Wikipedia:WikipediaSpace

Banner exhibit being installed at the National Archives in October 2015

Wikipedia Space (more recently updated to Wikimedia Space) is a project to create physical learning spaces to promote the use of open content technologies such as Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects, aimed at cultural professionals in the GLAM sector (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums). (This is not to be confused with m:Wikimedia Space, a now-defunct online forum that existed from 2019-2020.)

The design and implementation of a persistent physical presence is an evolution of the current popular form of face-to-face engagement – the Wikipedia edit-a-thon.

Wikimedia Space 2.0 (2022)

In 2022, Andrew Lih was asked to create an exhibition for the Chautauqua Institution Summer Institute to teach lifelong learners and attendees about Wikipedia, to be shown on July 20, 2022. This led to thinking about how Wikipedia Space from 2015 could be expanded to include interactive multimedia elements. With the higher quality and lower price of video projection hardware, he designed an expanded self-guided space with projected content and QR-code scannable examples to show a range of Wikimedia projects beyond Wikipedia, including Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons.

The physical configuration for the exhibition design was roughly 10x10 meters, in a library space with tables. A full schematic can be seen on a Google Drawing (included snapshot below).

The design as of July 2022 includes:

Pilot program (2015)

The pilot program is being staged at the Innovation Hub at the US National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C., where an exhibit about Wikipedia and Wikimedia is being implemented in a space that allows citizen archivists to scan and upload content. The hope is that experiences with the pilot can help understand how this approach can be replicated in other spaces, such as libraries, museums, universities and classrooms.

The project was created in conjunction with the US National Archives and Records Administration, the Smithsonian Institution and support from the Knight Foundation.

Principals: Andrew Lih, Dominic Byrd-McDevitt, James Hare, Sara Snyder, Phoebe Ayers

Timeline

Posters

There have been three versions of the banner:

Each of the posters can be described by a six word summary:

  1. Introducing - Wikipedia, part of larger Wikimedia movement
  2. Editing - Anyone can edit, with simple markup
  3. Commons - Only "free" content can be uploaded
  4. Trust - Signals to interpret trustworthiness of Wikipedia
  5. Collaboration - Wikipedia working with world class partners

New ideas

Ideas for more posters

Feedback and discussion

Please feel free to use the Talk page to leave feedback or note corrections

Photos

See also