GLAM/Newsletter/October 2024/Single

This Month in GLAM – Volume XIV, Issue X, October 2024

Albania report • Brazil report • Canada report • Colombia report • Italy report • Kosovo report • Latvia report • Netherlands report • New Zealand report • North Macedonia report • Poland report • Spain report • UK report • USA report • Biodiversity Heritage Library report • AvoinGLAM report • Memory of the World report • Wikidata report • Calendar

Wiki Loves Monuments in Albania and Kosovo, 2024

By Vyolltsa

Highlights from Wiki Loves Monuments 2024 in Albania and Kosovo

The Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group organized Wiki Loves Monuments in Albania and Kosovo, which took place from October 1 to October 31, 2024. Photographers and members of the Wikimedia community came together to document and preserve the architectural and historical monuments of Albania and Kosovo. Participants uploaded 308 photos, enhancing the preservation and visibility of important heritage sites across Albania and Kosovo. These images are now freely accessible on Wikimedia Commons. W e are currently finalizing the logistics of selecting the jury members to evaluate the images. We wish the best of luck to all participants!

Below are some of the images shared during this year’s campaign:

Social media

We have a public channel on Telegram Wikipedians of Albanian Language (language used mostly Albanian) if you want to join and discuss Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you canː

Like our Facebook page, follow us on formerly Twitter or X or Instagram.

Amazon holotypes: how the species were discovered

By Sandra Soster

At the image: Domingos Soares Ferreira Penna, a Brazilian naturalist, who founded the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi.

As we told in our August 2024 report, Wiki Movimento Brasil is the main organizer of the project "Amazonian Knowledge on Wiki" with funding from Creative Commons and Wikimedia Switzerland. It aims to disseminate information about the biodiversity of the Pará Amazon. The collections, especially those related to biodiversity, emphasize the crucial role of open knowledge in preparation for COP-30, which will be held in Belém in 2025.

The first deliverable of the project took place on August 22, 23, and 24, in an innovative event that brought together 20 geoscience professionals for the Open Mapping and Documentation of the Zoobotanical Park of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi.

The second deliverable is the ongoing Wiki Contest Climate Justice and the Amazon, an initiative aimed at improving and expanding content about the Amazon and issues related to climate justice on the Portuguese Wikipedia. The contest is dedicated to the Amazon region and topics related to the agenda of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP-30) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We encourage the creation and improvement of articles on sustainability, climate change, Indigenous peoples' rights, environmental policies, biodiversity, and other essential topics for the preservation of the Amazon and the fight against the climate crisis. Contest period: October 9 to November 30.

The third deliverable is the upload of the herbarium collection of The Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG) available at REFLORA platform. The 10,684 uploaded images depict over 1,800 species of plants. 1,121 of those species now have their first image thanks to this collection (i.e., now they have a P18 on Wikidata).

See the Amazonian Knowledge on Wiki's images and all the uploaded images from Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi herbarium.

Holotypes

Have you ever heard about Holotype?

A holotype (Latin: holotypus) is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several examples, but explicitly designated as the holotype. Under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), a holotype is one of several kinds of name-bearing types. In the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) and ICZN, the definitions of types are similar in intent but not identical in terminology or underlying concept.

A holotype is not necessarily "typical" of that taxon, although ideally it is. Sometimes just a fragment of an organism is the holotype, particularly in the case of a fossil. For example, the holotype of Duriatitan|Pelorosaurus humerocristatus (Duriatitan), a large herbivorous dinosaur from the early Cretaceous period, is a fossil leg bone stored at the Natural History Museum in London. Even if a better specimen is subsequently found, the holotype is not superseded.

Source: en.Wikipedia.

For example, the holotypes for some of the Amazonian rainforest and Atlantic Forest are shown below. They are preserved specimens of their species, held by two great Brazilian institutions, each one safeguarding an amazing and under-risk biome:

1. Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (Amazonian rainforest) - uploaded for this project

Brazil's Legal Amazon represents 59% of the national territory
ALISMATACEAE Sagittaria amazonica
ANNONAECAE Diclinanona matogrossensis
DILLENIACEAE Davilla lanosa
MARANTACEAE Calathea aberrans Huber

2. Instituto Nacional da Mata Atlântica (Atlantic Forest) - uploaded between 2022 and 2024

The state of Espírito Santo is home to 32% of the native species of the Atlantic Forest
BEGONIACEAE Begonia rubriflora
GESNERIACEAE Codonanthe gibbosa
MELASTOMATACEAE Pleroma costatocalyx
ORCHIDACEAE Pabstiella pseudotrifida

See the holotypes from Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi uploaded on Commons.

See the Instituto Nacional da Mata Atlântica's GLAM page and the uploaded holotypes.

FIMS Graduate Library Wiki Club Lunch & Learn

Written by Erin Bourgard, Acting Director of the FIMS Graduate Library; published by Erniee jo

FIMS Graduate Library Wiki Club Lunch & Learn

The FIMS Graduate Library is hosting monthly Wikipedia meetups focused on the overlapping connection between information professionals – librarians, journalist, media providers – and Wikipedia editorship. Held on the third Monday of each month, this Wiki Club is an opportunity for faculty, students, and staff at Western University's Faculty of Information and Media Studies learn about Wikipedia and to improve the information in its articles. Food and refreshments for our monthly meetup is funded through Wikimedia Canada. While editing, we engage in conversations about Wikipedia and its place within the wider open information ecosystem.

In October, we held the 2nd Wiki Club meet up as a pizza party that coincided with Open Access Week. There were seven attendees, and the editing activity was focused on learning how to add reference citations to Wikipedia articles.

¿Por qué y para qué usar Wikidata en Colombia? / Why and for what purpose should Wikidata be used in Colombia?

By Hiperterminal

Exploramos usos de Wikidata en el contexto colombiano

En una sesión híbrida, realizada el sábado 5 de Octubre de 2024, nos encontramos para explorar el uso de datos abiertos enlazados con Wikidata. Esto nos permitió encontrarnos físicamente en Bogotá y con personas de otras ciudades de Colombia para poder compartir sobre cómo funciona Wikidata. La memoria de esta actividad se encuentra en este enlace y las diapositivas presentadas en este otro enlace.

