Wikipedian-in-Residence at the Metropolitan New York Library Council: Thoughts on scaling local GLAM initiatives Dorothy Howard GLAM-Wiki 2015 The Hague, Nederlands

1. Wikipedian-in-Residence at the
Metropolitan New York Library Council
Thoughts on scaling local GLAM
initiatives
Dorothy Howard, New York, NY
Twitter @DorothyR_Howard
<dorohoward {@} gmail.com>
#glamwiki
Friday April 10, 2015 15:30

2. Multi-Institutional Residency
“Open Data Fellowship” – allow flexibility in the job
description
Consortium offers Wikipedia special projects and
expertise as a member-service at library
organizations
Other potential models
• Higher educational social science research groups
• National health or science institutes
• “Co-host” a Wikipedian-in-Residence among a few
institutions

3. Metaphors: Wikipedian-in-Residence
as Switchboard
• Role as a
resource
communicator
• Compile a global
resource directly
for different
potential interest
among your target
audience – i.e.
WMF contacts,
WikiData, sister-
projects

4. Wikipedian-in-Residence
as Advocate
• Emphasis on changing institutional culture also
requires re-conceiving of information as political
– Anti-surveillance / Right to privacy
– Opening up government data / open-data initiatives
– Fostering more programming academies / makerspaces /
hackerspaces, places for creative collaboration
– “Gender Gap” and multicultural gaps cut across related projects
• Resident as vocal advocate and communicator for
other open-access projects
• Emphasize writing and media component of the
position – hire someone with experience working
with the press

5. Local demands: New York
• “Too much interest” problem
• Local Chapter capacity
• Growing interest in WikiData and data projects
– finding the right expertise

6. • Manage stakeholder’s expectations
• 1 staff person is trained at each institution
• Wingspan / “plant the seeds”
• Focus on small scale donations / changing
institutional culture
• Maintain a presence at relevant local conferences
• Virality as a goal
• To do differently: Edit-a-thons were strong focus
but potentially not best way to begin engagement
Our scale and goals:

7. Some outcomes
• 9 institutional consultations in the past 6 months –
over 30 in past 20 months.
• 15 Edit-a-thons held over past 20 months – 5 in the
last 6 months.
• Wikipedia webcast series
• Best-practices materials for libraries
• Small scale image donations
• Wikimedia PEG Grant for event funds and
technology, printed materials
• Press coverage in some of the major U.S.
publications
– 60 minutes, the New York Times, the Huffington
Post, Colorlines

8. Engaging Institutions
• Barnard College
• The Center for Jewish History
• Columbia University Libraries
• The Frick Collection
• The Guggenheim Museum
• The Józef Piłsudski Institute of America
• The New York Public Library
• Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science
• Southeastern NY Libraries Resources Council
• Thomas J. Watson Library
• Queens Library
• Westchester County Library System
• And more!

9. Gugg-a-thon Museum Architecture
Edit-a-thon / October, 2014

10. Strategies

11. Compile training materials relevant to
your specific audience
• Put local directory of editing resources specific
to audience on your GLAM page or a sister-
project page
• Create a packet of current research on
Wikipedia
GLAM Resources Annotated Bibliography
(in progress)
• https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM_consortium_meeting_a
genda_ideas,_2015/GLAM-
US_Resources_Annotated_Bibliography

12. Strategies for working with
multiple institutions
• Never underestimate the power of one-on-one
meetings
• Keep up-to-date on recent Wikipedia research
and editor statistics
• Personal tone makes a huge difference
* Not all institutions will want a staff t

13. Make or break: The institutional pitch
• Standard format for initial engagement
– One-pager with basic information about local WP
activities
– Standardized Edit-a-thon “packet”
– Report of institution’s current coverage
• Show them a few Wikipedia pages of items
they hold
• Follow up the next day with a list of links to
things you’ve talked to

14. Staff trainings
• “Train-the-Trainers”
• Regularity / monthly
hub
• Staff from any
department participate
• Have the point person
at the institution help
run the training
• Take group photos!

15. Planning for “virality”
• WikiData and
DBPedia
Workshop for
librarians
Growing interest among
libraries for structured
Data sets
• #BlackLivesMatter
Wikipedia Edit-a-
thon
Be in touch with the
channels and trends of
your local media
environment

16. Virality: What we achieved
#BlackLivesMatter Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
• Cassano, Jay. "Black History Matters so why is Wikipedia Missing so Much of it." FastCompany.
January 29, 2015.
• Solis, Gustavo. "Schomburg Center Hosts Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon for Articles on Black Culture."
DNAInfo. January 30, 2015.
• Gebreyes, Rahel. "Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon Reinforces The Value Of Digitizing Black History,"
Huffington Post Blackvoices. February 2, 2015.
• Lewis, Taylor. "Wikipedia Is Getting a Lesson in Black History." Essence.com
• Noisette, Thierry. "Un éditathon pour rédiger des pages Wikipédia sur la culture noire." Rue89.
February 04, 2015.
• Mccalister, Jared. "BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2015 : New York celebrates African-American
culture and heritage with an abundance of events." NYDaily News. February 05, 2015.
• Murphy, Carla. Can ‘Black Wikipedia’ Take Off Like ‘Black Twitter’?. Colorlines. February 14, 2015.
• Allen, Jessica. "Best eating and drinking events this weekend." CBS Local. February 6, 2015.
• "Participate in an Edit-a-thon Observing Black Wiki History Month." Ethnic Studies, University of
Utah.
• Gedeon, Kimberly. “Where are the Black Pioneers on Wikipedia? A Black History Edit-a-thon will
fill in the gaps.” January 30, 2015
• The Root. February 2, 2015.

17. Press: #BlackLivesMatter Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
Link to Video:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/02/wikipedia-edit-a-thon-black-
history_n_6598974.html?1422916989=&utm_hp_ref=black-voices&m=true
Tip: Target diverse media outlets

18. Set up mini “Wikipedians-in-Residence”
among current institutional volunteers
• Re-train existing institutional volunteers
• University-sponsored Wikipedia internships
– EX: Jozef Pilsudski Institute of America
• Partnership with NYU History PhD program
• Wikipedians in Residence (1) Piotr Puchalsk, Adam
Granatowski, Lukasz chelminski, Adam Staszczuck.
• What I would re-do: Work to get these students
university credit for Residencies

19. What’s next?
• Transitioning out of my role as Wikipedian-
in-Residence
GLAM-Wiki U.S. Consortium
• Creating standard materials for new
Wikipedians-in-Residence “orientation
packet”
• Edit-a-thon in a box
• Annotated bibliography

20. Thank you
Dorothy Howard, New York, NY
Twitter: @DorothyR_Howard
<dorohoward {@} gmail.com
#glamwiki
Friday April 10, 2015 15:30