About
Wikimedia Australia, Inc.® is an independent not-for-profit organisation and registered charity.
The mission of Wikimedia Australia is to support the Mission of the Wikimedia Foundation in Australia in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.
We undertake outreach activities, develop resources and build systems that empower and engage people to collect, develop, share and promote Free Cultural Works. In recognition of Australia's role in the Asia-Pacific region, we will assist in building the capacity of the Wikimedia and Free Culture movements internationally.
Wikimedia Australia accepts donations via PayPal, direct bank deposit, internet banking transfer, cheque or money order. To donate, please click here.
Donations to Wikimedia Australia, while greatly appreciated, are currently are not tax deductible.
Overview of activities
Wikimedia Australia formed in 2008, and was incorporated on 6 August 2008 [1]. Our first event GLAM-WIKI which was supported by Australian War Memorial, Wikimedia Foundation, CustomWare and ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation occurred in August 2009. This event brought together people from more then 50 Galleries, Libraries Archives and Museums from across Australia and New Zealand to share ideas on the free exchange of knowledge.
Our next major project was in conjunction with the State Library of Queensland with the uploading of approximately 23,000 images[2] from their collection, combined with this there has been a number of editing workshops in libraries across Queeensland. This was then followed with a similar program with the State Library of New South Wales who in 2013 hosted Australia first Wikimedian in residence.
Wikimedia Australia and Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) have been working together on a number of projects to improve the available information on paralympic sports. After proving themselves knowledgeable the APC arranged media accreditation for Wikimedians to cover the 2012 Paralympics in London. This was followed up with a project to gain accreditation for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Socchi, Wikimedians are also working on documenting many other sports as well including wheel chair basketball and wheel chair rugby.
In 2012 Wikimedia Australia combined with The Fremantle Society to take Wikipedia from computer screens out into the streets with Australia's first WikiTown in Fremantle, known as Freopedia. This project is placing QR codes on buildings, monuments and other places linked with Fremantle history. With links to Australian Prime Minister John Curtin, US President Hubert Hoover and bushranger Moondyne Joe to Western Australia's oldest building Freopedia QR codes provide access to Wikipedia articles about the history of Fremantle and Western Australia.
In 2014 a second WikiTown was establish in Toodyay Western Australia, the Shire of Toodyay is taking the lead on this project with Wikimedia Australia and Western Australian editors providing the support and backup they need to be successful. In 2015 Wikimedia Australia joined with Indigenous studies faculties at University of Western Australia and Curtin University to support the first Indigenous community lead project writing Wikipedia in an Indigenous language. Noongarpedia has also resulted in the start of a Noongar Wikitionary both the nys.wikipedia and the nys.wikitionary are currently in the incubator stage
- Additional activities
Wikimedia Australia also has a number of programs to specifically support volunteers in their ability to create free content. These programs include;
- Travel assistance: report by JJ Harrison of his photographic trip to Cairns
- Training: report by Juttavd on attending the first Adacamp,The Ada Initiative is an international organisation that supports women involvement in open technology and culture
- Equipment assistance: report by User:99of9 about his camera assistant grant
- Community engagement: information on Wikipedia takes Toodyay show, where editors spent the day promoting engagement with the local community, this was followed up with a workshop on editing Wikipedia.
- Wikimedian in Residences: the monthly GLAM reports include projects related to Wikimedians in Residences in the August 2013 issue the SLNSW reported on their Wikimedian in residence experience with User:Whiteghost.ink
Media coverage of Wiki activities, editors and community members in Australia
2018
- 3 January 2018 Aussies join push for more Wiki women News.com.au article by Marnie Banger referencing University of Melbourne edit-a-thon.
- 9 March 2018 6 reasons to join Sydney's Women in Wikipedia edit-a-thon Rachel Fergus article in University of Sydney News
- 13 March 2018 Women want to rebalance Wikipedia The Australian Higher Education Daily Brief story on the University of Sydney Women in Wikipedia 2018 edit-a-thon.