We explore Wikidata uses in the Colombian context

In a hybrid session, held on Saturday, October 5, 2024, we met to explore the use of linked open data on Wikidata. This allowed us to meet physically in Bogotá and with people from other cities in Colombia to be able to share how Wikidata works. The memory of this activity is in this link and the slides presented in this other link.

Empowering Italian GLAMs

By Marta Arosio

The first phase of the "Empowering Italian GLAMs" project, funded by the Wikimedia Foundation, concluded with impactful outcomes for Italy’s cultural sector. This initiative provided training and resources to professionals from Italian GLAM institutions—Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums—enhancing their engagement with Wikimedia platforms and promoting open access to cultural assets. Through workshops, webinars, and one-on-one guidance, participants learned best practices for contributing to Wikimedia Commons and Italian Wikipedia. The project fostered collaboration and knowledge-sharing, aiming to empower GLAM professionals to independently contribute digital content that reflects Italy's rich heritage.

The project’s outputs included the uploading of a range of digitized cultural materials, from historical texts to artifacts, which were previously inaccessible to the public online. Collaborating institutions not only increased their visibility but also advanced digital inclusion in the cultural sector. Moving forward, the success of this phase provides a strong foundation for future expansion. By building on the newly formed network, the project seeks to deepen support for GLAM institutions, empowering them to engage continuously with global audiences through Wikimedia, thus enriching the world’s access to Italian heritage. Wikimedia Italia also plans to develop an app to streamline uploads to Commons and help GLAMs pursue an open content policy via a data management plan.

More information at m:Empowering Italian GLAMs/Final report

Edit-a-thon at the City Museum of Mitrovica

By Ritamaliqi

Edit-a-thon Collaboration between Wikimedians of Albanian Language and the City Museum of Mitrovica

We are thrilled to share the successful outcome of the recent edit-a-thon organized in collaboration between the Wikimedians of Albanian and the City Museum of Mitrovica. This event brought together passionate participants to create and improve articles on Albanian Wikipedia, focusing on the history, culture, and art of Mitrovica.

Held on September 25th at the City Museum of Mitrovica, the edit-a-thon aimed to enrich the Albanian Wikipedia with comprehensive and informative content about this historically significant city. Participants worked diligently to research and write about Mitrovica’s cultural heritage, museums, local artists, and significant events that have shaped the city.

This initiative not only helped to fill gaps in Albanian-language content but also empowered participants with new skills in Wikipedia editing and research. The collaborative effort is a testament to the importance of preserving local heritage in the digital space, making knowledge about Mitrovica’s cultural and historical significance accessible to all.

Here are some of the articles that were worked on during the event: Arsimi në Mitrovicë, Stacioni hekurudhor i Mitrovicës, Miniera e Trepçës, and Muzeu i Kristaleve të Trepçës

A heartfelt thank you to all who contributed to this enriching experience. Your efforts have made a lasting impact on preserving and promoting Mitrovica's rich history and culture for future generations to discover and learn from.

We encourage you to explore these articles and deepen your understanding of the beautiful and culturally rich city of Mitrovica!

Contact us

We have a public Telegram channel (language used mostly Albanian) if you want to join and discuss Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you canː

Like our Facebook page, follow us on X formerly Twitter or Instagram.

Wikidata Workshop 2024: National Library of Latvia

By Alan Ang

Overview

From the 1 to 3 October, Alan Ang from Wikimedia Deutschland and Wikidata volunteer, Camillo Pellizzari user: Epìdosis (talk · contribs), were invited to run a three-day Wikidata workshop for 25 librarians from the National Library of Latvia.

You can read more about the workshop here. All the presentation material, which we think constitute a pretty comprehensive set of resources for the onboarding of librarians onto Wikidata, can be accessed via commons:Category:National Library of Latvia - Wikidata workshop 2024 presentations

Synthetic program

Day	Time	Theme	Slides and reference materials	Presenter(s)
October 1st	9:30-11:00	Introduction (general; to LOD; to Wikidata); use case sharing (Wikidata in libraries)	File:NLL2024- Introduction LOD, Wikidata & Use Cases.pdf	Alan Ang (WMDE)
	11:15-12:15	Basic editing + demo	File:NLL2024- Editing Wikidata.pdf	Alan Ang (WMDE)
	13:15-13:35	Data modelling	File:NLL2024 - Data modelling in Wikidata.pdf	Epìdosis + Alan Ang (WMDE)
	13:35-14:55	Babel and gadgets + demo + practice	File:NLL2024 - Advantages of an account in Wikidata.pdf	Epìdosis
	15:15-15:30	External IDs	File:NLL2024 - External IDs in Wikidata.pdf	Epìdosis
	15:30-16:30	Reconciliation I (Mix'n'match + demo + practice)	[Live use of Mix'n'match]	Epìdosis
October 2nd	9:30-9:35	Overview of day 1: LOD, editing, properties, reconciling catalogs	/	Alan Ang (WMDE)
	9:35-10:35	Reconciliation II (Mix'n'match + demo + practice)	[Live use of Mix'n'match, including live import of catalog 6497]	Epìdosis
	10:35-11:25	Bulk imports (QuickStatements + demo + practice)	File:NLL2024- Importing into Wikidata QuickStatements.pdf	Alan Ang (WMDE)
	11:40-12:20	Wikibase (introduction; use case sharing; Wikibase Cloud + practice)	File:NLL2024- Wikibase.pdf	Alan Ang (WMDE)
	13:20-14:55	Querying Wikidata I (introduction; Query Builder + demo; WDQS + demo)	File:NLL2024 - SPARQL queries in Wikidata.pdf	Epìdosis + Alan Ang (WMDE)
	15:10-16:30	Querying Wikidata II (Query Builder practice + WDQS practice)	[Live use of WDQS]; see Wikidata:WikiProject Latvia/NLL 2024/Queries	Epìdosis + Alan Ang (WMDE)
October 3rd	9:30-10:00	Overview of day 2	/	Alan Ang (WMDE)
	10:00-10:30	Accessing Wikidata's data	Wikidata:Data access	Alan Ang (WMDE)
	10:30-10:45	Using Wikidata to correct mistakes in authority files	File:NLL2024 - Wikidata for authority files.pdf (slides 1-23)	Epìdosis
	10:45-11:00	Use case sharing (NLCZ)	File:NLL2024 - NLCZ and Wikidata.pdf	Epìdosis + Alan Ang (WMDE)
	11:15-11:35	Use case sharing (SBN)	File:NLL2024 - SBN and Wikidata.pdf	Epìdosis
	11:35-12:15	VIAF and ISNI	File:NLL2024 - VIAF and ISNI in Wikidata.pdf	Epìdosis
	13:15-13:45	Data enrichment (from catalogs to Wikidata, from Wikidata to catalogs)	File:NLL2024 - Wikidata for authority files.pdf (slides 24-31)	Epìdosis + Alan Ang (WMDE)
	13:45-14:15	Wikidata's ontology and controlled vocabularies	File:NLL2024 - Ontology and controlled vocabularies in Wikidata.pdf	Epìdosis
	14:15-14:45	Wikidata and other Wikimedia projects (PetScan)	[Live use of PetScan]	Epìdosis
	15:00-16:15	Lexicographical data; reusing Wikidata's data; Wikimedia projects and WikiProjects on Wikidata; Wikimedia affiliates	File:NLL2024- Lexicographical data.pdf	Alan Ang (WMDE)
	16:15-16:30	Possible follow-ups	See below #Possible follow-ups	Epìdosis

