Reports/2013/November

Below is the Wikimedia UK monthly report for the period 1st to 30th November 2013. If you want to keep up with the chapter's activities as they happen, please subscribe to our blog, join a UK mailing list, and/or follow us on Twitter. If you have any questions or comments, please drop us a line on this report's talk page.

Program activities

Community

The second Cardiff wikimeet took place at the beginning of the month with around twenty Members turning up as well as a few local non-Members.

GLAM activities

BBC Open Content

For the first time, the BBC have dipped their toe into open content waters, releasing three extracts from Radio 4 programmes from their archives, 'Desert Island Discs and 'Today' under CC-by licences, as a prelude to releasing around 200 more at an event London on 18 January 2014 (book via that link). The donation came at the behest of Wikimedian Andy Mabbett, who is running the project with the BBC and has written about the initiative on his blog.

Mining for information

The tour of the Mining Institute

The North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers in Newcastle upon Tyne was the site of an edit-a-thon relating to the institute's collection. Robert Forsythe delivered a report on the event, which included a tour round the collections, and there was enthusiasm for the topic, with one attendee travelling from the other side of the country to be there. The institute is considering a future event based around their collection so there may be more to come!

Scotland

The Wikimedian in Residence at the National Library of Scotland organised an edit-a-thon on the subject of early photography. Topics included the Edinburgh Calotype Club, the oldest photography club in the world, and participants were able to access the Library's digital collections. An editing session with the University of Edinburgh's PhotoSoc is also being considered. In Glasgow an edit-a-thon was run on the topic of Scottish women on Wikipedia on Sunday 16th November. Details of the outcomes can be found here.

Photography

There was a strong photography theme in November. Building on the success of Wiki Loves Monuments, a Wiki Takes event was organised based around London's tube system. The idea was to take photographs of Grade I and II* listed buildings which weren't covered on Commons and were within easy reach of tube stations. Towards the end of the month there was an edit-a-thon-cum-photography-session at Conway Hall in London, with nine articles created.

Education and expert outreach

The Humanities Research Institute at the University of Sheffield hosted a workshop on "Wikimedia: linking research impact and open education". This is part of a series being delivered by Martin Poulter in universities around the country as part of the collaboration between Jisc and Wikimedia UK. The goal is to make educators, researchers and other people in universities aware of ways they can work productively with the Wikimedia projects, and to get them to commit to specific "next steps". Among the 27 attendees from across the university were some MA students in topics such as public engagement and digital librarianship. Evaluation forms and reflections are written up on the Wikimedia UK wiki. A quickie version of the workshop also took place at the EduWiki conference.

Also in his Jisc Wikimedia Ambassador capacity, Martin attended a day event on "enhancing discoverability" of digital resources such as scanned documents. He and other speakers shared perspectives on how to promote the finding and use of small collections of scholarly digital content in universities and cultural institutions. His in-person presentation and written briefing are feeding into national advice which will be published in the coming months. He also spoke to the Jisc Innovation Group - a meeting of programme directors and managers - about new developments in Wikimedia and the role of free and open content in Wikimedia's success.

EduWiki Conference 2013

On 1-2 November we have delivered an annual education conference. To watch a brilliant video summary of the event please see below.

Other activities

Wiki Loves Monuments

The UK's logo for Wiki Loves Monuments

Microgrants

Information about microgrants that are currently running, and how to submit a microgrant application of your own, are at Microgrants/Applications.

Upcoming activities in October and November

October

For events in December 2013 and onwards, please see Events.

Administrative activities

News from the Chief Exec

For information on Jon's activities this month, see News from the Office.

Communications

Please see the above links to relevant press coverage received in November and blog posts published during the same period.

If you're interested in getting more involved with our communications or have any questions or comments, please email Stevie Benton – stevie.benton@wikimedia.org.uk

Fundraising and Membership

Fundraising

This month, we received £xx in one-off donations, with 5 individual donations. The average donation amount was £xx - xx% of these donors have had Gift Aid Declarations made and matched with their records. If anyone would like a full (but anonymised) csv file with more information, please get in touch with katherine.bavagewikimedia.org.uk and let her know your requirements.

There were xx successful direct debits this month, bringing in a total of xx

Membership

Up to 30th November 2013:

• xx new (membership commenced in preceding three months) and current members - with xx new join-ups in October.
• xx 'grace' members (membership within six months after date membership should be renewed)

This adds up to xx members who were eligible to vote

You can also view full membership figures over a longer period here