- 13 March 2018 Why Shut Up and Wiki? Blog post by Tseen Khoo about La Trobe University's community of practice
- 20 March 2018 Sydney University's 'Women in Wikipedia Edit-a-thon' ABC RN breakfast Fran Kelly interviews Denise O'Dea
- 1 August 2018 Australian university groups organise Wikipedia editing sessions Feature article in The Australian Higher Education section, by Erica Cervini
- 17 October 2018 [3] Gideon speaks with Chris Taylor and Richard Glover on ABC Sydney's afternoon programme.
2017
- 11 December Balancing the history books, one day at a time Dr Mary Tomsic and Deborah Thomas, University of Melbourne
- 12 September For the first time, the Wiki Loves Monuments photocall is seeking your best images of Australia Lonely Planet article by James Gabriel Martin on Wiki Loves Monuments Australia
- 7 September ABC Radio - Perth, WA interview starts at 1:41:46
- 7 September Wikimedia needs your photographs to build pictorial archive of Australia's cultural heritage Article about Wiki Loves Monuments based on ABC Radio Perth interview with Wikimedia Australia President by Emma Wynne
- 5 September Open access medical content and the world’s largest encyclopedia Australasian Open Access Strategy Group (AOASG) blog post by Thomas Shafee, Diptanshu Das, James Heilman & Gwinyai Masukume
- 4 September Collaborations between Wikipedia and academia benefit everyone Campus Review article by Daniel Mietchen, Thomas Shafee and Andrew Su
- 8 July Wiki Club revives forgotten Northern Territory history, article on Wikiclub NT
- 7 July 'Wiki club' building online catalogue of Northern Territory history ABC World Today, article on Wikiclub NT
- 23 May Reddit discussion on Australian Fair Use campaign
- 22 May Copyright for Australia that makes sense. That's fair Post by Liam Wyatt & Stephen LaPorte on the Wikipedia blog
- 22 May Fair use: Wikipedia targets Australians in bid to change law Article in "The Canberra Times" on the Fair use banner campaign
- 20-27 May #FairCopyrightOz banner campaign Talk page contains links to mentions
- 18 Mar Project to increase listing of women architects in Wikipedia Article in The Age / Sydney Morning Herald regarding WikiD edit-a-thon at NGV
- 15 Mar Where are all the women in wiki ABC Radio Life Matters interview with Denise O'Dea, University of Sydney Press
- 8 Mar ABC Radio Interview, Darwin: Breakfast, interview with Caddie Brain on Wikiclub NT International Women's Day edit-a-thon
- 6 Mar What is it like to edit Wikipedia when you’re blind? Wikimedia blog article on editor, Graham Pearce by Tony Souter
2016
- 24 Feb Wikidata with Andy Mabbett ALIA WA Biblia blog post
- March WikiTown shares local history LGFocus article
- 13 May Are Wikipedia Donations Tax-Deductible In Australia? Ask Lifehacker article
- 23 May Wikimedia Is Running An Australian Photo Competition Gizmodo article by Campbell Simpson
- 26 May Wiki Loves Earth photo competition comes to Australia for first time ABC Radio Melbourne Simon Leo Brown interviews Wikimedian, Steven Crossin
- 14 June Australians fill in the gaps on Wikipedia News article by Emma Reynolds
- 22 June ABC Radio, Darwin: Breakfast, interview with Caddie Brain on Wikiclub NT
- 1 Jul Get your Wiki on, article on Wikiclub NT by Oscar Schwartz
- 17 Jul A Wikid Idea, NT News, article on Wikiclub NT
- 2 Sep Introducing 'Noongarpedia' – Australia's first Indigenous Wikipedia Guardian article by Monica Tan
- 7 Sep Noongarpedia Interview with Professor Len Collard RTRFM
- 11 Sep Sonnets and NoongarPedia: language revitalisation takes centre stage NITV article by Karina Marlow
- 20 Sep Noongarpedia: Australia's first indigenous Wikipedia The West Australian article by Ben Anderson
