2018 Annual Plan
Background
S.W.O.T. Analysis
Strengths
- Well distributed, active community
- virtual meetings well catered for
- open and free access
- high take up by individuals and institutions as trusted source (Wikipedia)
- high use of computer mediated communication in Australia per capita
- International connections and participation
- strong "galleries, libraries, archives, and museums” GLAM sector
- Australian hot spots for activity tend to move leading to regional focus at different times
- National matters are covered by the committee with other participation invited, while Wikimedians generally have a local focus
Weaknesses
- physical distances between places and costs of travel
- insufficient resourcing to service opportunities
- lack of a continuing (paid?) secretariat to maintain coherence, continuity and administration
- the long changing history and culture of Wikimedia chapters which may be unclear to newcomers
Opportunities
- good news stories as Wikipedia and other wiki projects gain positive traction
- Continuing improvement of relationships with "galleries, libraries, archives, and museums” GLAM sector
- continuing GLAM sector communications on national and regional levels
- Wikimedia Australia activities being shared positively -- WikiClubs, WikiTowns
- baby boom phenomenon of educated computer literate potential editors and volunteers
- potential for better explaining and communicating what Wikimedia is and what Wikimedians do
- Increased membership
- Increased involvement and participation
- capacity to use wikilinks in documentation to enhance understanding
Threats
- burnout (a frequent and recurring condition)
- lack of general community understanding of Wikimedia
- increasing under-resourced activities with personal costs of time and cash
- rising costs of physical costs as fuel price rise
- required skillsets becoming increasingly rare, high mobile use over PC base
- monopolisation by major population centres
- volunteers becoming increasingly time poor
Objectives
Wikimedia Australia supports the strategic direction of the Wikimedia Foundation
- Knowledge as a service, and
- Knowledge equity
We will undertake outreach activities, develop resources and build systems that empower and engage people to collect, develop, share and promote Free Cultural Works relevant to Australia and our region. Our specific objectives for 2018 are:
- 1. Community support
- 2. Outreach and engagement
- 3. Chapter governance
See also our Statement of Purpose
Programs
Community support
- WikiClubs
WikiClubs are based in and have a supportive positive relationship with their local State Libraries, there are four WikiClubs that will meet regularly in Australia during 2018. Each Wikiclub has a level of independence from the chapter with WMAU provisioning them to undertake small activities like regular meet ups, workshops and editathons that bring the contributors for the local area into collaborate. Like user groups the WikiClubs don't need the legal and financial structures which are provided under the umbrella of WMAU.
- Volunteer support
The Volunteer Support Programme (VSP) is an initiative that supports Australian contributors to the projects to obtain resources or share their knowledge about the projects and WMAU. Funds involved are generally small amounts and designed for maximum flexibility and responsiveness. While most the VSP activities are ad hoc there are established VSP eligible activities. The Camera Equipment Program was started to help photographers maintain and improve their equipment. This was chosen over an equipment lending program which would be unable to support the needs of individuals due to logistics and costs. All VSP applicants are required to be in good standing as well as to have a demonstrated contribution history available for or in use in the projects.
- Noongarpedia
The Noongarpedia project represents several areas of importance for Wikimedia Australia, and the Wikimedia movement. As an Indigenous language project promoting knowledge equity it involves partnerships with both the Noongar and the academic communities and is a tangible model for future Indigenous language partnerships in other states of Australia, and globally. The fact that this prestigious national research project is using the Wikimedia infrastructure also provides a powerful example of knowledge as service.
A significant project goal for the next period is to further develop Noongar Wikipedia and support the project team in moving from the incubator space to nys.wikipedia.org
- Support for regional and global events
The Australian communities suffer from isolation from the wider movement. Previously the ability to develop and maintain community connections relied on the same few suspects. Over the last couple of years WMAU has taken the approach that we should be enabling wider community involvement in International activities. As part of this we aim to fund two community members to share our experiences and gain further knowledge of the WMF community along with one committee person to maintain the the relationships WMAU has with WMF and other Affiliates and to gain additional experiences.
