Vatican library and Bodleian library July 2015

This was a 2½ hour workshop led by Martin Poulter in his capacity as Wikimedian In Residence at the Bodelian Libraries. It was hosted by Oxford University's Social Science Library on 7 July 2015.

The attendees were three staff from the Vatican Library and four from Bodleian Digital Library Systems and Services in Oxford University: six women and one man. A lot of them were in one way or another responsible for collections of digital material, and a purpose of the event was to get them thinking about Wikipedia and Wikimedia as platforms for sharing content.

They were given an overview presentation, covering content-sharing on Commons, book transcription on Wikisource, and Wikidata with demonstrations and exploration. We then explored basic Wikipedia editing and made some test edits in user space. It wasn't an editathon with target articles: the aim was more to show them "under the bonnet" and show that they could get changes made if they wanted. Each participant was given an Editing Wikipedia booklet, a wiki code cheat sheet and a "prescription pad" from which to request follow-up activities.

Evaluations and reflections to come.

Evaluation

Responses marked with † ticked the box saying they would prefer their comments not be used in future Wikimedia UK publicity.

Please rate the quality of the following.

• The workshop in general: mean 4.6 (all put 4 or 5)
• Content: mean 4.4 (all put 4 or 5)
• Trainers: mean 4.6 (all put 4 or 5)
• Materials available: 2 put "n/a"; of the remaining five, all put 4 of 5; mean 4.2
• Your confidence to edit Wikipedia: mean: 3.9 (five put 4 or 5)
• Your understanding of Wikipedia: mean 4.4 (six put 4 or 5)

Freetext comment: Why the emphasis on editing?

How likely are you to continue editing Wikipedia?

4 x "somewhat likely", 1 x "unsure" 2 x "somewhat unlikely"
One freetext comment: "I need to learn more"

Please write three words/expressions which describe this workshop for you.

• interesting; possibly too basic/slow; hands-on
• very interesting; stimulating; entertaining
• interesting; helpful; promotion
• clear; positive; well-connected
• useful; interesting; informative†
• useful; new; interesting†
• useful for beginners; trainer excellent; useful for my understanding of Wikipedia†

Tell us at least one thing that would have improved this workshop for you.

• Power point documentation†
• more focus on the client's needs†
• the basics of Wikipedia (I am totally newbie!)†
• Faster pace, more discussion of the Wikimedia projects/ developments
• (3 blank)

Further comments

• It was great
• I don't see the Vatican people editing Wiki, although Martin is certainly enthusiastic about it.
• (5 blank)