in central Edinburgh related to the Scottish witch hunts and recorded 18 short Youtube clips presented by Prof. Julian Goodare and BBC broadcaster Louise Yeoman to accompany each stop.

Edinburgh Award 2024/2025 – Digital Volunteering with Wikipedia

29 students have registered for the 4th iteration of the extracurricular Edinburgh Award for academic year 2024/2025. Each student is to choose 3 graduate attributes to develop over the 55-80 hours from mid October 2024 to end of March 2025 and a topic area of Wikipedia to significantly improve topic coverage in.

Global Health Challenges Programme Online

Masters students working online from geographically remote locations all over the world have been trained how to edit Wikipedia. The students are working in groups to significantly improve topic coverage of natural and manmade disasters in short stub articles as part of a 5-6 week assignment. So far they’ve added almost 40k words to Wikipedia.

Finding sources through Wikipedia’s citations

We had an online Wikipedia workshop focused on adding Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to Wikipedia. Those DOIs point towards publications in the Archaeology Data Service. It helps Wikipedia's readers and editors as it makes the sources used in articles easier to find, and it helps the ADS because more people are visiting their site.

As it was a very specific kind of editing, the how-to element of the event was short, but because it involved changing references which aren't standardised there were a few tricky cases (especially if incorrect dates were used).

At the start there was something like 2,000 articles on the English Wikipedia. In three hours, we made a good dent in the worklist with more than 140 articles edited.

Join us

Come give us a follow on social media, we just launched our Bluesky account, and we're also on Mastodon, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. We’re very grateful to and proud of the network we’ve built around our chapter. You can support the governance of the charity by becoming a member, which will allow you to vote on our board elections at the 2024 AGM on the 21st September. You can also support our projects through a donation, or volunteer on some of the projects above. Our blog has more details on some of the activities mentioned in the newsletter.

[[ Category:Friends' Newsletter ]]

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