Main Page: Difference between revisions

From Wikimedia UK
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(Update blog post)
(Update blog post)
Line 2: Line 2:
|advert=
|advert=
|blog post=
|blog post=
;Does Wikimania save lives?
;Castles in the digital age


''This post was written by Fabian Tompsett, Wikimedian and co-ordinator of the Wikimania support team, and originally published <span class="plainlinks">[http://leutha.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/wikimania-saves-lives/ here]</span>.''
[[File:Rochester Castle Keep and Bailey 0038stcp.JPG|thumb|right|400px|Clem Rutter’s photo of Rochester Castle (worth clicking to view larger)]]
[[File:London 13 - H3.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Yes it was quite a surprise to find myself with other Wikimedians back in September 2008]]


I am just coming to the end of a four-month stint working for Wikimedia UK helping to deliver <span class="plainlinks">[https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania Wikimania 2014]</span> at London’s Barbican Centre. It was all quite exciting and as [[:en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2014-08-13/Wikimania|''The Signpost'']] put it was “not too bad, actually”. In the whirl of events seeing dozens of [[:en:Grub_Street#Hacks|hackers bringing hacking home to Hackney]], hunched over their laptops, while other devotees were busy tweeting, it became all too easy to miss some key aspects of the event, and so to fail to recognise that Wikimania contributed to saving lives.
When you spend time on one of the busiest websites in the world it’s amazing what patterns emerge.


Wikipedia is not just a website, it is also a somewhat heterogeneous international community which thrives on face-to-face encounters in meatspace. For myself my involvement gained an extra dimension when I started attending the regular London Meetups six years ago. It was meeting other human beings rather than tapping away while staring at a computer screen which made it interesting.
A few weeks ago I was leafing through a borrowed copy of <span class="plainlinks">[http://www.history.org.uk/resources/general_resource_7592_41.html ''The Historian'']</span>. It had been passed on to me because there was a piece about castles. As I leafed through its immaculately presented pages I was stopped by an eerily familiar photo. There was Rochester Castle on a beautiful sunny day, a sky blue backdrop, and the medieval cathedral peeking out behind.


So, this August the [[:m:Meetup/London/84|London Meetup page]] modestly subsumes Wikimania within its calendar of monthly events, within an expansion to a three day event with between 2,000 and 4,000 attendees (so much for [[:en:Understatement#British_humour|“British understatement“]]). But in essence it is the face-to-face interactions outside the formal sessions which make Wikimania such a powerful event. I don’t want to be dismissive about the formal sessions and all the hard work which went into them, it is just that I want to focus on the other aspects and use this to show why I believe Wikimania saves lives.
That stopping power was important. For me at least, a good photograph makes me want to learn more, especially on Wikipedia where a plethora of links can drag you into a maze full of interesting twists and turns.


<span class="plainlinks">[https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2014/08/does-wikimania-save-lives/<nowiki>[</nowiki>Continues...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span>
I knew where that snapshot came from. It was unmistakably the main photo on the Wikipedia article about the castle. I was also lucky enough to have met the man responsible for it. The photographer is [[:en:User:ClemRutter|Clem Rutter]] who has more than a decade’s experience of writing for Wikipedia, and apparently a decent photographer to boot.
 
<span class="plainlinks">[http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org.uk/<nowiki>[</nowiki>Continues...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span>


|events=<!--Aim to have between 8 and 10 events listed to avoid this section taking up too much or to little space-->
|events=<!--Aim to have between 8 and 10 events listed to avoid this section taking up too much or to little space-->

Revision as of 19:32, 29 August 2014

Cymraeg | English

Wikimedia UK

Open knowledge for all

Our website

If you'd like to see what Wikimedia UK is working on, our website is the best place for our community of volunteers, donors and members to stay up to date.

About Wikimedia UK

The Wikimedia projects are special: they are written and curated by thousands of volunteers. They are also supported by voluntary donations, through Wikimedia UK, the Wikimedia Foundation and other international chapters.

Wikimedia UK is a charity registered in England and Wales that supports and promotes Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects such as Wikimedia Commons. Our mission is to help people and organisations create and preserve open knowledge, and to help provide easy access for all. We do this by supporting volunteer editors and contributors ('Wikimedians'), by working in partnership with cultural and educational institutions, by hosting training sessions and editing events, and by acting to advocate the benefits of open knowledge generally.

There are several ways to get involved in the charity's work. You can become a member for just £5 per year. You can volunteer to work with us in a variety of ways, both online and offline. You can also make a donation (and if you're a UK taxpayer, we can claim Gift Aid). Subscribe to our Friends' Newsletter to stay in touch. Click the buttons below to learn more.

Volunteer

Contact us

General inquiries: infoatwikimedia.org.uk
Media: pressatwikimedia.org.uk

You can follow us on Twitter (@wikimediauk) or Like us on Facebook (WikimediaUK).

You can also sign up to the email discussion list for the Wikimedia community in the UK.

More contact details

Get Involved

Icon from Font Awesome by Dave Gandy - http://fortawesome.github.com/Font-Awesome, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

Join Wikimedia UK

Members play a key role in shaping the future of the Chapter. Membership is open to all and costs just £5 a year.

Icon from Font Awesome by Dave Gandy - http://fortawesome.github.com/Font-Awesome, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

Events

We organise dozens of events each year, including meetups, editing events, "Backstage Pass" events at museums, workshops and conferences.

Icon from Font Awesome by Dave Gandy - http://fortawesome.github.com/Font-Awesome, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

Volunteer

Participate in one of our ongoing outreach projects, working with the cultural and education institutions of the UK.

Icon from Font Awesome by Dave Gandy - http://fortawesome.github.com/Font-Awesome, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

Project grants

Request a project grant to help you with your editing or outreach activities on any Wikimedia project.

Icon from Font Awesome by Dave Gandy - http://fortawesome.github.com/Font-Awesome, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

Donate to Wikimedia UK to keep Wikipedia running free from advertising and support our work getting more people and institutions working with Wikipedia and its sister projects.

We are always interested to hear from new volunteers. If you have an idea you'd like to help make happen, or time and skills you would like to offer Wikimedia UK, please get in touch on volunteeringatwikimedia.org.uk

Для української мови Вікіпедії ласка, відвідайте http://uk.wikipedia.org; для Вікімедіа Україна відвідайте http://ua.wikimedia.org
For the Ukrainian language Wikipedia please visit http://uk.wikipedia.org; for Wikimedia Ukraine please visit http://ua.wikimedia.org

Want to suggest changes to the content and presentation of this page? Comment on the talk page, or experiment at the Sandbox

Retrieved from "https://dev.wikimedia.org.uk/w/index.php?title=Main_Page&oldid=61597"