Press releases/Britain Loves Wikipedia

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Britain Loves Wikipedia

Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, Culture 24 and The Collections Trust join Wikipedia in celebrating Britain's cultural heritage

24 January 2010, UK: 'Britain Loves Wikipedia' is a month-long competition and series of events designed to photograph the treasures of our nation's museums and galleries. People from all ages, all backgrounds and all communities can take part in the competition, with the chance of winning a prize enticing them to actively involved themselves in recording and understanding the country's cultural treasures. All the photos submitted into 'Britain Loves Wikipedia' will be made available under a free license and can be used to illustrate Wikipedia articles. As a result, our nation's treasures will be viewable by all, not just by those that live nearby.

The month-long celebration begins at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on Sunday 31st January from 11.00 am to 4.00 pm in the Sackler Centre; everyone is welcome to come along and take part. Short talks from the Victoria and Albert Museum, Wikimedia UK and the Collections Trust will take place at 11.30, accompanied by free tea, coffee, and refreshments, followed by plenty of time in the afternoon to explore the museum and photograph its collections!

Britain Loves Wikipedia then continues with:

  • On the 6th/7th February, the Museum of Army Flying in Hampshire will be offering free entry to photographers as well as free tea or coffee, and will be allowing flash and tripod photography.
  • John Muir's Birthplace and Preston Grange Museum strike a romantic note for Valentines Day, hosting "East Lothian Photographers LOVE Wikipedia!" These host museums are opening up specially for photographers, and are providing a warm Scottish welcome with free tea and coffee to all participants, as well as tours and guides to the museums.
  • On the 20th February, The British Postal Museum & Archive will open the doors of its Museum Store in Debden, Essex to photographers. The British Postal Museum Store houses a variety of objects including letterboxes, telephone kiosks, postal vehicles, sorting machinery and the desk of Sir Rowland Hill (founder of the penny post). Refreshments will be available to participants and flash photography and tripods are welcome.

Throughout February, you can visit the following museums to take part in the competition:

  • Victoria and Albert Museum, London
  • Royal Air Force Museum, London and Cosford.
  • Museum of Army Flying, Hampshire
  • Horniman Museum, London
  • Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland
  • Ceredigion Museum, Wales

Prizes include a WikiReader - a copy of the entire English Wikipedia in your pocket. The best photograph from each RAF Museum site will receive £100.00 of goods from the Museum's shop. The best photograph taken at The British Postal Museum & Archive’s Museum Store will receive a trio of DVD box sets celebrating the work of the acclaimed GPO Film Unit, valued at £75. More prizes will be announced at the launch event on the 31st January.

Britain Loves Wikipedia is organized by Wikimedia UK in collaboration with the MLA, Collections Trust and Culture 24. Full information is available at http://www.britainloveswikipedia.org/. An initial event in February 2009 at the Victoria and Albert created over 300 photographs now available on Wikipedia. In June 2009, Wiki Loves Art in The Netherlands created over 10,000 photographs taken at 46 Dutch museums.

EDITORS' NOTES

About Wikimedia UK:

Wikimedia UK is an independent organisation that supports free and open knowledge throughout the United Kingdom, including promoting and supporting the projects of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation.

About Wikimedia Commons:

Wikimedia Commons is a free image and media file repository, and is a sister project to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It was started on 7 September 2004, and is operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. It currently contains over 5.5 million freely licensed images and media files.

About the Wikimedia Foundation:

The Wikimedia Foundation Inc. is the US-based non-profit organisation that operates some of the largest collaboratively-edited reference projects in the world. These include Wikipedia, one of the world's 10 most-visited websites, and Wikimedia Commons.

Further information:
Contact details:

Michael Peel, Chair, Wikimedia UK

  • Email: michael.peel@wikimedia.org.uk
  • Phone: +44 (0)7988 013 646
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