Given the uncertainty over Wikimedia sponsored events in the funding period we are signalling our intention as a chapter to take on the organisation of an Asia Pacific Oceania regional event in 2019. This has support from East, South East, Asia, Pacific (ESEAP) regional conference affiliates, and will include a focus on local partnerships. In the current period funding is required to secure the venue.
Australia has wide and diverse population with unique regional identities the aim of regional events is to engage locals with the community, to foster the development of GLAM projects in additional areas. The goal is to sponsor a successful meetup focussed on community engagement in each capital city during 2018.
Objectives:
- To support and strengthen the engagement of the Wikimedia community in Australia
- To increase the diversity of participants participating in online and face to face activities, in terms of gender, region, language, and topics/sectors of interest.
- To build community capacity
Metrics:
- Number of events increased over 2017 total: Total of 20 event reports in 12 months
- Details on attendees at those reports - names, number of attendees, interests in the Wikimedia projects which can be utilised later for future programs, details of their participation.
- Increased diversity of attendees and applicants for scholarships
- At least one successful Australian presentation
Assigned to: State-based WikiClub leaders and WMAU committee Vice-President, and one general committee member
Outreach and engagement
- WikiTowns
WikiTowns are collaborative projects between local councils, historical societies and other interested partners, supported by Wikimedia Australia. They focus on supporting locals to contribute quality content about their town and heritage, and then use QR code technology to promote and educate about their place. It is another example of knowledge as service.
Australia has two mature WikiTowns projects and a proposal for at least one new project. With developments in Wikidata and QR code integration there is exciting work to be done across this project.
- Toodyay - expand the number of articles and increase the number of QR codes within the area
- Fremantle - re-engage community following the loss of a partner, expand content on Fremantle
- create the foundations for a new WikiTown
- establish permanent QR codes using Wikidata, and create a new Wikitown QR reader that expands across more Wikimedia projects
- Content competitions
Competitions generate new Australian content on a particular theme from a broad range of contributors, many of whom are new to Wikimedia. The competitions raise awareness of open licences in the broader Australian community and provide Wikimedia with media opportunities. High quality images, datasets, and textual content can be promoted locally and globally, and there is an opportunity for email conversations with winning contributors.
- WikiSource competition
In the month before the Wikisource conference (date t.b.d.) a proofreading competition will be run. Focusing on a predefined set of Australian source materials, it will aim to get 1000 pages proofread across 10 works. All metadata will also be added to Wikidata.
- Wiki Loves Monuments
During the month of Wiki Loves Monuments, 1,000 images will be uploaded and 100 in use on Wikimedia pages. 10 new members will be brought in through this contest who will continue contributing 3 months after creating a new account.
- Wiki Loves Science
Attempts will be made to increase participation in WikiLoves Science, which attracted around 90 entries in its inaugural year 2017, involving publicity for the 2017 winners, clarification of guidelines and perhaps targetting of scientific organisations in the GLAM sector to invite entries 2017 winners.
- Wiki Loves Earth
During the month of Wiki Loves Earth, 1,000 images will be uploaded and 100 in use on Wikimedia pages. 10 new members will be brought in through this contest who will continue contributing 3 months after creating a new account.
- Engagement with GLAMs
- GLAM Peak workshops
Wikimedia Australia has a long history of GLAM-Wiki projects and continues to look for opportunities to build awareness of the benefits of partnering with Wikimedia. As well as collaboration with large GLAMs, particularly State libraries, there are opportunities this year to present to small to medium regional libraries, historical societies, museums and galleries
Wikimedia Australia will participate as a technology partner for the GLAM Peak Digital Access to Collections workshops during 2018. This free two-day workshop focusses on digitisation and the provision of digital access to collections in small to medium GLAM organisations around Australia.
