Wikipedia:GLAM/Connected Heritage/Residencies
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Mini Wikimedian in Residence
[edit]The final phase of the Connected Heritage project is to embed a Digital Skills Wikimedian within 2-4 small or medium sized heritage organisations for a short term residency of between 6 weeks to 3 months. The Wikimedian in Residence is there to build open knowledge practice by offering bespoke advice on things like developing digital skills and improving digital preservation.
As of summer 2023, we have been able to allow organisations to host Residencies with existing members of staff or volunteers at the helm. You can read more about all our Residencies below.
From February 2023 to October 2024 Dr Lucy Hinnie ((EriedgenArc (talk · contribs)) has been working with the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) and GLAM-E Lab in Exeter as their Wikimedian in Residence and, latterly, Digital Research Fellow.
The RAMM is the largest museum and art gallery in Exeter. It was founded in 1868 and holds over one million items. It was Museum of the Year in 2012. GLAM-E is a joint initiative between the Centre for Science, Culture and the Law at the University of Exeter and the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy at NYU Law.
The aim of this Residency is to scale up current open knowledge practice at RAMM. This work has taken three formats so far.
Supporting Image Uploads
[edit]As part of the Lab’s ongoing work with postgraduate students, earlier this year we supported the upload of a selection of images from the University of Exeter Special Collections.
They are images from Christopher Saxton's 16th century atlas of England and Wales, and are of incredible quality. You can view the images here.
By integrating these images more widely across Wiki platforms, we have been able to drive more traffic towards Special Collections, and increase viewer numbers
Images from Saxton's Atlas of England and Wales
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Upskilling Volunteers
[edit]From April 2023, we worked with a group of digital volunteers at the Museum, providing a three-week introductory course to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. Over the course of three weeks, we covered the basics of editing, common questions about Wiki and cultural heritage, and how to plan and formulate impactful edits.
Devon in Red
[edit]We were so taken with the material that we uncovered during our work with volunteers, particularly the work of local historians on Devon Women in Public and Professional Life, 1900–1950: Votes, Voices and Vocations that we have arranged another, larger-scale event in September: Devon in Red.
If you are local to Exeter, you can register for the event here. Please note that some small bursaries are available to enable attendance for those who would otherwise be unable to attend. Please contact us at connectedheritage@wikimedia.org.uk for further information.
Establishing a Legacy
[edit]We are working closely with RAMM to develop and circulate materials for volunteers and staff in the future to take charge of their own Wiki training, and to embed digital practice in the Museum going forward.
Blackpool Social Club is ‘the home of creativity on the Fylde Coast’. They work with creative minds and artists throughout the area to promote and celebrate the vibrant Blackpool cultural scene. The Social Club is part of the Aunty Social Network. Founded in 2011, Aunty Social is ‘a community arts organisation that gives people opportunities to develop their creativity, learn new skills and connect with others through positive arty activities’.
In September 2023, Antonia Charlesworth Stack took on the role of Wikimedian in Residence at Blackpool Social Club. She has written about her first week at the blog below. We are so excited to be working with Antonia and the very best of Blackpool’s cultural history.
Blackpool Social Club Hosts Two Month Wikithon (5 September 2023)
Founded in February 2018 by Joseph Galliano, Queer Britain is the UK’s first and only LGBTQ+ museum. After four years as a museum without walls, premises opened in Granary Square, King’s Cross, London on May 5 2022. Their first exhibition ‘We Are Queer Britain’ won Best Small Museum Project 2022.
We are thrilled to be working with Queer Britain to support an in-house residency from September 2023. Evie Moore (she/her), member of the Museum Welcome Team, will be working to embed Wiki practice within the museum’s collections.
Connected Heritage and The Mixed Museum first decided to partner up in March 2022. The Mixed Museum is a digital museum and archive that contributes to widening knowledge about Black and ethnic minority British history through sharing and preserving the social history of racial mixing in Britain for future generations. With only one full time member of staff, the Museum is able to make agile decisions and start new projects, but is now seeking to consolidate and build capacity. Partnership with Wikimedia UK was about exploring open knowledge and how editing Wikimedia projects could drive traffic and engagement to the Mixed Museum's online exhibits and collections, while simultaneously improving the information available on Wikipedia and in Wikimedia Commons about Britain's multracial history.
Our first partnership was based around hosting 2 interns from Queen Mary University London for a 4 week long microinternship in 2022.
After the success of the internships, The Mixed Museum agreed to host Leah Emary as Wikimedian in Residence from September 2022-March 2023. Leah spent one full day per week embedded with the Museum, supporting open knowledge work and embedding it into existing museum practice. Leah also drafted a digital volunteering scheme to inform a potential Wikipedia-based volunteering program at the museum. The microinternships ran again in March 2023.
121 Training model
[edit]The museum director was trained to edit Wikipedia and upload to Wikimedia Commons over the course of 3 months in 2022. The training took an unusual format, which is outlined on this page.