Wikipedia:GLAM/British Library/IDP/Report
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 The International Dunhuang Project group at the British Library, together with Andrew Gray, the Wikipedian in Residence, ran a multi-day, multi-language, editing programme during late October 2012. This was focused on the broad theme of Central Asian history and archaeology, as well as material specific to the Dunhuang collections worldwide. Participants were drawn from IDP staff and colleagues in other departments of the British Library, as well as volunteer Wikipedians, three groups of students, and a number of participants from external institutions. During the week-long event, around fifty articles were improved, of which 35 were newly created or significantly expanded. Around a hundred images were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, which are now used in sixty-four different articles across ten languages.
PreparationThe event was sketched out in May, following the appointment of the BL's Wikipedian in Residence. The date of late October was settled on so as to fit with the run-up to the Archaeology of the Southern Taklamakan conference in early November. An October date also made it more practical to bring in student groups, as there would be time to organise it prior to the next academic year. The details were settled in July, and a number of Wikipedia projects were notified about this (eg/ those dealing with Central Asia, China, archaeology, etc., as well as the UK mailing list.) Around this time, the IDP group reached out to a number of academic contacts to find those interested in bringing in students, as well as to investigate the possibility of overseas involvement. By mid-September, we had some academic partners identified, and were working on arranging the logistics for the event, specifically ensuring sufficient wireless internet capacity in the room. (...) Outline of the eventThree groups of students contributed to the project; one from the University of Birmingham (offsite), one from SOAS, and one from University College London (both at the BL). In addition, we had participation from six members of staff from the Dunhuang Project, two other curators from elsewhere in the Library, and five visiting academics. Around eight Wikipedia volunteers visited during the week - several on two or three days - and another dozen or so worked on relevant articles online. Plans are now underway for a second workshop at Birmingham early in 2013, and a session at the Dunhuang Project workshop in Nottingham in March. Lessons learnedContent contributed |