Statistics on edits (October 1-3):

https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/National_Library_of_Latvia/Workshop_2024

3535 total edits
1841 references added
386 edited items (282 existing, 104 created)

Highlights from the Third Wiki Loves Fashion Campaign in the Netherlands

By Mx Lucy

Wiki Loves Fashion 2024: Where Tradition and Modern Glamour met

Have you ever considered creating a Wikipedia article on a fashion staple that seems so familiar yet remains undocumented? That’s the heart of Wiki Loves Fashion 2024, a campaign to enrich Dutch Wikipedia with new articles on fashion.

This year marked the third Wiki Loves Fashion event in the Netherlands, an initiative aimed at expanding freely accessible knowledge on fashion, textiles, and clothing while addressing Wikipedia’s gender gap. During the campaign week, held from September 28 to October 5, several new articles were added to Dutch Wikipedia. From the origins of the skirt to the invention of false eyelashes and the cultural significance of the Heru, the additions highlighted both iconic and underrepresented elements of fashion history.

Wiki Goes Carribean x Wiki Loves Fashion

The event concluded with a special gathering at the National Archives in The Hague, hosted in collaboration with the Wiki goes Caribbean project. Fashion designer and historian Laurindo Andrea captivated attendees with insights into the cultural heritage embedded in fashion.

He stressed the importance of accurate metadata on Wikimedia Commons for preserving this heritage, sparking participants to dive into Wikipedia editing. With the help of the ISA tool, they enhanced descriptions and metadata to make fashion items even more discoverable and accessible.

With this year’s Wiki Loves Fashion wrapped up, we’re already looking forward to Wiki Loves Fashion 2025!

Auckland Museum Wikimedian in Residence, Te Maori edit-a-thons & NZ Species edit-a-thons

By Winnieswikiworld, Eyeup & Ambrosia10

Auckland Museum Wikimedian in Residence

Auckland Museum welcomes the first full-time Wikimedian in Residence (WiR) to the Collection Information Access team at Tāmaki Paenga Hira. Supported and funded by the Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand (WANZ) group, this 12-month project will build off previous Museum wiki workplans with a special focus on community engagement.

Winnieswikiworld comes to the role after completing the 2023–2024 Museum Wikipedia Summer Students Programme. Progress has already begun with the conception of two new projects, Migrants of Colour Stories Aotearoa which aims to increase and improve content and visibility of migrant people of colour and their histories in Aotearoa New Zealand. The second project, Wikiproject x Online Cenotaph utilises Auckland Museum’s Online Cenotaph database to increase, diversify and improve Wikipedia bios of New Zealand service people and New Zealand's involvement in conflict.

Two articles were made in the first week of residency which engage with both these project themes. These were for brothers and World War One soldiers of Chinese heritage, Albert Victor Sing who served with A Squadron, Auckland Mounted Rifles and Herbert Stanley Sing who was killed in action at the Battle of the Somme. H. S. Sing’s name can be found inscribed in the walls at The Auckland Museum World War One Hall of Memories.

Planning has begun on various events that aim to increase Wikipedia usership across Auckland GLAMs and bring our Wikimedia community together. More on that to come…

Te Maori edit-a-thons – Tauoma Takatā a Te Maori

On September 10th of this year people throughout Aotearoa New Zealand marked 40 years since the opening of Te Maori, an exhibition that re-examined and reshaped the way that Māori taonga (sacred Indigenous objects) are understood and displayed in museum contexts.

To mark this anniversary the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa) hosted two edit-a-thons in September and October to add to and improve the articles and information available about Te Maori on Wikipedia. The aspiration to add information about the stories and people that made Te Maori possible precipitated an examination of how edit-a-thons are presented, communicated and conducted and whether these approaches could be Indigenised within a museum context.

A period of consultation with Māori staff at Te Papa and Kahui Kaitiaki, a collective of Māori museum professionals resulted in the creation of new kupu Māori (Māori words) that describe edit-a-thons (tauoma takatā) and Wikipedians (ringa takatā mātāpunenga). It also gave us a structure for the edit-a-thons that incorporates Māori protocols or tikanga for safe participation in knowledge sharing opportunities. This new approach to edit-a-thons was grounded in three Māori value systems, tika (appropriate), pono (valid) and aroha (kind).

Tika means approaching Wikipedia article writing and edit-a-thons with the intention of them being correct according to Māori knowledge transference systems and what is appropriate knowledge to be shared and not. Pono means ensuring that these approaches and intentions remain valid for Māori and interactions with them throughout are honest. Aroha means approaching edit-a-thons collaboratively with the conscious intentions to share space, knowledge, be kind and supportive.