During the ten GLAM Peak workshops Wikimedia Australia will engage with 300 staff and volunteers from Australian GLAM organisations. 10 new members will join, 20 participants will create accounts and contribute a photo, reference or fact about their local area. Lists and content about regional Australian GLAMs will be updated.
- Wikimedia Australia invited speaker at Australian GLAM conference
An effective way to influence national thinking and policy in the Australian GLAM sector is a keynote presentation at one of the large national conferences for GLAM professionals. Wikimedia Australia will use its networks to recommend high calibre speakers from the movement, and then attend the conference to deepen the local knowledge and networks.
- Wikimedia Australia invited speaker Indigenous Conference
Noongarpedia provides a platform to extend the GLAM conference strategy to one of the key Indigenous language, education or equity conferences.
Objectives:
- Increase awareness and participation of new individuals and organisations
- Establishment of two new collaborative partnerships
- Participation in global content competitions and wide promotion in Australia
Metrics:
- Number of new accounts generated through outreach events
- Two new collaborative partnerships
- Speaker requests to WMAU
- Success of content competitions
Assigned to: Communications officer, and general committee members. Individual content competition coordinators.
Operational activities
- Chapter governance
WMAU Committee of Management takes seriously its role to control and manage the business and affairs of the association, in order to realise the goals of WMAU, and to enhance the reputation of both the association and the movement. WMAU is an incorporated association registered in Victoria, and a charity registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). As such WMAU has ongoing legal, financial and reporting responsibilities to Consumer Affairs Victoria, the Australian Taxation Office and the ACNC.
Communication and management tools are required for effective management of the association, and regular communication with members and the wider community requires infrastructure such as WMAU and committee websites, member management software, mailing lists, and email, calendar and event services.
The budget for this area covers fixed cost items that are incurred to ensure legal and effective running of the chapter. The expenses are based on known, regular (usually annual) payments. These include:
- Costs of financial management: audit and bank fees
- Regulatory bodies registration
- Insurance
- Software for member management, finance, email, committee management and communication
- Mailbox, printing and stationery
- Committee travel and accommodation costs for meetings and representing the chapter
- Registration fees for office bearer and committee training
- Contingency fund
Objectives:
- To ensure WMAU is legally and efficiently managed
- To communicate effectively about Wikimedia activities within Australia to build positive engagement with members and the wider community
- To provide the necessary legal and financial framework to enable regional based groups to operate, without duplicating costs
- To develop community capacity in depth and breath
Metrics:
- Financial and legislative reporting is up-to-date
- Regular newsletters, updates to WMAU website and social media are published
- At least 80% of members renew each year
Assigned to: WMAU committee President, Secretary and Treasurer
Midpoint report
A brief report on progress against the Simple Annual Plan grant for the midpoint reporting period: 1 July 2018 - 31 December 2018. Submitted to WMF on Meta page 15 January 2019
This is Wikimedia Australia’s first mid-term report related to engagement in the Simple Annual Plan Grant process. It covers the period of 1 July to 31 December 2018. At the six-month stage, there is some activity to report against our annual plan, with strong metrics in some areas, and financial outlay running slightly below budget at this stage. Major achievements relate to outreach and engagement events, many of which have also involved community members. Targeted community support has seen less activity. Governance is well-established, with financial management a strong point. Reporting and collection of metrics is an area requiring development within the committee and the community.
Program story
Link to one program story that showcases your organization's achievements during the reporting period.
Learning story
Link to one learning story
Progress
Community support
- WikiClubs
Three WikiClubs have met during this period, QWiki Club at the State Library of Queensland; WikiClub NT (see Program story); and WikiClubWest. WikiClub West’s usual format of activities is monthly meetings, sometimes bi-monthly. The second half of 2018 was the busiest six months in the ten years of the group. Events included: ASA conference meeting, Fremantle Maritime Day 2018 with the Australian Association for Maritime History, and Wikipedia Perth #54 with Asaf Bartov.
