| Institution | Resident's Name | Period Covered | Date of Report |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glasgow Museums / Museums Galleries Scotland | Sara Thomas | 21 April - 30 May 2015 (fourth & final month of residency) | 30 May 2015 |
Introduction edit
This is the fourth and final month report of the Glasgow Museums secondment section of the year long Museums Galleries Scotland residency. From 2 June, I will be based at Museums Galleries Scotland in Edinburgh, but working nationally, using the MGS network to reach museums across Scotland with a focus on the Recognised Collections. A summary and reflection report on the Glasgow secondment can be read here.
Projects delivered in the past month edit
| Event Name | Date | Location | Attendees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presentation to Insight Cafe | 22 April 2015 | Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum | 10 |
| Scotwiki Edinburgh Meetup #8 | 22 April 2015 | Platform 5, Edinburgh | 7 |
| Wikipedia training for curators | 23 April | Riverside Museum | 3 |
| Wikipedia training for curators | 5 May | Riverside Museum | 7 |
| Scottish Fairground Culture Editathon | 7 May 2015 | Riverside Museum | 8 |
| Presentation at eCult Dialogue Day, European Museum Forum, #EMYA2015 | 13 May 2015 | Mitchell Library | 43 |
| Wiki editing for curators | 14 May | Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum | 1 |
| Presentation to IT & Marketing | 20 May | Glasgow Life Offices | 18 |
| Presentation to Be Good Be Social | 28 May | Institute of Fundraising Scotland | 40 |
| Women on the Platform Editathon | Friday 29 May 2015 | Fountainbridge Library | 6 |
| Curator Training | 30 May | Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum | 1 |
Metrics edit
12 new accounts were created as part of the Curator Editing Training sessions on 23 April, 5, 14 & 30 May.
23 April
5 May
14 May
30 May
5 new accounts were created as part of the Scottish Fairground Culture Editathon on 7 May. Additional attendees were curatorial staff (members of the Wiki Working Group) who supported less digitally literate volunteers to participate.
The following article was created:
- Vinegarhill (showmen and traveller's yard) (+1252 bytes)
The following articles were improved:
- Waltzer (+482 bytes)
- Glasgow Fair (11,069 bytes)
Articles on Fairground Art, Fairgrounds and Cinema, and further improvements to Glasgow Fair were created in users' sandboxes and I am encouraging and supporting users to publish.
4 new accounts were created as part of the Women on the Platform Editathon held by the DRB Scottish Women's History group. The group gave positive feedback and a further editathon is likely.
The following articles were created:
The following article was improved:
Following the event, user:Victuallers has nominated Eliza Wigham and Priscilla Bright McLaren for a Did You Know.
Presentation to be delivered as part of wrap up & handover edit
| Event Name | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Presentation to the MMT | 8 June | Glasgow Life Offices |
Objectives & outcomes edit
| WMUK | Glasgow Museums |
|---|---|
| Develop Open Knowledge Develop, involve & engage WMUK volunteers Reduce barriers to accessing open knowledge Develop, support and engage with other Wikimedia & Open Knowledge Communities |
Dedicated training and content upload into Wikipedia for Glasgow Life museum curators/relevant staff An event during the Glasgow residency to introduce the Wikimedian project to the wider museum sector Recognised Collections staff across Scotland invited to shadowing of Glasgow Wikimedian activities for on-the-job skills sharing Possible connection for further skills sharing between Recognised/non-Recognised museum staff |
Developing Open Knowledge
11 curators and museum staff were trained to use Wikipedia, and 4 curatorial staff attended the Scottish Fairground Culture Editathon on 7 May, supporting volunteers to add content to the encyclopedia. Feedback from the event from the Showpeople community was positive and it is hoped that another event may take place in the future, led by the Wiki Working Group. The community expressed interest in uploading photographs and a Wikicommons account was created by Dialoectograms, with one photograph uploaded as an example, using the {{Glasgow Museums GLAMWiki image}} tag. Further content was added to the encyclopedia on 30 May at the Women on the Platform Editathon. Two articles created at that event have been nominated for a Did You Know.
Scottish Fairground Culture Editathon
| Articles Created | Bytes | Articles Improved | Bytes | Images added |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (+1252 bytes) | 2 | (+11,551) | 1 |
Women on the Platform Editathon
| Article Created | Articles Improved |
|---|---|
| 3 | 1 |
Following the curator training, two curators specialising in St Mungo have been identified as key contacts to assist in the planning of an editathon in September about which I have received an enquiry through Museums Galleries Scotland.
Planning continues for a photography event in the summer visiting Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvin Hall and the Riverside Museum. This will be taken forward by the Wiki Working Group, including key members of Wiki-trained staff from each venue and ideally, support from either myself or another Wikimedian.
One attendee at the Fairground Culture Editathon worked at another Scottish museum, and was given literature on Working With Wiki.
My training slides have been uploaded to WikiCommons.
Develop, involve and engage WMUK volunteers
16 new user accounts were created through curator training and events. The curator training has helped identify a few very keen editors likely to continue editing, and who will join the Glasgow Museums Wiki Working Group. A number of post-training enquiries have been received from both these editors and I have been happy to support them.
Reducing barriers to accessing open knowledge
On 20 May I presented to the IT department, with key members of the Marketing department also in attendance. The focus of this presentation was on what had been achieved throughout the project, but also on what could be achieved in the future, the benefits of working openly, and a particular focus on the potential for increasing audiences and discovering new income streams, using the example of the Rijksmuseum's collaboration with Etsy, and their Print on Demand webshop. The presentation was received well and I received a number of requests to share my slides. This presentation came about as a result of a contact made at the Insight Cafe presentation earlier in the month.
I co-presented at the eCult European Museum Forum event, part of the European Museum of the Year Award conference, with Kelly Forbes from Museums Galleries Scotland. The audience was comprised of key staff from European Museums and the presentation was received well, with some enquiries made and cards handed out at the networking reception held in the evening.
I will make a presentation to the Management Team at Glasgow Life a short while after the secondment to Glasgow Museums has finished, in order to encourage sustainability in the project.
Developing, supporting & engaging with other Wikimedia & Open Knowledge communities
I attended the Open Knowledge Foundation meetup in Edinburgh on 14 May and was asked to present at the Glasgow meetup on 2 June. A couple of key contacts were made at this event.
I attended the ScotWiki meetup in Edinburgh on 22 April, and discussed with Ally Crockford the handover of some of the Scottish community responsibilities as her residency at the National Library of Scotland has come to an end. I am now an admin of the mailing list and will organise a Glasgow meetup in due course. I hope to grow this group over the remainder of the MGS residency, with the aim of establishing sustainability in the group.
Conclusion of project edit
This four month project, although short, has laid down a good basis for further work with Glasgow Museums, and with the introduction of the Wiki Working Group, there continues to be a focus for Wiki and open knowledge within the organisation. Reflections on the project can be found in the Summary and Reflections Report