[Wikimediauk-l] Why I love Wikisource
Recently I lost my Wikisource virginity, becoming not a passive cheerleader for the project but an active contributor. I have to say it's been a more rewarding experience than expected. I'd heard in a few places that imports from the Internet Archive, or imports of .djvu files, weren't reliable, but my little experience has been fine. Maybe I've been lucky in my choice of files. The whole process of loading in a book and starting transcription went quite smoothly, though it required attention to a lot of little steps and I wouldn't recommend it to non-geeky people. One surprise was that having entered data about the book into Commons, I had to enter the same data again into Wikisource. Later when I went through Preferences on Wikisource, I saw an option to automatically copy book data from Commons to Wikisource, but for reasons I don't understand it's off by default. The editing interface is last-century primitive but usable. An advanced toolbar with more buttons would enable me to work more quickly, but this might be possible with custom Javascript. In my new role as Wikimedian In Residence at the Bodleian Libraries, I'm doing a lot of advocacy for Wikisource to my audience of librarians because it's a great example of how sharing content improves content. It's also a great example of something lay people with computers can do to support research and free knowledge. There are two projects I'm working on (in volunteer time now and again, not paid work), in case anyone's interested. Firstly, there's a collection on Wikisource related to Mary Wollstonecraft, a very important philosopher and author of fiction and non-fiction, not to mention the mother of Mary Shelley. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Mary_Wollstonecraft There are gaps, but with some additional transcription work it's in hailing distance of being an impressive research resource, hopefully enabling more interesting projects such as the Mary Wollstonecraft Twitter: https://twitter.com/1759marywol1797 Her short book about raising daughters had been scanned but not transcribed, so I've been working on that, a quarter of an hour now and again. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Index:Thoughts_on_the_Education_of_Daughters.djvu The other project arises from a talk by a historian working with British Library Labs. He is studying the humour of the Victorian era, marking up a joke book to identify individual jokes and lines of dialogue. A fun spin-off from this work is the Mechanical Comedian project http://victorianhumour.tumblr.com/ An ideal starting point for this work would be a checked, validated transcription of the out-of-copyright source book, which the team are gradually working on. So I'm urging them to use Wikisource as a platform, and to demonstrate I'm transcribing a similar book from the same era. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Index:Everybody%27s_Book_of_English_wit_and_humour_(1880).djvu Disclaimer: a lot of Victorian jokes are *not funny*, but there are rare gems. If, like I was, you're a Wiki*edian who's interested in Wikisource but hasn't taken the plunge. I recommend having a go. -- Dr Martin L Poulter Wikipedia contributor http://enwp.org/User:MartinPoulter Volunteer, Wikimedia UK http://wikimedia.org/wiki/User:MartinPoulter http://uk.wikimedia.org/ Musician http://soundcloud.com/martin-poulter http://myspace.com/comapilot Person http://infobomb.org/ ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
[Wikimediauk-l] Forthcoming editathons
I am hosting some editathons: Thurs 28 May, Birmingham: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/Royal_Society_of_Chemistry/BH-2015 at Birmingham Museums Collection centre (only rarely open to the public!). We'll enjoy a 'backstage tour and the opportunity to photograph objects, as well,of course, writing articles. Weds 29 July, London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/Royal_Society_of_Chemistry/BH-2015 in the library of the Royal Society of Chemistry. The focus will be on chemistry-related topics; including both scientific and non-scientific content (the latter including biographies, for example). Sat 8 August, North Cheshire Watch this space (and keep the date free)! In each case, lunch and refreshments will be provided; there will be support for new editors (maybe you can help?) and we'll work on sister projects such as Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata and Wikisource, as well as Wikipedia. -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Forthcoming editathons
On 8 May 2015 at 17:50, Andy Mabbett a...@pigsonthewing.org.uk wrote: I am hosting some editathons: Thurs 28 May, Birmingham: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/Royal_Society_of_Chemistry/BH-2015 at Birmingham Museums Collection centre (only rarely open to the public!). We'll enjoy a 'backstage tour and the opportunity to photograph objects, as well,of course, writing articles. I think the link should be to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/Thinktank/Event_2 -- geni ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
[Wikimediauk-l] The Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery in the Digital Age
An impressive number of reputable organisations have signed The Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery in the Digital Age: http://thehaguedeclaration.com/the-hague-declaration-on-knowledge-discovery-in-the-digital-age/ I think that WMUK should, too. It aligns closely with existing WMUK polices and the Wikimedia community's ethos. (I've made the same suggestion to the WMF) Note that indivduals can also sign it; as I have done. -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Forthcoming editathons
On 8 May 2015 at 18:15, geni geni...@gmail.com wrote: Thurs 28 May, Birmingham: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/Royal_Society_of_Chemistry/BH-2015 at Birmingham Museums Collection centre (only rarely open to the public!). We'll enjoy a 'backstage tour and the opportunity to photograph objects, as well,of course, writing articles. I think the link should be to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/Thinktank/Event_2 Doh! Yes, thank you. -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Why I love Wikisource
On 8 May 2015 at 11:05, Martin Poulter infob...@gmail.com wrote: One surprise was that having entered data about the book into Commons, I had to enter the same data again into Wikisource. Later when I went through Preferences on Wikisource, I saw an option to automatically copy book data from Commons to Wikisource, but for reasons I don't understand it's off by default. Perhaps its within your WiR remit to write a tutorial? Or make a video? Or perhaps a training event might be organised? -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Why I love Wikisource
That leads to an interesting point. What training materials are there for Wikisource? On 8 May 2015 at 13:01, Andy Mabbett a...@pigsonthewing.org.uk wrote: On 8 May 2015 at 11:05, Martin Poulter infob...@gmail.com wrote: One surprise was that having entered data about the book into Commons, I had to enter the same data again into Wikisource. Later when I went through Preferences on Wikisource, I saw an option to automatically copy book data from Commons to Wikisource, but for reasons I don't understand it's off by default. Perhaps its within your WiR remit to write a tutorial? Or make a video? Or perhaps a training event might be organised? -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk -- Richard Nevell Assistant Office Manager Wikimedia UK +44 (0) 20 7065 0753 Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.* ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
