Projects delivered in the past month
| Name of event | Date | Location | attendees |
| Introduction to Wikipedia editing - Glasgow Archaeological Society & JogScotland | Tuesday 4 August | Riverside Museum | 2 |
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2 new user accounts were created as a result of the above event:
August was a quiet month which included a week of annual leave, a week of illness, and a good deal of planning for a high number of projects to be delivered in September, as well as a few exploratory meetings. The Resident also spent time identifying a number of potential sources for funding for a 2016/7 project, writing a project budget and developing a fundraising application. The resident also learned how to use the Flickr2Commons tool.
Objectives & outcomes
| WMUK | Museums Galleries Scotland |
| G1: Develop Open Knowledge | G1.1 help Scottish museums increase the quality of the existing open knowledge surrounding their collections.
G1.2 assist museums to make more open knowledge available through various channels and projects,
G1.3 work specifically with the Recognised Collections to make more open knowledge and images available through Wikipedia and their own websites licence free. |
| G2a: Develop, involve & engage WMUK volunteers |
G2a.1 encourage and assist museum curators to become competent WMUK volunteers.
G2a.2 assist museum curators to help share their expert collections knowledge with other WMUK volunteers.
G2a.3 Work with other Scottish voluntary organisations to involve them where relevant in open data projects taking place in Scottish museums and galleries. |
| G3: Reduce barriers to accessing open knowledge | G3.1 we will improve awareness of the benefits of open knowledge through education within the Scottish museum sector.
G3.2 we will actively work with a range of partners including the Scottish Government to help inform, develop and deliver a strategic action plan for responsible use of open data in Scottish museums. |
| G5: Develop, support and engage with other Wikimedia & Open Knowledge Communities | G5.1 participate and encourage membership to the Scottish DigitaI Transformation Network.
G5.2 encourage partnership projects between Scottish museums to release their metadata licence free through API or other sources. |
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Developing Open Knowledge
- An exploratory meeting was held with Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. There is potential for interaction here with Wiki-species but will need to be followed up.
- Unfortunately, the editathon at Glasgow School of Art Archives was postponed due to unforseen circumstances. This event is now scheduled to take place in September.
- The resident spent time investigating different models of digital licensing policies in order to support museums who experience difficulties in this area.
- The resident responded to a query from a PhD student at the University of St Andrews about the possibility of running a training course at the University. The university museums hold three recognised collections and this could be a worthwhile opportunity if their involvement could be secured.
- The resident secured meetings with representatives of the National Galleries of Scotland, and a training session with Stirling Smith Museum.
Develop, involve and engage WMUK volunteers
- 2 new user accounts were created as a result of the training delivered in early August. The contact for this came through one of the curators from Glasgow Museums.
- The resident developed two half day training courses to be delivered through the Museums Galleries Scotland Skills Development Programme. These will take place on Friday 2 October, and will primarily act as leads toward working with new museums to deliver training, advocacy, or events in their venues.
Reducing barriers to accessing open knowledge
- Planning is still ongoing for the Recognised Collections event at Glasgow Museums on 4 September.
- The resident has been asked to speak at 3 museums forums events over the next month and has accepted. This will allow us to reach a number of museums at once, particularly those outwith the central belt of Scotland, and should lead to more training and engagement opportunities.
- The Resident has successfully advocated for the conversion of the back end of the new MGS Intangible Cultural Heritage inventory www.ichscotland.org to be released on a CC-BY-SA license, in line with the content.
- The resident contributed information toward the following press piece: Museums now able to set sail on wave of technology Joanne Orr, CEO of Museums Galleries Scotland, The Scotsman, 5 August 2015, retrieved 6 August 2015.
Developing, supporting & engaging with other Wikimedia & Open Knowledge communities
- An exploratory meeting was held with the University of the West of Scotland, around open knowledge on the curriculum, with a prospective editathon event to happen later in the year, possibly with a Paisley Museums tie in, who hold a Recognised Collection.
- The resident was asked to present at a seminar at the French Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage, regarding open knowledge and the Museums Galleries Scotland project www.ichscotland.org.
- The resident continued dialogue with the University of Edinburgh surrounding their desire to do more work around open knowledge in the classroom, including class assignments.