The edit-a-thons were successful in adding content, references and Wikidata items related to Te Maori, as well as building participants’ knowledge and skills. In particular, the creation of articles for Te Maori: Te Hokinga Mai about the New Zealand tour of the exhibition, and Mina McKenzie, the only woman on the Te Maori organising committee was a big win.

See our framework for running a Tauoma Takatā

New Zealand Species Edit-a-thons

New Zealand Species Edit-a-thon social media promo

Editors Ambrosia10, Stitchbird2 and Noracrentiss organised two successful edit-a-thons held at the native botanic garden and forest reserve Ōtari-Wilton's Bush.

As part of our outreach attempting to invite new editors to the event organisers Stitchbird2 & Ambrosia10 each recorded a short video promo which were released on multiple social media sites.

Multiple New Zealand species stub articles were improved, images were added to Wikimedia Commons and improvements were made to Wikidata species items. New editors as well as editors new to editing species articles were successfully up-skilled as a result of one to one training offered by experienced contributors.

Organisers created resources such as a slide deck giving an introduction to editing species articles, a document listing active species related WikiProjects and a google sheet listing stub articles to be editing with links to resources. Further information about these resources can be found on the event page.

Organisers will be creating a report on this effort which will be shared both with Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand as well as with the wider Wiki community. Organisers would like to thank the Wellington City Council and Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand for all the support giving to organisers to provide this event.

WIKIMEDIA MKD's successful GLAM programme!

By Velkovski.b

As one of the key programmes, Wikimedia MKD dedicates its efforts, creativity and channels its productivity potentials to expend and further develop its GLAM programme. Collaboration with GLAM institutions, as it was the case in the past, proved to be very productive and efficient in creating new free content on Wikipedia and its related projects, as well as, creating new potential for extending the organizations network and membership. As of October, with more than 500 articles as an outcome of the GLAM activities, Wikimedia MKD is additionally motivated to continue its good development path. This year Wikimedia MKD's GLAM programme was topic-oriented on 'Climate and Climate Changes'.

Wikipedian-in-Residence

Wikimedia MKD tries to connect with as many institutions as it can in order to establish excellent relations for collaboration and enriching the content on Wikipedia and its projects. WiR is a project that is one of the most successful among the GLAM activities. This year, the topic is climate change. From April 2, 2024, in cooperation with the Administration for Hydro meteorological Affairs, for which several native Wikipedians have been agreed. In addition, Wikimedia MKD continues its collaboration with the Institute for Macedonian Literature, where one WiR is conducting the activities. As of October 2024, 215 new articles were created as part of the WiR activities, numerous workshops were organized and further collaboration were established, such as NGO Vila Zora and the Macedonian Ecological Association.

Collaborations

University of Goce Delchev

Wikimedia MKD continues to establish partnerships and signing memorandums for collaboration with various GLAM and education institutions in Macedonia. The newest established collaboration is the signing of Memorandum for Collaboration with the University of Goce Delchev in Shtip. The Memorandum was signed on 4 June 2024 at the University's offices, where Wikimedia MKD's delegation was received by the University's leading personnel. This memorandum formalizes the longer collaboration that existed between the University and Wikimedia MKD. The mutual goals of the collaboration are creating free access to data, free Wikipedia content, improving Wikipedia's sister projects and involving a larger number of people, educational workers and volunteers, into Wikimedia activities.

Municipality of Demir Hisar

The latest formalized collaboration comes from Demir Hisar. The Municipality of Demir Hisar and Wikimedia MKD signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on 11 September 2024. This memorandum confirms the commitment of the two organizations to cooperate together, and more specifically the Municipality of Demir Hisar with its potential to help Wikimedia MKD in achieving its stated goals - free access to free content and knowledge. Through cultural, scientific, historical, museum and socio-political materials, Demir Hisar will provide significant help and support for the achievement of the organization's goals. The mayor, Mr. Nikola Najdovski, and the executive director of Wikimedia MKD, Mrs. Snezhana Shtrkovska, signed this important document for Wikimedia MKD at the premises of the Municipality of Demir Hisar, which significantly increases the potential for action of Wikimedia MKD.

Content Creation

Wiki Camp Struga 2024

WikiCamps proved to be very successful projects that were organized in the past and one of the organization's projects that result with significant amount of contributions to the Wikimedia Projects. Since the goal of Wikimedia MKD is through volunteering and cooperation to create free knowledge available for everyone, Wiki Camps are excellent events that facilitate achieving these goals.

Organized for the Wiki Club members and active participants, the Wiki Camp offers excellent opportunity to learn new things, contribute Wikipedia, have fun and achieve awards. Like almost all camps in the past, this Wiki Camp was thematic and the editing topic of the Wiki Camp participants was 'Climate Changes'. The participants were supposed to create new articles on Macedonian on the given topic and the most productive and effective participants were awarded with small awards as a sign of acknowledgment of their effort and love for creating new free knowledge. By the end of the camp the participants created 215 new articles on the Macedonian Wikipedia on the given topic.

Veles Climate Changes

Wikimedia MKD and the NGO Vila Zora from Veles joint their forces and organized a successful workshop in Veles, Macedonia.

The workshop was held in the city library Goce Delcev in Veles on 18-04-2024. It started at 10:30 local time and lasted more than 3 hours. Members of the Wiki Club Veles, members of the club Wiki Senior and other members and supporters of both organizations took part in - or in total 27 people, led by the coordinator Lili Arsova. The participants had an opportunity to enrich or create new articles on the Macedonian Wikipedia on the topic 'Climate and Climate Changes', as well as be lectured on the topic. In total, 14 participants created 36 new articles on the Macedonian Wikipedia.

MYLA Workshop

This event took started at 10:00 local time at the Macedonian Young Lawyer Association (MYLA) offices. Having in mind the nature of the event and reaching optimal effect, the number of participants that took part in the event was 9 – all MYLA members or employees. The first part of the event was a theoretical presentation or lecture of on Wikipedia and its basic editing and using principles. This lecture was held by the Executive Director Snežana Štrkovska. The second part of the event was actual working on Wikipedia and training the participles on how to contribute Wikipedia. By the end of the event, all participants managed to create one article, or in total new 9 law-related articles were created.

