GLAM/Newsletter/May 2012/Contents/UK report
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Monmouthpedia launches; British Library Wikipedian in Residence
GLAM represented at WikiConference UK
On Saturday 12 May, the Science Museum in London played host to the second annual WikiConference UK. Home to the first major GLAM project, the UK has had a prosperous series of GLAM partnerships with institutions across the country ever since the Wikipedian in Residence project at the British Museum, London.
At WikiConference UK this year, there were several GLAM-related sessions on the schedule; a talk on the partnership with the Science Museum, a final call for a UK co-ordinator Wiki Loves Monuments co-ordinator, a presentation on "Europeana and GLAM", an introduction to the Open Domesday project and a GLAM panel.
Monmouthpedia launches to substantial media acclaim
Following 6 months of work, the Monmouthpedia project publicly launched. Following blog posts on the Wikimedia UK and Wikimedia Foundation blogs, 212 different news services in 33 different countries picked up on the story over 3 days, including the following coverage:
- The Huffington Post: Monmouthpedia: Monmouth 'Wikipedia Town' Makes World History.
- The Independent: Monmouth to become UK's first 'Wikipedia town'.
- The Telegraph: Monmouth to be world's first ‘Wikipedia town’.
- Soon to be on BBC Two: a TV segment as part of Discovering Welsh Towns.
The day began with experienced Wikimedians from across the country travelling to Monmouth Library to help local residents get to grips with contributing to Wikipedia. Wikimedians then moved to the "Monmouthpedia Control Centre" in Shire Hall, Monmouth where the media-monitoring team had been busy documenting the press coverage of Monmouthpedia - from all around the world. In the afternoon representatives from Wikimedia UK and Monmouthshire County Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding in front of TV cameras.
Later in the afternoon, a couple of Wikimedians went on to Monmouth Museum to help more locals learn the ropes of editing.
News in brief
- Wikipedian in Residence, British Library: May 3rd was the first day of the six month term for British Library Wikipedian in Residence Andrew Gray (Andrew Gray). From May to October, Andrew will be co-ordinating a number of projects including editathons, editing training for staff and academics, and the GLAM-WIKI conference in September 2012. June will see the upcoming WWI Editathon on the 16th, and a series of internal and external introductory Wikipedia workshops.
