GLAM plus
West Coast New Zealand's Wikipedian at Large
- After winding up the project described here, Mike will start work at the Westland District Library as a digital librarian. He'll be continuing the work he began as a Wikipedian, including recruiting editors and supporting meetup groups and edit-a-thons. The role will involve digitisation of museum collections, a Wikisource project with an early explorer's notebooks, Wikicite work with library collections, and improving the coverage of threatened species. He'll also help organise the New Zealand user group's first Wikimedia conference in Hokitika in March. This article was first published in the GLAM Newsletter this month.
From 5 September to 26 October 2020 I was a Wikipedian at Large on the remote West Coast region of New Zealand. In September I was based in Hokitika, Greymouth, and Westport, and in October in Ōkārito, Franz Josef, Fox Glacier, Reefton, and Arthur's Pass. The project was largely funded by Development West Coast, with additional support or accommodation supplied by Westland District Library, Grey District Library, and Glacier Country Tourism. The brief was to do the following:
- Working with heritage organisations such as museums and libraries to organise uploads of public-domain photos into Wikimedia Commons.
- Improving articles on iconic West Coast features, places, and people using the resources of non-profits, tourism agencies, and individual tourism operators.
- Running a public Wikipedia event in each location, where people could learn the basics of editing Wikipedia and donating photos to Commons.
- Running training for gallery, library, museum, and archives (GLAM) staff in each location – introducing them to Wikipedia, Commons, and Wikidata, and helping each develop a Wikimedia strategy for their collections.
- Giving presentations to tourism organisations and operators in each area on improving Wikivoyage, making print media coverage available to Wikipedians, and donating high-quality photos to Commons.