Josip Broz Tito High School Workshop

The event took place on 30 May 2024 at the premises of the Museum of Macedonian Struggle in Skopje. The edit-a-thon started at 12:00 local time and it was organized with students of Josip Broz Tito High School in Skopje. The total number of students that took part in was 10 led by the coordinator Irena Trajkovska Sterjoska.

The event was opened by the MES Project Coordinator Frosina Panduroska Dramikjanin. The lecture itself was followed by a debate between the participants of the event, which was a detailed analysis of the problem through the students' thinking and view of the world. The second part of this event was actual editing on Wikipedia in Macedonian. The students and the participants of the event edited, created and/ or translated articles in Macedonian. The topic of editing was 'Climate Changes' and the students were free to pick whatever climate changes article they want to work on. The total number of newly-created articles during this event was 13.

Ohrid Workshop

On 26th June 2024 the members of Wiki club Ohrid organized a workshop on this subject. The workshop started at 9:00 am at ‘Pirustija Nedanovski’ in the village of Ramne, Ohrid. The workshop was opened by Natasha Nedanoska who talked about this important subject, the climate changes and how to make contributions and decrease the consequences and the negative impact of the climate changes. After the lecture, members of Wiki club Ohrid wrote articles on this subject on the Macedonian Wikipedia.

The workshop ended at 12:00 pm. The participants wrote 5 articles on the spot, but the members of Wiki club also continued editing and contributing from home.

What's up in GLAM-Wiki in Poland

By Kamila Neuman

Digital Culture Forum

On October 24–25, 2024, the second edition of the Digital Culture Forum took place at the Institute of Urban Culture in Gdańsk under the theme “Technology as a Gamechanger for Culture!”. The event explored the role of technology in the cultural sector. Highlights included talks on artificial intelligence in culture, TikTok as a platform for showcasing heritage attractions, and the challenges of managing intellectual property in cultural institutions.

Kamila Neuman, representing Wikimedia Polska, used this opportunity to network and explore new approaches to digital engagement in the cultural and creative sectors. She also participated in a workshop on copyright management, which deepened her understanding of the challenges and needs of cultural institutions in this area.

The Digital Culture Forum 2024 provided a valuable space for exchanging experiences and reflecting on the impact of technology on culture.

GLAM-Wiki Training at the Museum of Photography in Krakow

On October 16, 2024, Kamila Neuman, Open Culture Manager at Wikimedia Polska, conducted an introductory GLAM-Wiki workshop for the Museum of Photography in Krakow (MuFo). The session reviewed MuFo's collections already available on Wikimedia projects, such as Walery Rzewuski's photographs and Tadeusz Rząca's unique autochromes of early 20th-century Krakow.

The training highlighted the potential of sharing MuFo's collections through open knowledge platforms and offered practical tools for measuring the impact of such actions. Additionally, MuFo staff were invited to join the Wikimedia Academy, an interactive course introducing participants to Wikipedia editing, where they can learn to create and improve articles while connecting with the Wikipedia community.

Workshop for the Polish History Museum

On October 19, 2024, Wikimedia Polska conducted a 90-minute online workshop as part of the Polish History Museum's educational project. The initiative aims to popularize Polish history among students and support teachers in humanities education while enhancing participants' digital competencies.

The workshop, led by Kamila Neuman and the Wikimedia Polska team, introduced teachers and students to open culture through Wikimedia projects. Participants explored Wikimedia Commons as a source of free and valuable resources for history lessons and received practical tips for finding and using multimedia materials while adhering to licensing requirements. The session also highlighted GLAM-Wiki partnerships, like those with the Wawel Royal Castle and Polona, which enrich Wikimedia Commons with high-quality cultural content.

Additionally, the workshop showcased the Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest as an educational tool for teaching local history and engaging students in contributing images of monuments missing from Wikimedia projects.

This hands-on session combined theory and interactive exercises, equipping attendees with knowledge and skills to incorporate open culture into their educational practices.

Visit to the Chełmoński Exhibition and Wikimedia Polska as an Exhibition Partner

Kamila Neuman visited the Warsaw edition of the monographic exhibition of Józef Chełmoński, part of an extensive research and exhibition project organized by the National Museums in Warsaw, Poznań, and Krakow. Wikimedia Polska is proud to be a partner of the Krakow edition, which will run from August 8 to November 30, 2025, at the National Museum in Krakow. The collaboration is already highlighted in the exhibition catalog.

Wikimedia Polska is planning initiatives as part of the WikiChełmoński project, in collaboration with the museums hosting the exhibitions. The goal is not only to popularize the artist but also to expand knowledge about the themes and motifs present in his works. Chełmoński's paintings, celebrated for their realistic depictions of rural life, rich portrayals of nature—such as birds and animals—and vivid images of countryside life, offer a unique lens through which to explore Polish culture and natural heritage.

Update on the GLAM-Wiki Collaboration with the National Library

Flora Sinensis 1656
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Zygmunt Krasinski
Adam Mickiewicz
Władysław Reymont
Mango - Flora Sinensis

In October, Wojtek Szczęsny, the Wikipedian in Residence at the National Library, continued illustrating Wikimedia projects with materials from Polona, adding over 1,300 illustrations, primarily to non-Polish Wikipedia versions, especially the English one. He updated portraits of prominent Polish creators and politicians using high-quality scans from Polona. As a result, biographies of figures like Henryk Sienkiewicz, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, and Adam Mickiewicz now feature improved illustrations, enhancing their presentation on Wikipedia. Wojtek Szczęsny also uploaded improved scans from the pioneering work Flora Sinensis (1656) by Michał Boym, a Polish 17th-century Jesuit, on the flora of China: Flora Sinensis.

New Wikiresidency at the Czartoryski Library in Krakow

In collaboration with the National Museum in Krakow, a new Wikiresidency has begun at the Czartoryski Library. Agata Stadnicka, the Wikipedian in Residence, has developed a plan with the library staff to enhance Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata with unique collections. These include historical documents, illuminated manuscripts, and mementos of notable figures, making them widely accessible for educational and research purposes. Part of an EU-funded project, this initiative modernizes the library while transforming it into a contemporary cultural institution. Despite the library's temporary closure, its valuable collections will remain accessible and relevant to culture and science.

