GLAM/Newsletter/February 2013/Contents/Switzerland report
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Wickiana and History of the Alps
"Wickiana" meets Wikipedia
Pilot Project with Zurich's Central Library: Picture Upload Started
Wikimedia CH is proud to announce that the pilot picture upload by Zurich's Central Library has started! - After a few weeks of iterative development of an upload script in close cooperation with Emmanuel Engelhart from the Wikimedia community, The Central Library's staff is now able to batch upload scans of their public domain works to Wikimedia Commons, along with the metadata. The pilot project foresees the upload of 100 high resolution scans in four tranches over the next few weeks; the first one centers around broadsheets from the 16th century that were used to illustrate important events or strange phenomena. One of the most notable sources of prints from that time is "Wickiana" by Johann Jakob Wick from Zürich (1522-1588), a collection of notices assembled in 24 volumes between 1560 and 1587.
Zurich’s Central Library is the city’s cantonal, municipal, and university library. With over 5 million items, it is one of Switzerland's largest libraries. It collects scientific literature as well as travel guides, novels and guidebooks. As the city’s oldest cultural institution, it also possesses numerous historic inventories going back to the Middle Ages. Its five Special Collections – Graphics, Manuscripts, Maps, Music, and Old Prints – boast a wealth of historical and current archives, bequests, image and sound documents. It is also one of the first Swiss institutions to cooperate with Wikipedia[1] and has been a sponsoring member of Wikimedia CH since 2008.
Have a look at the pictures that have been uploaded so far, and help us integrate them into the different Wikipedias!
History of the Alps
LabiSAlp Donation: First Phase Completed
In October 2012 Wikimedia CH started an 18-month cooperation with the International Association for Alpine History (IAAH) and with the Laboratorio di Storia delle Alpi (LabiSAlp), a research institute of the University of Italian Switzerland.
The cooperation's main objective is the donation of the scientific bulletin of the LabiSAlp and of all research reports released by this institute since 1996 [2].
A second objective is the publication of the most important books about the history of the Alps on Wikisource. A scientific committee of the IAAH has selected a short list of relevant books published in the 16th century.They will be identified in the European libraries and published on Wikisource.
A third main objective is the identification of all relevant iconographic material retained in Swiss universities and libraries (an example) in order to publish it in Wikimedia projects.
A fourth objective is the use of all these materials on Wikipedia and related projects in order to improve the quality of the content.
The project is managed by Andrea Caracausi, a researcher at the Universities of Padua and Venice and an expert in Alpine history. His first task has been the identification and the census of the material present in Wikipedia and online in order to prepare the next steps concerning the donations.
All results have been grouped on a project page on the Italian Wikipedia in the sections "Biblioteca" (Library), "Archivi" (Archives), "Link utili" (Useful Links), "Risorse in rete" (Online Resources), and "Mappe" (Maps). So far, the most relevant material about the history of the Alps has been specified and mapped.
