GLAM/Newsletter/October 2021/Contents/UK report
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British Library and Khalili Collections
British Library
This month I uploaded a number of entries to Wikidata, pertaining to the New Media Writing Prize. This prize, run since 2010, is awarded to outstanding pieces of electronic literature. All shortlisted and prize-winning authors for the main prize are now live on Wikidata, and further information on subcategory prizes will be uploaded throughout November. Queries will be uploaded to the Project Page for the British Library when they are available.
Khalili Collections
Two images relating to Islam from the Khalili Collections bulk upload have been given Featured Image status on Arabic Wikipedia, and both have been featured on Arabic Wikipedia's home page. A calligraphic panel by Abdülmecid I was Picture of the Day on 21st September, being seen 91,495 times. A painting relating to the Hajj was Picture of the Day on 1st November, getting 101,146 views. Arabic language volunteers have translated the descriptions. The Khalili partnership has already resulted in two Featured Images on English Wikipedia, four on Wikimedia Commons, and four on Persian Wikipedia.
The Talismanic Shirt with depictions of Mecca and Medina has for months been visible in English Wikipedia's Featured Pictures index, and also been highlighted in places such as the Islam portal, the religion portal, and the fashion portal. From July to October, this has resulted in 9.7 million views for this one image. With these numbers included, Khalili Collections images are routinely getting more than four million views per month.
This month has focused on enriching the data about objects relating to Islam and adding them to Wikipedia articles. English Wikipedia articles on Islamic intellectuals including Ibn Arabi, Qadi Ayyad, Jaghmini, and Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi now have additional images. There are now 673 Commons categories with Khalili Collections images: an increase of about 50. There are 8,745 Wikidata statements about the objects. I have set out suggestions on good practice in representing medieval and ancient manuscripts on Wikidata both in the on-wiki guidance for describing manuscripts and in a blog post published on Medium. In each case, my suggestions have been improved by community feedback. Following my own advice, I have concentrated on improving the representations of Islamic manuscripts in the Khalili Collections, and connecting them to the representations of their literary works. This allows us to ask Wikidata questions such as which literary works are represented in Khalili Collection manuscripts or which objects in the Khalili Collections have main text in Naskh script?
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