General Archive of the Palace

By Rubén Ojeda

Training at the General Archive of the Palace

On 22th, 24th and 29th October, Wikimedia España held a training for 11 people from the General Archive of the Palace staff. During the sessions, we went in depth into the functioning and the possibilities offered to institutions by projects such as Wikipedia and Wikidata. Two of the sessions were online and dedicated to Wikidata, while the third session, held on-site at the Royal Palace, focused on Wikipedia.

Women Writers' Day Edit-a-thon

On 14 October, the National Library of Spain (BNE) successfully celebrated the 9th edition of Women Writers' Day. This annual event paid tribute to women authors from the rural world under the inspiring slogan ‘The periphery of the periphery: Women who looked at the rural world’. The celebration was organised in collaboration with the Federación Española de Mujeres Directivas, Ejecutivas, Profesionales y Empresarias (FEDEPE) and the Asociación Clásicas y Modernas, with the special participation of Wikimedia España in the organisation of an Edit-a-thon.

During the day of the event, 12 people participated and managed to edit 18 articles, all of them newly created. The main objective of this collaborative effort is to increase the visibility of women writers on the internet and to reduce the gender gap in the online representation of the history of literature.

Memory of the World baseline

By MartinPoulter

Khalili Foundation

From now on a large proportion of my time will be spent on the Memory of the World project. The Khalili Foundation is supporting and fully funding work to improve the visibility of UNESCO Memory of the World inscriptions on the Wikimedia platforms. This will bring some of the world's most precious documentary heritage to the widest possible audience. I will be co-ordinating with the team at UNESCO to improve Wikimedia as they improve the official online database. This project will have its own monthly reports, beginning this month.

I spent a lot of time this month reviewing and updating the "For Teachers" materials on the Interfaith Explorers site which adapts wiki content for primary and secondary education. I also continued to add links and improvements to the For Students pages. On Wikipedia, I've spent some time tweaking the Shokai Samurai draft and looking for further sources.

There is one new translation this month: a volunteer translated the Empire of the Sultans article into Arabic. This is the 65th article resulting from this partnership, and the fourth in Arabic. Empire of the Sultans now exists in English, Indonesian, Western Punjabi, Urdu, Persian, Turkish, and Arabic.

There are no image uploads this month. GLAMOrgan reports 4,822,772 image views this month from 99 different wikis.

October meetups, GLAM CSI, and WikiConference North America Culture Crawl

By Slowking4 and User:Fuzheado

GLAM CSI User Stories and Solutions

Two major updates to the GLAM CSI project have been released in October.

New user stories released

A set of seven key user stories have been launched, and are open for more feedback. They can be found at: meta:GLAM_CSI#Gallery. In addition to the foundational stories related to GLAM work on lists, gender gap, and image uploading, the stories that have been created in collaboration with the GLAM wiki community include:
The ISA Tool for tagging images using Structured Data on Commons.
Wikibase, as a local installation by GLAMs wanting to experiment with their own Wikidata-like activities, such as creating their own identifiers or taxonomy.
Biodiversity Heritage Library, a detailed examination of a large database project wanting deeper integration with Wikidata. The main report around BHL and Wikidata can be found at their report.

GLAM CSI outcomes from Wikimania

More results from the Wikimania Global Wiki Meetup have been collated and organized, most notably a priority-ranked table of possible solutions to "obstacle areas" for Wikimedia work.

The results below show the output of a group brainstorming activity around the question: "How might we address and improve.... (an area listed in our six-point criteria).

Technical and tooling issues
Data modeling and metadata challenges
Resource and capacity constraints
Community issues and cultural barriers
Content integration and re-use
Sustainable future

The main areas that received attention in the brainstorming, after sorting and sifting emerged in these areas:

Training and documentation
Tools and development
Languages and internationalization

What is notable is the focus on training, documentation, and peer learning. There was much interest in how communities could share best practices and come together to learn from experiences in uploading, enriching data, or the strategic approaches to Wikimedia engagement. Related to this was a great emphasis on making sense of the range of tools and technical features available to GLAM Wiki participants, and how we might better support development of these, or even to understand the health and status of such tools. These were ranked among the easier obstacles to address. The harder ones included those related to langauges, non-Roman languages and internationalization, or those around governance within the movement.

From the Wikimania Global Wiki Meetup – Possible solutions to "obstacle areas" for Wikimedia work, ranked.

Background: GLAM Wiki CSI (Contribution Study Initiative) or GLAM CSI is a project to assess the contribution pipeline in the Wikimedia technical infrastructure for supporting cultural and heritage partnerships and projects. More can be found at the project page on meta.

Wiki Culture Crawl at WikiConference North America

On October 3rd, the annual WikiConference North America was held with a number of engagements related to GLAM wiki activities and history.

GLAM Keynote in memory of Effie Kapsalis

On October 5, Andrew Lih and Sara Snyder started the day with a keynote honoring Effie Kapsalis, discussing her impact on the GLAM Wiki movement, and the instrumental role she had in bringing the Smithsonian Institution towards adopting an Open Access policy over the years, in collaboration with Wikimedia DC.

Culture Crawl and Activities

The conference hosted the annual Wiki Culture Crawl in Indianapolis, bringing together over 100 enthusiastic Wikipedia editors and Wikimedia volunteers. The day-long event was packed with tours, edit-a-thons, and collaborative activities aimed at enhancing content related to museums, libraries, and cultural heritage across Wikimedia platforms.

The Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) University Library served as the hub for an all-day editathon. Participants improved Wikipedia articles, updated Wikidata entries, and uploaded new images to Wikimedia Commons, engaging editors of varying experience levels.