- Noongarpedia
In this period, Gideon has worked in an official capacity with 6 new students from the University of Western Australia (UWA), one of whom has continued to edit independently. Engagement in this project has led to ongoing work with other organisations in Western Australia, for instances Museums. UWA & Murdoch Universities are considering up scaling their use of nys.wikipedia in the coming year.
- Support for regional and global events
We have been advised that there is no longer funding available for an ESEAP regional conference. Following further investigation and discussion with WMF, we propose applying funding for a national community conference in June 2019.
Outreach and engagement
- WikiTowns
The WikiTowns revival program has a technical issue requiring a solution (See [https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/WikiTowns_QR_codes WikiTowns QR codes learning story).
- Content competitions
Wiki Loves Monuments again provided a good outreach opportunity. Final results were slightly lower than 2017, but very close to our target. The quality was more variable this year. The work done by community members in obtaining local heritage lists, cleaning them and adding these to Wikidata was a major achievement and contribution.
- GLAM Peak workshops
As the result of Wikimedia Australia presentation at GLAM Peak Perth, development of a partnership with Museum of Perthis in progress.
- Invited speaker
The President was invited to present an overview of Wikipedia and Wikidata at the Analysis & Policy Observatory Forum 2018 in Melbourne on 25 Oct 2018. This was an audience of over 70 researchers in evidence-based policy.
Operational activities
- Chapter governance: Committee capacity building workshop
In November the committee met in Melbourne with Asaf Bartov, and Wikimedians from NZ for a capacity building and planning workshop. See Details of meeting program and discussion.
- Communication
A newsletter was published in September 2018
Social media: Baseline figures include:
Twitter: Total tweets 845, Photos and videos: 119, Followers 1,242
Facebook: Total posts 50, Followers 1559
LinkedIn: Posts 7, Followers 66
Membership: 12 new members joined Wikimedia Australia in this period.
Spending
Link to financial document showing total spending during the reporting period.
Metrics
Final report
Program story
2019 Wikimedia Australia Community Conference
Learning story
Results
Wikimedia Australia had two programs for 2018-19, with each program made up of multiple projects.
1. Community Support: To support and strengthen the engagement of the Wikimedia community in Australia; to increase the diversity of participants participating in online and face to face activities, in terms of gender, region, language, and topics/sectors of interest; and to build community capacity.
2. Outreach and Engagement: To increase awareness and participation of new individuals and organisations; establishment of two new collaborative partnerships; and participation in global content competitions and wide promotion in Australia.
Operational funding was also included to ensure the Chapter and its programs were legally and efficiently managed.
1. Community support
The overall goal of the community support program is to strengthen community connections and collaborations, and to support editor retention. The stated objectives for the 2018-19 community support program were:
a. To support and strengthen the engagement of the Wikimedia community in Australia
b. To increase the diversity of participants participating in online and face to face activities, in terms of gender, region, language, and topics/sectors of interest.
c. To build community capacity
The Australian Wikimedia community encompasses members of Wikimedia Australia, Australian editors across Wikipedia, Wikidata, Commons, Noongarpedia, WikiSource and many projects. We also have a growing community of individuals and organisations that are supporters of Wikimedia.
How did we go?
Our plan was to measure the success of this program according to the following metrics.
Metric | Result | Status | Notes |
Number of events increased over the 2017 total of 20 event reports in 12 months | 27 | Surpassed | The Wikimedia Australia events report archive for the period July 2018 – June 2019 shows community support events |
Details on attendees at those reports
names, number of attendees, interests in the Wikimedia projects which can be utilised later for future programs, details of their participation. |
71 | Progressing | Outreach dashboards were used wherever possible.
Eventbrite registration was used for several events and provided personal data. If only we had known how to collate these into an annual WMAU campaign to collect this is a manageable way. See Learning Story |
Increased diversity of attendees and applicants for scholarships | 10 | Progressing | Diversity themes were chosen for ten events, including: Art+Feminism Brisbane & Melbourne x 2; Women Write Wiki, Noongarpedia. Five events were held in the rural and remote communities of: Broome, Pt Hedland, Cairns, Toodyay, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek.
