GLAM/Newsletter/February 2012/Contents/France report
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Continuation of the GLAM projects, GLAM Conference in Belgrade
GLAM-Wiki conference in Belgrade
Adrienne Alix (Serein) attended the GLAM-Wiki conference organized by Wikimedia Serbia in Belgrade on the 24 and 25 February. Her report is as follows.
On Friday, February 24 was held in Belgrade, Serbia, the first GLAM conference organized by Wikimedia Serbia. Wikimedians interested in GLAM projects from all over the world came to support Wikimedia Serbia and share their experiences in the event. Jan from Czech Republic, Orsolya from Wikimedia Hungary, Cristina from Lettera27 (the Italian foundation that supports WikiAfrica), Noopur from Wikimedia India, Kiril from Wikimedia Macedonia and me from Wikimédia France.
The conference was aimed at Serbian cultural institutions, to encourage them to work with Wikimedia Serbia to open their content and participate in the Wikimedia projects. There was obviously some heads of Serbian institutions in the hall, but also students. The conference was mainly in Serbian, but the presentations of the Wikimedian guests were predominantly in English.
The whole GLAM theme was covered: Mile Kiš, Serbian Wikimedian and organizer of the conference, began by explaining the organization of the Wikimedia movement, the actions of GLAM projects and why it is important for the diffusion of culture.
Nevenka Antić, representative of Creative Commons in Serbia, then explained the functioning of the Creative Commons licenses and their importance in the dissemination of knowledge.
The conference continued with the presentation of the Gutenberg project and the Ratsko Project by its director, Zoran Stefanovic. Both projects, pioneers of book digitization (Project Gutenberg was founded in 1971, the project Ratsko in 1997), show the importance of digitization for preservation and promotion of our historic and cultural heritage. Nikola Smolenski, long time Wikimedian, then presented the functioning of Wikisource and Mile Kiš demonstrated the QRPpedia project and how it was used, for example at Derby Museum (UK) to improve the visits.
The last part of the conference focused on feedback from abroad. Noopur form India explained how works the coordination between wikimedians of a country so vast as India, and that events and local projects were the key to the success of the first projects of the indian chapter. Cristina from Lettera27 presented the WikiAfrica project, wich aims to release cultural content by cultural institutions focusing on Africa, and to encourage the creation of encyclopedic content about Africa. Jan Loužek from Czech Republic explained the situation of the GLAM projects in his country, and Adrienne recalled the history of GLAM projects in France and made a focus on three partnerships: the French National Library, the Palace of Versailles and the city of Toulouse, and explain how we operate.
The conference was well organized with a very friendly atmosphere. The small number of Wikimedians was welcomed with great hospitality by the Serbs and relationships were forged that will be surely successful between us.
On Saturday, we spent time together for a debriefing conference about the day before, to make a point on things that had worked and worked less. Then we talked about the ways to initiate and monitor GLAM projects, sharing our experiences. (And after that go to the stop-ACTA protest in the main place of Belgrade!)
These two days, punctuated by parties and good understanding between all of us, will be obviously successful and Mile has quickly announced that he was contacted by institutions to discuss common projects!
A special thank to Mile for the perfect organization, for Milos (the best guide for a visit in Belgrade), and to all the wonderful Serbian Wikimedians!
News in brief
- The Hoxne Hoard: A French version of the article initially developed as part of the British Museum collaboration has been labeled "featured article" and is now linked to from the French language page of the British Museum: [1]
- Partnership with the Library and Archives of Toulouse: The projects to put the full Trutat and Ancely collections to Wikimedia Commons is on its rails and new uploads could be made soon. Jean-Frédéric made a lecture about it on February 14 during a symposium of the "Institut de recherche et d’innovation".
- GLAM toolbox: The GLAM toolbox is on its way, and we have a better view of what tools exist and what needs to be created. We want to thank Daniel Mietchen for the deep tools analysis, in the tool-testing reports.[See This Month in GLAM coverage]
- Museum of the Quai Branly: Thanks to Symac, we are in contact with the Quai Branly Museum to take part in their "Digital week" in April, 2012. Adrienne is currently discussing with them of a possible conference and workshops on "how to contribute to Wikimedia projects".
- Submission to a call for papers: Caroline submitted an answer to a call for papers for a collective book about “Photographer visitors: a tool to think the Museum” but our contribution was not kept.
- Joint letter to the French Ministry of Culture: Wikimedia France sent a letter to the French Ministry of Culture, co-written with the FFSAM (french federation of the friends of museum societies), "OrsayCommons" and "Louvre pour tous" (two groups of defense of museum visitors), in order to promote freedom of photography in museums
- Open GLAM event with the OKF: Following a proposal of the OKF (after we co-organized the Public Domain Day in France), we will organize with them, at the end of April, an "OpenGLAM day", with an highlight on legal questions.