Participants had the opportunity to explore a wide array of cultural institutions throughout Indianapolis (full details):

Indiana State Library
Monument Circle Historic District Walking Tour: Led by Indiana Landmarks
Indiana Historical Society
Indiana Supreme Court and Law Library
Herron Art Library
Decoding Downtown Indy Walking Tour from Indiana Landmarks.
Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site
Ray Bradbury Museum
Indie Bookstore Crawl
Central Library, Indianapolis Public Library
Indiana War Memorial Museum
Lucas Oil Stadium
White River State Park Walking Tour
Indiana State Museum

The day's events culminated with a reception at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library featuring a compelling panel discussion titled "Banned Books and Representation at the Crossroads," with authors and scholars Leah Johnson, Stephen Lane, and Ann Matsuuchi, moderated by Jason Aukerman.

The Wiki Culture Crawl not only enriched Wikimedia's content but also strengthened partnerships with Indianapolis institutions. By collaborating directly with museums, libraries, and cultural sites, participants were able to gather firsthand information and media to enhance articles and entries. This initiative significantly contributes to making cultural heritage accessible to a global audience.

Triangle Trivia

North Carolina Wikipedians held a trivia night at Boxyard RTP.

Little Oddfellows café

Cascadia Wikimedians User Group, held a meetup, Little Oddfellows café, inside of Elliott Bay Book Company.

Toronto meetup

Toronto WikiClub, with support from Wikimedia Canada, hosted a meetup, Toronto/2024 October 20

October bonfire

San Diego Wikimedians held a a meetup, October 2024 bonfire

Women's Independence and Financial Power

Wikimedia DC held a meetup, Women's Independence and Financial Power.

Wikidata Day 2024

Cascadia Wikimedians User Group, held a meetup, at Capitol Hill Branch Library, Wikidata Day 2024.

Seattle Wikimedians held a meetup, Seattle/Wikidata Day 2024.

Wikimedia NYC held a meetup, NYC/Wikidata Day 2024.

BHL-Wiki Working Group October monthly highlights

By Ambrosia10

Agenda & recording of the October 2024 meeting

The October meeting was recorded. The recording can be found here. Use Passcode: SBw9@$J?

The agenda for that meeting can be found at this link. The agenda document gives notes taken during the meeting, action items, as well as the dates of future online meetings and the zoom link to join.

The next meeting will be held on November 18, 2024 at 2:00 pm EST. Any curious Wikimedian is very welcome to attend.

Wikimedian in Residence

The BHL Wikimedian in Residence is anticipated to be announced and to also start in early November.

Operating status of BHL in light of Internet Archive cyber attack

JJ Dearborn gave the group an update on the operating status of BHL in light of the cyber attack on the Internet Archive. As an example of the impact of this cyber attack Siobhan Leachman discussed the recently held New Zealand species edit-a-thon and how the use of BHL content was hindered.

WikiConNA

Giovanna Fontenelle and Jake Orlowitz gave a recap of their presentation at WikiConNA on Wikimedia Working Groups which included coverage of the BHL-Wiki working group. See: Session and slides (BHL after slide 19). A recording will be available soon on Wikimedia Commons. Richard Naples and Deborah Shapiro also gave an update on the Named Entity Wikibase (WikiNames) session at WikiConNA.

WMF hypothesis statement

A discussion was held by the group about the need for Commons tracking categories to measure impact when undertaking work to achieve the goals of the WMF hypothesis statement on the WMF Annual Plan.

The Hypothesis states: If the BHL-Wikimedia Working Group creates Commons categories and descriptive guidelines for the South American and/or African species depicted in publications, they will make 3,000 images more accessible to biodiversity communities.

The following decisions were made by the group.

The categories created would not be hidden.
Two overarching categories would be created:
Category:Files from the Biodiversity Heritage Library in region

Category:Biodiversity Heritage Library SDC project
Sub-categories could then be created.

Potentially the structure would look like:

Category:Files from the Biodiversity Heritage Library in South America
Sub-Category (country)

Sub-Category (country)
Category:Files from the Biodiversity Heritage Library in Africa
Sub-Category (country)

Sub-Category (country)

Other hypothesis statement work

Other work undertaken BHL staff aligned to achieving the goals of the WMF hypothesis statement was also discussed. JJ Dearborn reported that the first batch of image subsets have been created and added to Google Sheets.
South America : BHL Flickr-South America - 1,002 records
Africa:BHL Flickr-Africa - 951 records
Three subsets are still to be worked through with the final number of images likely to be approximately 4000 allowing the group to reach the 3000 image goal.

European encounters

By Susannaanas

Recognition for hard work

Kimberli Mäkäräinen was awarded for her volunteer work to support the Support for Sámi languages in digital services project by the National Library of Finland as part of the Finto 10 years anniversary seminar. The project has translated the General Finnish Ontology along with many of the services of the Finnish National Library into Northern Saami language. Congratulations!

European Heritage Hub Forum

AvoinGLAM's Susanna Ånäs joined the panel discussion A socially responsible digital transformation in Europe’s heritage sector to talk about open culture and AI Sauna at the European Heritage Hub Forum in Bucharest, Romania with Johan Oomen – Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, Sophie Taes – DE-BIAS and AI4Culture, and Eirini Kaldeli – AI4Culture.

The event was hosted by the European Heritage Hub with a theme Championing a responsible digital transition for and with cultural heritage.

The European Heritage Hub is a two-year pilot project launched in May 2023 by a consortium of 20 partners, led by Europa Nostra and co-funded by the European Union, to set up a permanent and autonomous heritage hub in Europe.

The recording contains the whole session and the rest of the program, including the brilliant keynote by Oonagh Murphy – Goldsmiths, a video provocation by Paul Keller – Open Future, the panel discussion, and the remote commentary by Pierluigi Sacco – University of Chieti-Pescara.

The text of Paul Keller's provocation statement was also published in the Open Future blog: Museums and AI: Balancing Innovation and Integrity.

Quick picks

Paul Keller: It is important to build firewalls around existing collections to ensure that they are not contaminated by AI outputs before it is too late. In the long run, every machine translation, every bit of machine-generated metadata, and every upscaled image added to a collection will undermine its value as an authoritative source of human knowledge.