The specified target for an additional scholarship to attend the community conference was for someone from an underrepresented group. |
At least one successful Australian presentation | 4 | Surpassed | Wikimedia Australia has been invited to provide presenters for a number of professional conferences, as well as partnering with the University of Sydney’s Worlds of Wikimedia conference |
This work was assigned to state-based WikiClub leaders, the WMAU committee Vice-President, and general committee member.
The Wikimedia Australia events archive for the period July 2018 – June 2019 shows 27 community support events were planned and advertised by Australian editing communities. These include WikiClubs, Meetups and organisation-based editing communities meeting on a semi-regular basis.
1.1 WikiClubs
WikiClubs are semi-formal groups that meet locally based on shared geographic and/or thematic interests. They are self-managed and responsible for their own initiatives. They are a key port of call for supporting Wikimedia Australia initiatives, and in turn, they see Wikimedia Australia as a source of connection to wider national and global projects.
Three existing state-based WikiClubs continued to meet during the year. Each WikiClub welcomes locals or visitors interested in finding out more, getting help with editing of Wikipedia or other projects.
There were also 10 meetups advertised on the events schedule, taking place in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. These tend to be attended by a small handful of editors, unless connected to a guest speaker event such as WikiTour.
WikiClubWest
WikiClubWest (WCW) is group of Wikimedians based in Perth, Western Australia, who support all WMAU activities in Western Australia. Over the last 12 months there have been 10 regular meetups where the group discusses activities taking place, who will be attending them, and how best to support them.
WikiClub West’s usual format of activities is monthly meetings, sometimes bi-monthly. The second half of 2018 was the busiest six months in the ten years of the group. Events included:
· ASA conference related https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Perth/52
· Fremantle Maritime Day 2018 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Perth/53
· Victoria Quay Perth meetup #53 shared a stall with the Australian Association for Maritime History.
· Wikipedia Perth #54 Meetup
· Wikimania 2020 bid - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2020_bids/Perth
ESEAP
In 2018-19, the expected ESEAP 2019 conference (which Wiki Club West would have been a major player) was effectively cancelled due to lack of support from funding bodies. The significant bidding for Wikimania 2020, was similarly curtailed by a decision for another location. Wikimania 2020 Bid included a visit from Asaf Bartov to assess the facilities available to which he was surprised about both the number of options and what was available. Following a request from the WMF, events for ESEAP to host Wikimania in Bangkok, three members of WCW are actively involved with organising that event.
Archivists Conference
The Australian Society of Archivists 2018 conference was held in Perth in September 2018. WCW members were hosts at a stall during the conference which had over 500 attendees. People involved with Noongarpedia gave talks at the conference, as well WCW supported workshops held on Wikipedia and Wikidata, and also assisted Andy Mabbett. WCW also arranged for Andy to speak with Archaeology and Anthropology master’s students at University of Western Australia.
Digitisation
Following the GLAM Peak events which ran through 2017/18, WCW responded to a need of Western Australian GLAM community and put together a Digitization kit. This kit is being used to help improve content and also establish longer term relationships with GLAMs. Contact through WCW efforts resulted in Wikimedia Australia becoming a member organisation of the Australian Museums and Galleries Association, with projects currently being discussed in WA.
Noongarpedia
The efforts with Nyungar community are ongoing and have seen connections being created along with further expansion of [https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/nys/Keny_mia Keny mia].
The Noongarpedia project represents several areas of importance for Wikimedia Australia, and the Wikimedia movement. As an Indigenous language project promoting knowledge equity it involves partnerships with both the Noongar and the academic communities and is a tangible model for future Indigenous language partnerships in other states of Australia, and globally. The fact that this prestigious national research project is using the Wikimedia infrastructure also provides a powerful example of knowledge as service.
