GLAM/Newsletter/June 2012/Contents/UK report
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National Archives digitisation grant; WWI edit-a-thon; brief news
National Archives contribute to Share Your Knowledge
In early 2012, The National Archives (UK) joined the Share your Knowledge project with almost 5,000 African images from the Africa through a lens collection, licensed under the OGL v1.0. A case study about this partnership, which follows a previous one with the English Wikipedia, can now be read on it.wikipedia (English version - Italian version). The article features the story of their enthusiastic adhesion to the SYK initiative, the history of the collection, a quick background on its digitization, a few samples of the valuable contents now available on Commons, some stats and a QR code, a technology which the Archives appreciate and use to connect to Wikipedia articles.
National Archives digitisation grant
WMUK has been working with The National Archives to bring a collection of 2,000 or so war art images into the public domain via a digitisation grant. The first group of 350 or so images is available in commons:Category:War_art_in_The_National_Archives_(United_Kingdom) and includes works from some 120 artists whose work may be freely available for the first time thanks to this project. The collection includes some of the most famous pieces of war art produced in the UK, including the famous Dig for Victory and Careless Talk Costs Lives campaigns. We think this is a great step forward as these images can, for example, be used to illustrate an important period in world history as well as the biographies of these artists. This story has received some good press coverage too, in publications such as these articles in The Guardian, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun. More.
"Great War" editathon at British Library
Working in collaboration with JISC, WMUK held a World War I-focused editathon at the British Library on 16th June. Seven academics and around 20 Wikimedians attended, discussing and expanding articles on aspects of the war which were badly covered on Wikipedia. This is the third editathon at the British Library, the first event of WMUK's World War I centenary program, and the first organised in partnership with JISC.
Living Paths
A bid by a team of four GLAM-Wikipedians, Robin Owain, Roger Bamkin, John Cummings, and Andy Mabbett, called 'Living Paths', was presented to judges of the GeoVation competition over the weekend of 22-24 June, and successfully qualified for the final round, which will be held in Cardiff on 18 July, where the winners will receive a share of the £125,000 prize. If successful, the team will deploy a MonmouthpediA-style project along the Wales Coast Path, liaising with GLAMs, training people and community groups adjacent to its route to edit Wikipedia and add material to commons, and erecting QRpedia codes on signage and at other locations.
News in brief
- Wikimedia UK presence at Wikimania next month: Wikimedia UK will be represented by several GLAM collaborators will be at Wikimania2012 in Washington DC from 12-15 July. There will be a presentation on Monmouthpedia and a QRpedia workshop, plus a UK presence at other GLAM events. More next time.
- GLAM-WIKI registration, call for papers opens: Registration for GLAM-WIKI opened this month. You can register here. Presentations can be submitted at this link.
- British Museum "Shakespeare" Exhibition, September 13 - sign-up now!: We have been offered a tour of the BM exhibition Shakespeare: staging the world on September 13th at 9 a.m.. Followed by a meeting with a curator. Expressions of interest here please; the group size is limited. Note the morning time; we are getting into a "private view" session. This is the day before the GLAM-WIKI conference, and there has been talk of a further event in the afternoon, but nothing confirmed yet.
I am in possession of over a dozen letters written in his own hand from Sir Alexander Cohen, to a couple , who were his friends and who lived in New Hope Pa.USA during the 1950"s. Sir Cohen was the prime minister of uganda from 1952-1957, and died in 1968. I am interested in marketing the entire collection. Please advise. Thank you Kathleen Ireland email : leenland@tds.net