Cultural partnerships

Cultural partnerships
Content partnerships — Digital image restorations — Joint events

Wikimedia projects - including Wikipedia - constitute some of the largest reference websites on the internet. They have achieved that through the efforts of millions of volunteers from across the world, working under the premise that information should be freely available to all.

An entertainment in Vauxhall Gardens in c.1779 by Thomas Rowlandson. Digitally restored by Wikimedia volunteers.

Cultural partnerships are mutually beneficial links and interactions between the Wikimedia projects and repositories of cultural information, including museums, galleries, libraries and archives, known collectively as GLAMs. There are a wide range of possible interactions - from content donations to workshops to events such as Britain Loves Wikipedia.

Such partnerships have a multiplicity of benefits, including:-

• Increased visibility and availability of educational information about the cultural heritage you hold
• Increased engagement of the public, world-wide, with the materials held by your institution
• Volunteer-driven assistance for checking and translating information (e.g. image descriptions), linking it with metadata (e.g. author IDs), and providing context (e.g. the use of images in Wikipedia articles)

Current cultural institutions we are working with include:

• The British Library
• The British Museum
• Derby Museum and Art Gallery
• The National Maritime Museum
• The National Archives
• Herbert Art Gallery and Museum
• Natural History Museum and Science Museum

Wikimedia UK's work with the GLAM sector complements its work with learned societies.

If you work for or with a museum (or any other type of GLAM), and are interested in working with Wikimedia UK, please contact our office on +44 (0)20 7065 0990 or daria.cybulskawikimedia.org.uk.

Wikimedians in Residence

A Wikimedian in Residence is a role in which a Wikipedia editor accepts a placement with an institution to facilitate Wikipedia entries related to that institution and its exhibits, archives, and cultural content. A Wikimedian in Residence's underlying task is to build a relationship between the cultural institution and the Wikimedian community through a range of activities, both internal and public-facing. These will include:

• Organising events to create or expand existing articles about notable items or subjects of specific relevance to the collection and the organisation's expertise;
• supporting Wikimedians already editing articles related to the institution both locally and internationally;
• working with curators and archivists to explain Wikipedia's and other projects' practices and how they might be able to contribute directly.

The position is flexible depending on the character of the organisation, its collections and aims, but for guidance you can see our proposed job description here.

We have organised a formal recruitment drive for Wikimedians in Residence in November 2012, you can read about that on our blog - we're-looking-for-wikipedians-in-residence. Also here.

Organisations we are currently working with

• The British Library cooperation in 2012-13 has centred on the Wikimedian in Residence project. You can find out more about it here.
• In 2013, we are planning to work with:
  • Natural History Museum and Science Museum - On our blog. The recruitment is now closed and we will soon be announcing the start of the Residency.
  • Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums - On our blog. The recruitment is now closed and we will soon be announcing the start of the Residency.
  • National Library of Scotland
  • Black Cultural Archives in cooperation with Equiano Centre

who will all have Wikimedians in Residence projects running for several months. We are currently discussing the details of the project with them, and will be putting the updates here soon.

• There are plans for further residencies, and so if you have any queries please contact the office on 0207 065 0990, or daria.cybulskawikimedia.org.uk

See also

• GLAM-WIKI Recommendations - the recommendations from the "GLAM-WIKI: Finding the common ground" conference, Canberra, 6-7 August 2009.
• WMUK library - books owned by WMUK, available for use