GLAM/Newsletter/March 2013/Contents/Israel report
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Wrapping up a 6-months pilot project at the Haifa University Academic Library
August 19th, 2012 marked the beginning of a 6-months pilot project with the academic library at the University of Haifa, a pilot that has come to a wrap this March. During these months, our Wikipedian-in-Residence, Liron Dorfman, visited the Library weekly and worked closely with the Library staff, in order to expose various collections at the library and help make the information available on wiki projects.
In accordance with previous GLAM-IL projects, we had several goals in mind -
- Teaching the Library staff to edit Wikipedia and load media files to WikiCommons.
- Writing articles or expanding existing articles related to the Library's collections at the Hebrew Wikipedia.
- Exposing Media files from the Library's collections on WikiCommons under a suitable CC license.
- Inviting the public to learn how to edit Wikipedia and take part in WM-IL projects.
- Fostering a sustainable, long-term relationship with the Library, one that will continue after the end of the pilot.
As always, events and conferences played a key role in achieving the project's goals.
The 9th Jerusalem Conference on the Digitization of Cultural Heritage
On November 14th, 2012, we presented our project, along with other WM-IL GLAM Projects, during the 9th Digital Heritage Conference in Jerusalem. Our panel included lectures by representatives from the Open Knowledge Foundation, Creative Commons Israel and Project Ben-Yehuda, as well as lectures about 4 Israeli GLAM collaborations. All in all the panel was a success, as it not only helped spread the word the word in Israel about GLAM-Wiki, but also led to new GLAM collaborations. A report about the panel, written by Joris Pekel from the OKFN, is available here.
An Editing Workshop for Library Staff & University Employees
On December 11th, 2012, we help the first editing workshop. About 25 library staff and university employees participated in the workshop, which included two parts: a general lecture on how Wikipedia works, followed by a "hands on" practical workshop, in which 5 experienced wikipedians tutored the university staff. 12 new users were opened during the practical workshop and the new wikipedians happily left the event with a promise to continue helping us and telling their friends!
A "Behind the Scenes" Tour
On January 3rd, 2013, we held a "Behind the Scenes" tour at the library. The event was opened to both wikipedians and interested from the general public and aimed to expose both the Hebrew Wikipedia community and the general pubic to the various collections available at the library. About 35 people participated in the tour and a few participants from the general public expressed their interest in learning how to edit. They were all invited to our Edit-a-thon and added to our GLAM-IL mailing list.
For more information about this event in Hebrew, read a report by Ora Zehavi, head of the Media Department at the library.
Fun times at the Library -
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At the scanning center with Keren Barner. -
Tuning in.. :) -
With Ora Zehavi, head of the Media Department. -
At the "Rare Books Collection" room. -
A rare copy of The Book of Daniel. -
At the children's library with Humi.
An Open Workshop & Edit-a-thon
On February 5th, we held a workshop followed by an edit-a-thon, which were opened to the general public. First, newcomers listened to a frontal lecture about how wikipedia operates. The evening continues with 5 experienced editor supporting the newcomers, as they were taking their first steps editing wikipedia, in a joint edit-a-thon. As always, time flew and it seemed that 4 hours have passed in a blink of an eye.
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A welcome note at the library. -
At the lecture, learning about how wikipedia operates. -
At the edit-a-thon. -
At the edit-a-thon. -
At the edit-a-thon.
For more media released in this project, please see the project's category in commons -
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A Rosh Hashanah greeting card from 1927. -
Chemistry class at the Hebrew Reali School, Haifa, 1936. -
A fragment from the Passover Haggadah of the Cairo Genizah. -
The Maccabiah Games opening ceremony, 1935. -
The library at the Multi-Purpose Building, University of Haifa, early 70s.
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Other News in Brief
Continuing our GLAM collaboration with the National Library of Israel, the NLI has been graciously hosting various WM-IL editing workshops. Most of these workshop are in a "Day at the Library" format, where groups begin their day with a two-hour tour at the library. They then have frontal lecture on how wikipedia works, followed by a practical workshop, where they learn basic wiki-syntax and take their first steps editing under the guidance of experienced wikipedians. So far the NLI hosted 7 such workshops, hosting WM-IL workshops for academic courses, teachers & high school students from various schools, a group of archivists and members from the Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites.
- What next -
WM-IL is now working on expanding its GLAM collaborations with both the Israel Museum, Jerusalem and the National Library of Israel. It is also developing new collaborations with both the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the group of 6 Haifa Museum, which includes the Haifa Museum of Art, the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art and Israeli National Maritime Museum. More details will follow in the coming months.