Metrics | Count |
Participants | 10 |
Files in use | 1 |
Files uploaded | 13 |
Items created | 3 |
Items improved | 16 |
New editors | 2 |
Pages improved | 54 |
7-day retention | 2 |
5 participants at Meetup #53
6 participants at Meetup #54
WikiClubNT
The major WikiClubNT activity this year was centred on Tennant Creek.
WikiClub NT went to Tennant Creek (pop. 3000) in December 2018 for a Wikipedia Workshop at the Barkly Regional Council Library. Wikiclub NT meets to create and update Wikipedia pages about NT people, places and histories. Coordinator Caddie Brain reports that before the workshop there were only 20 images of Tennant Creek on Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons. Using the new Wikidata tool, WikiShootme https://tools.wmflabs.org/wikishootme, it is possible to see where there were known areas of interest but no images in Wikidata. Showing the conversion of the red dots on the WikiShootMe map to green as a result of the workshop was rewarding for participants and made for a good visual to use on social media. This resulted in 5 new pages and 35 new images.
WikiClubNT Coordinator, Caddie Brain presented a learning story entitled ‘Editing in the bush, the WikiClub NT experience’ at the June Community Conference, based on the experience of establishing and running WikiClubNT events. Her slides and the recording of her presentation [first 15mins] are a valuable resource for those organising edit-a-thons.
QWIki
Q Wiki is a monthly Wikipedia editing club held in Brisbane on the last Tuesday of every month from 9am to 12 noon, at The Edge, State Library Queensland. Members work on lists and articles related to current events and exhibitions. SLQ staff and others in the Queensland GLAM community to come together and contribute to Wikipedia pages around a chosen theme based on material in SLQ collections. Wikipedian Kerry Raymond from Wikimedia Australia is at the sessions to provide training and support as required.
Content activity
QWIki projects in 2018-19 included work on Queensland inventors and real estate maps.
From July 2018 participants supported the [http://makers.slq.qld.gov.au SLQ Makers exhibition]. As the SLQ website is licensed as CC-BY for text (but not images), they were able to reuse material about the exhibition to expand articles about Queensland inventors. Kerry Raymond developed instructions to facilitate this reuse of material. She also presented on this at a more advanced level as part of the [https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/Worlds_of_Wikimedia_2019 Worlds of Wikimedia] on 13 June 2019.
State Library of Queensland has a unique collection of digitised real estate maps and plans created by real estate firms from the 1850s to the mid-1900s. Real estate maps can provide information about how land was subdivided, auctioned, who the surveyors were and who sold the land. They can be gems for investigating urban development, local history and house histories. Working in the place name article, Q Wiki Club worked on adding the information from the map about the subdivision of the land at that time.
[https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/State_Library_of_Queensland/QWiki_Editing_Club_2019_(Last_Tuesday_of_every_month)/home Dashboard for 2019]
QWiki was featured in the March 2019 Queensland Memory newsletter
hashtag #QWiki
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Q_Wiki_Poster_2019_State_Library_of_Queensland.pdf
Dashboard: QWiki 2019
Metric | Count |
Articles Created | 0 |
Articles Edited | 117 |
Total Edits | 396 |
Editors | 16 |
Words Added | 24.6K |
References Added | 321 |
Article Views | 896K |
Commons Uploads | 2 |
Wikidata for GLAMs
In partnership State Library Queensland and Wikimedia Australia organised and co-funded a Queensland Introduction to Wikidata for GLAM event on Tuesday 11 September 2018 at State Library of Queensland, Brisbane. Held in the Auditorium, this was promoted as a professional learning event for library and GLAM professionals.
The event attracted 65 representatives from Queensland GLAM organisations. Andy Mabbett provided an accessible and engaging introduction to Wikidata and its relationship to the GLAMscape. The presentation covered:
· What is Wikidata?