- 30 Sep Wikipedia Workshop Comes to Tennant, Tennant Creek Times, article on Wikiclub NT workshop in Tennant Creek
- 5 Oct Katherine Times, article on Wikiclub NT workshop in Katherine
- 5 Oct ABC Radio Interview, Alice Springs, Mornings, interview with Caddie Brain on Wikiclub NT workshop in Alice Springs
- 11 Nov NoongarPedia created as first Wikipedia site in Aboriginal language ABC Radio National segment by Meghan Woods
- 7 Dec Creating and writing sports history on Wikipedia: A Wikipedian’s experience at the Paralympic Games Wikimedia Blog post by Ross Mallett
2015
- 7 Mar Toodyaypedia WA Weekender Episode presented by Dan Paris
2014
- 18 Feb Noongar-pedia National Indigenous Radio Service segment by Gerry Georgatos
- March New Toodyaypedia: Recording online the way we were Toodyay Herald article by Margie Eberle, p. 9
2012
- 29 Aug Wikipedia will help create the most ‘visible’ Paralympics ever The Conversation article by Professor Keith Lyons
2012
- 1-4 June Sport History on Wikipedia: An Australian Evaluation Stephen Townsend and Gary Osmond, University of Queensland presentation at North American Society for Sport History 40th Annual Conference.
2011
- 13 May Wikimedia Australia announced as sponsor of Meta2011 Institute of Metadata Management Media release
2009
- 5 Aug Wikimedia event seeks to open up Australian culture Computerworld article by Dahna McConnachie, on GLAM-WIKI conference
2007
- 26 Apr Chaser's war on Wikipedia founder SMH article by Asher Moses
Research and academic articles
- Dawe, L. & Robinson, A. (2017). Wikipedia editing and information literacy: a case study. Information and Learning Science, 118(1/2), pp.5-16, doi:10.1108/ILS-09-2016-0067
- Cummings, R., & DiLauro, F. (2017). Student perceptions of writing with Wikipedia in Australian higher education. First Monday, 22(6). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v22i6.7488
- Digby, G. (2017). Indigenous knowledge challenges [poster]. Wikimedia Conference 2017 - Learning Day Posters
- Shafee, Thomas (2017). Wikipedia-integrated publishing: a comparison of successful models. Health Inform, 26(2). Retrieved from https://www.hlinc.org.au/images/Health_Inform_Articles/Health_Inform_Vol._26_No.2_2017/Health_Inform_Volume_26_Number_2_2017_-_Thomas_Shafee_-_La_Trobe_University.pdf
- Phillips, M., & Murray, G. (2016). Wikipedia and history: a worthwhile partnership in the digital era? Rethinking History, 20(4). doi: doi:10.1080/13642529.2015.1091566
- Buchanan, Jennie, Collard, Len, Cumming, Ingrid, Palmer, David, Scott, Kim & Hartley, J. (2016). 'Kaya Wandjoo ngala Noongarpedia - Welcome to our Noongarpedia', Cultural Science Journal, 9(1), Chapter 2, pp. 22-36, Retrieved from http://cultural-science.org/journal
- Cootes, Simon. (2014). Marking up NSW: Wikipedia, newspapers and the State Library. Presented at VALA Conference, Melbourne, 4 February 2014. Retrieved from https://www.vala.org.au/vala2014-proceedings/695-vala2014-session-2-cootes
- Wyatt, Liam. (2011). Wikipedia & Museums: Community Curation. Uncommon Culture, [S.l.], p. 33-41, June 2011. Retrieved from https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/UC/article/view/3851/3076
Engagement
Wikimedia Australia also engages with many Government Agencies, Community groups and educators to help share, improve and promote the availability of freely licensed Australian content online.
We can't do this alone we also need your help be that through financial assistance, project partnerships or just providing access to materials if you would like to help improve the "sum of all knowledge" please contact the committee with your proposal.