Wikipedian in Residence/Ladd Observatory

The Ladd Observatory at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island is seeking one or more Wikimedians for a volunteer residence and/or online collaboration. The residence involves photo documentation of objects from the history of science and technology collection.

Background

The Ladd Observatory is an astronomical and educational facility at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The building was designed by architects Stone, Carpenter, and Willson. It opened in 1891 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Observatory has a collection of 19^th and early 20^th century scientific instruments including telescopes, precision pendulum clocks, weather instruments, telegraph and wireless equipment. Today the facility is operated as a living museum. It is open to the public for telescope observing on Tuesday evenings. There are also a range of outreach programs to improve science education in local public schools and museums.

Project

Marine chronometer from Musée International d'Horlogerie, La Chaux-De-Fonds, Switzerland

Successful applicants will work with the Observatory Curator to produce high quality images of collection objects that will be made available under a suitable free license at Wikimedia Commons. These images will then be used to illustrate, and improve, Wikipedia articles on topics related to the history of science and technology.

Photo documentation phase

The first phase of the project is to produce high quality images of objects from the history of science collection. See the images below for examples of objects that would be photographed for this project.

Applicants for this residency will be selected based on the following criteria:

Experience as a photographer
Must have photography equipment needed for the project: a quality digital camera and any accessories such as filters, tripod, lighting and light diffuser
Available to work on-site at Ladd Observatory for up to 4 hours at a time, approximately twice per month

Contributions to Commons

The second phase of the project is to upload the photographs to Commons with correct metadata, license info and project templates. Some coordination with the Commons community will be required. This could potentially be assisted by User:Mu301Bot.

Wikipedia article improvement

The third phase of the project will use images from the first phase to illustrate, and improve, Wikipedia articles on the history of science and technology. This work could be performed during an on-site residency or by working remotely. Some aspects of this could occur concurrently with the above work.

Collection

A sample of some of the objects from the history of science collection are shown below. Archival photographs of the historic use of these instruments at Ladd can be seen at http://brown.edu/Departments/Physics/Ladd/iya/spectro.html

Equatorial refractor by George N. Saegmuller, 1891

Transit instrument by Parkinson & Frodsham, circa 1838.

Timepiece by Wallace Goodwin, circa 1860.

Chronometer by W. Bröcking, 1882.

Prismatic Reflecting Circle by Julius Wanschaff, circa 1872-1903.

Marine Chronometer by Charles Frodsham, circa 1844 – 1860.

Wikipedia articles related to Ladd Observatory

Astronomical Instruments

Instrument makers

Timekeeping

Radio and telegraph

Lee De Forest and Audion
Hammarlund
National Radio Company
American Radio and Research Corporation (AMRAD)

Scientists

Application process

Applicants will be expected to provide a brief summary of their background, experience and qualifications including samples of photographic work that they have done. Interested applicants should contact the Ladd Observatory Curator via Special:EmailUser/Mu301 or leave a message at User_talk:Mu301.

External links

Ladd Observatory blog
Ladd Observatory, Department of Physics, and Brown University home pages
Flickr search for images of Ladd Observatory