· Why does the GLAM sector need to know about this?
· Who verifies the quality of Wikidata?
· How can my organisation contribute and how will this data be used?
· What other Wiki projects relate to the GLAM sector?
The [https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/Wikidata_Tour_Down_Under_(2018)/Wikidata_and_GLAM_SLQ slides of the presentation were published] and a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0BhT253F8w a professional video of the presentation] was recorded for ongoing use by GLAM organisations nationally.
Following a catered networking morning tea, 16 participants stayed on for a hands-on workshop with Andy Mabbett in The Edge media lab, learning how to get started with Wikidata.
A feedback survey from the events rated it highly with 61% very satisfied, and 39% satisfied with the sessions, and the comments received showed we had met our targeted goal of raising awareness about Wikidata. Comments included:
I was a complete novice and had no concept of what Wikidata was and this presentation gave me a great grounding and base understanding of what Wikidata is and how it relates to our Wikimedia options
I really had no idea. Now I have an idea and am keen to do the follow up workshop. I am also thinking about how I can include information about Wikidata, and Wikipedia as well, into my information and digital literacy teaching as in general terms everyone needs to be aware of this type of service.
It would have been great if it was longer, perhaps a break in between so we could digest all that Andy had said. I felt that Andy had so much more he could have shared.
#1Lib1Ref 2019 at SLQ
State Library Queensland was an active participant in #1Lib1Ref in 2018. The [https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/State_Library_of_Queensland/State_Library_of_Queensland_1Lib1Ref 1Lib1Ref Dashboard May 2019].
Coordinator Jacinta Sutton presented on their learning from three years participation in #1Lib1Ref as part of the [https://www.wow2019.net/schedule Worlds of Wikimedia Conference] at the University of Sydney on the 14 June 2019. Her presentation was entitled: Libraries, Wikipedia and the yield of knowledge.
Dashboard: SLQ 1Lib1Ref 2019
Metric | Count |
Articles Created | 0 |
Articles Edited | 47 |
Total Edits | 92 |
Editors | 11 |
Words Added | 9.44K |
References Added | 126 |
Article Views | 438K |
Commons Uploads | 0 |
Women Write Wiki Sydney
The Women Write Wiki project aims to improve the representation of Australian and Pacific women writers in Wikipedia. The group of 6 - 8 women meet every second Wednesday at The Women’s Library, Newtown with coordinator, Ann Reynolds. Their work provides amazing focus on the Wikiproject Women in Red.
Wiki Community of Practice @Uni
Communities of practice were established at several universities during the year. These were centered on higher degree students, researchers and librarians.
La Trobe University
La Trobe University has regular Shut Up and Wiki sessions coordinated by Research Whisperer. On occasion they joined virtually with the University of Melbourne Wiki Agenda.
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne’s Wiki Agenda is a community of practice meets in the Baillieu Library over lunch, as well as running all-day researcher support edit-a-thons. Their focus is addressing the diversity gap.
A regular meetup for University of Melbourne Wikipedians to address the Wikipedia diversity gap. The UMWA Community of Practice (CoP) builds on the successful ResearcHERs Wikipedia Edit-a-thon (2017) and the "I Made the Internet Smarter Today" Wikipedia Edit-a-thon (2018).
The format of each monthly UMWA CoP varies but includes discussions, how-to workshops, and opportunities for independent Wiki editing in good company. The group is open to all University of Melbourne staff and students.
The staff organising these activities are enthusiastic and committed to improving both Wikipedia and the skills and engagement of their students and colleagues.
Shut up and Wiki
On Friday 31 August 2018 the University of Melbourne UOMWiki community came together with La Trobe University's Shut up and Wiki, and Parlour's WikiD project as part of Researchers Week.
https://library.unimelb.edu.au/research/wiki
Dashboard: I made the Internet smarter
Metric | Count |
Articles Created | 17 |
Articles Edited | 65 |
Total Edits | 329 |
Editors | 21 |
Words Added | 18.5K |
Article Views | 78.2K |
Commons Uploads | 4 |
Australian National University
Following a 2018 Research Support Day for university library staff, at which Dr Thomas Shafee, La Trobe University and Dr Julia Kuehns, University of Melbourne presented about their university-based communities, Wikimedia Australia was approached by the Australian National University about establishing a similar program in Canberra.