Pier Luigi Sacco: How willing are we to let the precious [cultural heritage] knowledge go into the open sea, having a hope to direct the cultural transmission of knowledge in a direction we can identify? [...] The stress test the Wikimedia ecology is today going under, is particularly meaningful from this point of view. What we will learn from how the Wikimedia ecology will be able to not simply resist but literally navigate, serve, this new wave, will probably be indicative of what we can expect in terms of our capacity to strike a fair balance between openness and gatekeeping.

Media Art Expert Meeting in Amsterdam

On October 17, AvoinGLAM organized a one-day expert meeting on archiving media art on Wikimedia projects in Amsterdam, in collaboration with LIMA – Living Media Art. The goal of the project is to create a blueprint for digital art communities, festivals, and individual artists for engaging with digital cultural heritage and commons initiatives. The event is part of Media Art History project, AvoinGLAM’s tribute to Minna Tarkka (1964–2023).

The participants of the meeting were Dušan Barok – Monoskop, Annet Dekker – University of Amsterdam, Tereza Havlíková – Zentrum für Netzkunst, Gaby Wijers, Sanneke Huisman & Joost Dofferhof – LI-MA, Andreas Kohlbecker – ZKM, Hanno Lans, Philipp Messner – Critical Media Lab, Andrew Paterson – AvoinGLAM, Pixelache, Lozana Rossenova – Open Science Lab, and Susanna Ånäs – AvoinGLAM. The event was supported additionally by Wikimedia Nederland, Wikimedia Norge and Wikimedia Switzerland.

The meeting decided to work on two tasks

The first one was to outline a path and a decision tree for a small organization to get engaged with Wikimedia platforms (Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata and Wikibase) if they consider using them to store archival information of media artworks.

The second one looked at data modeling issues of media artworks.

The group continues their work in further online meetings and joint presentations.

Winter Festival

AvoinGLAM arranges Winter Festival in collaboration with Open Knowledge Finland 2 December from 15–22 at URBAN3, Maria01.

The program includes the annual meetings of AvoinGLAM and Open Knowledge Finland as well as a reboot gathering of Creative Commons Finland.

We are inviting a panel to discuss the implementation of the AI Act in Finland. It is inspired by the Request for comments of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on the implementation of the AI Act. If we are lucky, we will be able to publish the lineup before this article is published. Otherwise, check out the events on LinkedIn, Facebook and the webpage and sign up. The discussion program is streamed!

We will also take this opportunity to invite Finnish knowledge organizations to explore collaboration on joint advocacy in public policy. Together, we aim to create an advocacy network focused on the perspectives of civil society concerning the digital environment.

Baseline report

By MartinPoulter

Introducing the project

In 2023 and 2024, the Khalili Foundation is supporting and fully funding a project to improve the visibility of UNESCO Memory of the World inscriptions on Wikimedia platforms. Sir David Khalili is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, and this project is one of many cultural diversity projects that his foundation supports. As Wikimedian In Residence at the Khalili Foundation, I will be co-ordinating with the team at UNESCO and updating Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and English Wikipedia.

See the announcement of this project on the Khalili Foundation web site.

The Memory of the World Register includes valuable documentary heritage from around the world, from many cultures and time periods. So making this diverse heritage accessible and shareable by everyone in the world this is a cultural diversity project central to the mission of the Wikimedia movement and the Creative Commons movement as well as the Khalili Foundation.

Sir David Khalili launched the project with a keynote speech at the recent Memory of the World conference at UNESCO in Paris, also attended by myself and by Waqas Ahmed, Executive Director of the Foundation. One theme that recurred at the conference was access to documentary heritage on digital platforms, and Wikipedia was the subject of approving comments by several speakers.

The present situation

In the initial weeks of this project, I have been preparing a baseline report of the representation of the Memory of the World register on Wikimedia platforms. Here is a short summary of findings.

Firstly, it should be acknowledged that the current representation of the Memory of the World Register on Wikimedia is the result of a huge amount of work. Many thanks are due to the past Wikimedian In Residence at UNESCO (John Cummings), to Sandra Fauconnier (Wikipedian in Residence: Memory of the World Register, 2017, who uploaded files relating to MotW inscriptions in the Netherlands) and the wider volunteer communities.

Secondly, it emerges that there are huge gaps of information. There are currently 494 MotW inscriptions. Wikidata knows of 349 of them, although there are definitely some mis-tagged. So about a third of the inscriptions are unknown to the Wikimedia ecosystem. Of the 349 Wikidata items representing inscriptions, a great majority are missing basic information: which collection they are in, what language they are in, when they were created, and so on. Only 86 of them have images. Smaller Wikipedias could create Wikidata-driven list articles of MotW inscriptions if this were fixed.

There are a total of 1660 Wikipedia articles about individual inscriptions. These are spread across 164 languages, including 76 in English, 66 in German, and 60 in French. The non-European language with most articles is Indonesian, with 41. The inscriptions with the most Wikipedia articles are the Magna Carta with 95 and the Rig Veda with 94.

There are hundreds of links from Wikimedia platforms to the old UNESCO database: links which now give a 404 error.

Wikisource has 65 transcriptions of MotW inscriptions, in a total of 28 languages. It has 98 transcriptions of individual documents from inscribed collections or archives. For instance, the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty are inscribed in MotW and several individual documents from this collection are transcribed on Chinese Wikisource and Korean Wikisource.

Files on Wikimedia Commons are a mess. Categorisation is so sloppy that a search for images of MotW inscriptions returns all kinds of irrelevant content. We would very much like to know how many images related to MotW there are, how many are Featured Images or have other quality badges, how many inscriptions have dedicated image galleries, and how many views these images are getting. These questions can't be answered until a lot of categorisation work is done. It is striking how absent African, Caribbean, and Latin American culture is from this image collection.

Wikidata's 12th birthday celebration

By Alan Ang

Hi everyone, we celebrated Wikidata's 12th birthday on the 29th October. Folks from the Wikidata community have been organizing birthday parties around the world. Some of them already happened, some will still happen over the next few days and weeks. You can see a full overview here.

We also came together to unveil presents and play games to bring the global community together. You can find all the birthday presents, sweet messages as well as a recording of the two online get-togethers here.

And of course a birthday also needs cake so we've got that covered here.

November's GLAM events

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