Wikipedia:GLAM/MGS/9th Month Report

Institution	Resident's Name	Period Covered	Date of Report
Museums Galleries Scotland	Sara Thomas	1 - 31 October 2015	30 October 2015

Projects delivered in the past month

Wiki Events

Event Name	Date	Location	Attendees	New users	Gender breakdown
Universitas 21 conference	29 October 2015	University of Edinburgh	18	14	38.8% female
Tayside Museums Forum: Wikipedia Training	20 October 2015	University of Dundee, Tower Building	8	7	87.5% female
Ada Lovelace Day Editathon	Tuesday 13 October	University of Edinburgh	16	5	93.57% female
Introduction to Editing Wikipedia (Cancelled)	Friday 2 October	Museums Galleries Scotland	n/a	n/a	n/a
Introduction to Working With Wikipedia Cancelled	Friday 2 October	Museums Galleries Scotland	n/a	n/a	n/a

Conferences & presentations delivered in the past month

Event Name	Date	Location / Organiser	Attendees	Title
Argyll & Bute Museums & Heritage Forum AGM	Wednesday 14 October 2015	Museums Galleries Scotland, Argyll & Bute Museums & Heritage Forum	30	Presentation to the AGM about the Wikimedian in Residence project

Stats

5 new user accounts were created as a result of the Ada Lovelace Day editathon on 13 October.

One user declined to leave their username.

11 articles were created or improved:

7 new user accounts were created as a result of the Tayside Museums Forum Training:

7 articles had minor improvements made to them:

14 new user accounts were created as a result of the Universitas21 Conference workshops, user pages were not created but workshop participants were invited to make edits to Wikipedia using the virtual editor. This group is not expected to continue to edit Wikipedia, however they are key influencers at research universities across the world, and the aim of the workshop was to showcase innovative learning.

22 articles had minor improvements made to them:

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.

Developing Open Knowledge

In response to problems encountered during new user training concerning users not having made edits in non-userspace and having their accounts marked for speedy deletion, the resident continues to use {{New user being trained}} and {{this is a new user}} during training.
Also in response to the above, the resident now incorporates making basic edits to Wikipedia as part of the introductory training sessions. The results can be seen above in the Stats section. This process has been made much easier by the use of Visual Editor as a training base, rather than Wikimarkup.
The resident met with a lapsed editor and his wife who attended the Photography Backstage Pass; an editathon on the subject of Mary Barbour and the Glasgow Rent Strikes is in planning for January 2016.
Contact was made with Paisley Museum regarding involving them with the editathon planned at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), this was received positively and they are now on board as a partner.
A representative from Sheffield University working with the National Fairground Archive asked on the GLAM mailing list for assistance in finding opportunities for the Archive within Wiki projects. She was put in contact with representatives from Glasgow Museums' Wiki Working Group, who have links with the Scottish Showpeople Community and with whom we ran an editathon earlier in the year.

Develop, involve and engage WMUK volunteers

Following the recent presentation to the Tayside Museums Forum, the resident was invited to deliver Wikipedia training to a group of forum members. The day went well but feedback indicated that participants would have liked a longer session, and this will be taken into account for future training sessions. One participant asked repeated questions about creating an article for their museum; conflict of interest policies were made clear.
The resident is now using Visual Editor as standard during training. The potential for this to engage less tech-savvy editors is huge and the resident is optimistic about the implications for the Scottish Museums Sector.

Reducing barriers to accessing open knowledge

The resident delivered a presentation to the Argyll & Bute Museums & Heritage Forum, where interest in the project was high. A number of cards & information booklets were given out and at least one enquiry has already been received.
Museums Galleries Scotland held their conference on 22 October, which the resident attended and at which was able to meet a number of key museums contacts.

Developing, supporting & engaging with other Wikimedia & Open Knowledge communities

The resident was asked to present two workshops as part of the Universitas21 conference at the University of Edinburgh. It is not expected that participants will become editors in the long term, however they are key influencers in the realm of innovative learning in Universities internationally and they were enthusiastic about the possibilities that Wiki offers in the classroom, and for the creation and use of OER.
The resident was very happy to see that the University of Edinburgh Library are recruiting for a Wikimedian in Residence and looks forward to having a new Scottish colleague!
A number of requests for training have been received which are outwith the remit of the current project. Where possible these have been accommodated by the resident delivering in her spare time, or a museum connection has been found to allow it to fall under the scope of the project. However, there is clear demand within Scotland for additional support from Wiki and the resident cannot provide it all. Existing volunteer trainers are very busy or are not able to take time off work during the week to accommodate these requests.
The resident met with a representative of CodeBase who are keen to run some sort of event at their space in Edinburgh.

Projects in Development

Introduction to Wikipedia - training for staff of Culzean Castle & Robbie Burns Birthplace Museum - 23 November 2015
Introduction to Wikipedia - workshop session for members of the Museums Galleries Scotland Digital Transformation Network - 2 December 2015
UWS & Paisley Museum Editathon - 3 December 2015
Euro Stem Cell Editathon - Centre for Regenerative Medicine - 8 December 2015 (Resident doing this as a volunteer)
Mary Barbour Editathon - 9 January 2016 TBC
National Galleries Editathon - Modern Scottish Women Editathon - 23 January 2016
Training for Museums Studies students at the University of St Andrews, hopefully incorporating an Editathon around the Recognised Collections held at St Andrews - January 2016
Editathon with the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professional Scotland's Multimedia Information Technology special interest group - January 2016 (Resident doing this as a volunteer)

Funding

This residency is due to finish at the end of January 2016. An application for 12 months' funding for a new phase of the project reached the second round for one particular fund, and the application was submitted at the end of October. We expect to hear by the end of November as to whether this was successful.