ARKive project

In the Summer of 2011, Wikimedia UK and ARKive are colloborating on a project to improve Wikipedia's coverage of threatened species. This will involve recruiting a fixed-period in-residence role that we are calling Wikipedia Outreach Ambassador. This will be a volunteer, using desk space at ARKive's offices in Bristol and with travel and subsistence supported by Wikimedia UK. Their role will require both on-wiki activity and involving the wider community through online and offline events.

Background

ARKive

ARKive is an initiative of the charity Wildscreen which aims to promote the protection of threatened species using the emotive power of wildlife films and photographs.

ARKive is a unique global initiative, gathering together the very best films and photographs of the world's species into one centralised digital library, to create a stunning audio-visual record of life on Earth.

The project has the support of the most famous names in wildlife filmmaking and photography, with more than 5,000 media donors from around the world contributing. The videos and photographs provided by these donors are freely accessible to all, from scientists and conservationists to the general public and school children, via ARKive's award-winning website.

Wikimedia UK

Wikipedia is an online collaborative encyclopaedia published under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Licence. The website is operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a Florida-incorporated charity.

Wikimedia UK is an independent not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, recognised by the Wikimedia Foundation as a local Wikimedia "chapter". Wikimedia UK was established with the objective to aid and encourage people to collect, develop and effectively disseminate knowledge and other educational, cultural and historic content in the public domain or under a licence that allows everyone to freely use, distribute and modify said content. As part of this mission it develops partnerships in the UK between the Wikimedia community and cultural institutions.

The role

We are aiming to support someone to do 20 days of work over the Summer, with an intended start date of 11th July. Working arrangements can be flexible, and will be agreed by the post holder and the project partners.

The Ambassador will have in-person access to Wildscreen for advice and support during the summer of 2011. Wikimedia UK will provide training and support throughout the period. This will include a full-day workshop and a named individual(s) to act as mentor. The Ambassador and mentor will work with ARKive staff to raise the team’s understanding of how best to work with Wikipedia. The Ambassador will be able to attend any training events run by Wikimedia UK in conjunction with its local and national partners.

The role will involve internal tasks of improving content and liaising with the Wikipedia and Wikiproject communities. Internal tasks will include:

• Improving the target articles using text and references from an agreed selection of ARKive's fact-files. This includes both extending and improving the content of the articles and increasing the number of helpful wiki-links between articles.
• Adding external links from target articles to relevant ARKive pages, on a wide range of specific species.
• Informing other language Wikipedias of relevant articles in English, where this is not already being done by Wikipedia's processes.
• Keeping relevant Wikiprojects informed of the improvement work.

During the post, the partners will jointly organise two events:

1. an externally facing event (to be agreed) bringing together experts and volunteers to work on improving the target pages.

2. an online event aiming to engage volunteers from both ARKive and the Wikimedia community to work on improving the target pages.

Applying

We are looking for someone self-motivated, able to work with others, with very good written language skills and a keen interest in wildlife and free knowledge. Interviews will take place face-to-face in Bristol.

Please send a CV and short covering letter, explaining your interest in the role, by email to Martin Poulter, martin.poulterwikimedia.org.uk by the 27th of June.

The ARKive contact is Ellie Dart, Online Outreach Manager, Ellie.Dartwildscreen.org.uk .