Gideon Digby and Pru Mitchell held online meetings with the ANU coordinator to shape the program. Wikimedia Australia then funded a trainer with a background in academia to travel to Canberra and deliver the two days of training in April 2019 supported by local Wikimedians.
Training: Editing with Visual Editor at ANU
Photo: Bidgee
1.2 Volunteer support programme
The Wikimedia Australia Volunteer Support Programme is a small grants programme. Its goal is to enable members of the community to undertake an outreach or content-related activity directly related to Wikimedia Australia's mission, which members may otherwise be unable to undertake. There were no requests for funding under the Volunteer Support Program in the first half of the year so a focus was on promoting the grants via the WMAU website, in newsletters and emails on the mailing list. This resulted in several requests, and in total the Volunteer Support Program provided $2,363.69 worth of grants for the following activities.
Presentation: Digital Curation Conference, 4 - 7 February 2019
https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/IDCC19
The goal of this grant was to ensure that the International Digital Curation community (archivist, curator, librarian and academic) was kept aware of the main relevant developments in Wikimedia projects via presentation at IDCC2019.
This grant supported two main outputs. During attendance of the initial talks, I realised that Wikidata and WikiJournals would be the primary interest for the audience, so re-balanced my live demonstration to prioritize the Wikidata aspects and the talk to prioritize WikiJournals. The live demonstration of Wikipedia, Commons and Wikidata went very smoothly, with a range of examples used from science, law, and history topics. See here for the script of the live demonstration. The talk was well-received with questions afterwards about how Wikipedia has changed over the past 18 years. I assisted a group of 8 people with signing up for accounts and making their first Wikidata edits during a tea break.
The day before the conference, demonstrators were requested to come in to record a mini-video version, to be released alongside the demonstration.
Photography at Avalon Air Show
Funding to attend the Avalon Air Show in February 2019, resulted in a photo shoot of over 1500 photographs over the two days. Some of these were retakes, test shots or someone walking in front of the camera, with a conservative estimate that of the over 1500 photographs, about 750 are likely to be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. As of 25 July 2019, 71 of the 82 photographs in Category:2019 Australian International Air Show are a result of this photo shoot, of which [wikipedia=1&projects[wikimedia]=1&projects[wikisource]=1&projects[wikibooks]=1&projects[wikiquote]=1&projects[wiktionary]=1&projects[wikinews]=1&projects[wikivoyage]=1&projects[wikispecies]=1&projects[mediawiki]=1&projects[wikidata]=1&projects[wikiversity]=1 three are used on Wikipedia].
Scholarships to WoW and community conferences
These scholarship grants funded travel and accommodation for two WMAU members from outside Sydney to attend the Worlds of Wikimedia and Community conferences at the University of Sydney in June, 2019. As part of this grant, both recipients prepared and presented conference sessions.
Kerry Raymond presented at the Worlds of Wikimedia conference on Creating Wikipedia articles from CC-by content. https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/File:Creating_Wikipedia_articles_from_CC-BY_content.pdf. Her challenge to the conference: “Let’s stop depending on the cottage industry approach to Wikipedia and let’s start a Wikipedia industrial revolution”, pointing out the significant amount of Australian content available for re-use in Wikipedia.
Margaret Donald presented an informative session at the community conference on Wikidata and botany, entitled, Australasian Virtual Herbarium, taxonbar & Wikidata for botanical articles
This was an eye-opener for many at the conference both in terms of Wikidata and its connection to Wikipedia via the taxonbar, and the video of the session has prompted ongoing discussion via social media.