User talk:Jason.nlw/Archive 1

Wales Settlements Project & WikiWales
Hi Jason, in 2012 the EU-funded feasibility study for this project identified a total of 5,054 community settlements in Wales of which 1,759 had Wikipedia articles, 43 on Wicipedia. The study looked at deploying the neutral Wales.info national domain to create websites for each of the settlements using the MediaWiki API to populate the 1,759 and 43 with their articles, and Ordnance Survey mapping data to show the location of points of interest mentioned in the articles.

The National Library of Wales was nominated a rich content partner using the People's Collection Wales API in conjunction with Wikipedia and I'd be pleased to learn of any work you may be doing in this area.

Best wishes, Terry Caerhys (talk) 19:22, 5 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Hi Terry. This sounds really interesting, and something i wasn't aware of. Do you have a link to the study? I'm very interested in projects which would utilize wiki content in order to enrich our own content, and we are currently looking at down this with the Dictionary of Welsh Biography. I think Wikidata would be an increasingly useful asset for this kind of platform too. Regards Jason.nlw (talk) 07:51, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

Hi Jason. Good to hear from you. The Feasibility Study Report and Business Development Plan were signed off in November 2012 as a forerunner to relaunch online of the This Week Newspaper to promote cultural tourism to Wales.

Wikidata wasn't in the frame at the time but it is now and I'm meeting Medwin Hughes on 16th October to discuss access to the Encyclopaedia of Wales in that "every town, every village, every city is mentioned in there" according to Ashley Drake.

Kind regards, Terry Caerhys (talk) 21:59, 13 September 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks for this. I really like the idea of this project, and feel that if delivered now it could be done more cost effectively and to a higher standard thanks to advances in technology. Here at the National Library of Wales we have been working, with funding from the Welsh Government to develop Welsh language Wici content, and we have had some success in securing open access to existing content and automating the creation of new articles. I also know of examples of museums and galleries who use wikidata and wikipedia text to enrich their own websites. Do let me know how you get on with Medwin Hughes - I think he has been approached before about this content but i am not sure.


 * Just to be clear, are you interested in trying to revive this project? and would you be doing so as a volunteer or in a professional capacity? I think it would be crucial to have Visit Wales on board with this. I am tied up with projects for the next six months but beyond that I would be open to a discussion about contributing to, or even co-ordinating a project along these lines, if we can secure some funding, and i would imagine Peoples Collection would also be interesting in being part of this. If it is easier, you are welcome to email me: jje(at)llgc.org.uk. Thanks! Jason.nlw (talk) 07:25, 14 September 2017 (UTC)

Hi Jason. First an apology: the Feasibility Study Report link went to a rogue file that's been replaced now by the right one. I've also amended the Business Development Plan to include Culture and Connectivity in what are now the five Cs of tourism web marketing noted in the Executive Summary. After publication of the Business Development Plan in December 2012, This Week Media funded a beta web platform to prove the concept, validate the market, and bring the technology level to TRL9 with an Horizen 2020 bid in mind. A Symfony web-developer partnership was also established to exploit geotemporal data to build tourism visitor audiences in Wales for local festivals, events and entertainment.

NLW's Librarian, Andrew Green (now retired) was consulted early on in the study with a view to working with the People's Collection API for niche market, cultural tourism development. So as you can imagine, I'm delighted to learn the Library now has a permanent Wikimedian in Residence and, as far as I'm concerned and I speak for my colleagues too, the setting simply couldn't be more ideal. I can't think of better content partners than Wikimedia, the National Library of Wales, Arts Council Wales and Visit Wales to take the project forward and I welcome any advice on how best to use Wikidata and Wikipedia–Wicipedia content to enrich the settlements' web sites and tourism businesses' own-brand websites according to their location.

As regards funding, windows will open soon on the Tourism Product Innovation Fund (TPIF), and the Wales Rural Development Programme for agri-tourism supply chain pilots. I'm also encouraging Arts Council Wales and NESTA to make a second call for projects under the Digital Innovation Fund for the Arts in Wales. It's here where Medwin Hughes comes into the picture to explore funding to digitise the Encyclopaedia of Wales and make the content available under Creative Commons. Yes, he was approached a couple of years ago but since chairing the panel on the 2017 Independent Review into Literature and Publishing in Wales, I expect his past resistance may have softened.

Professional or volunteer? Bit of a chameleon really. My income as a marketing practitioner supports my work as a volunteer in the third-sector to promote cultural tourism to Wales in conjunction with the Co-production Network for Wales. Caerhys (talk) 22:01, 16 September 2017 (UTC)

@Jason.nlw: With the Wales Settlements Project & WikiWales Study Report and Development Plan in mind, I’ve laid down a marker for the WikiProject Wales and the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020.

I’ve also created a WikiWales Folder in Google Drive, which contains the list of 1,759 community settlements in Wales extracted variously from the following Wikipedia articles:
 * List of communities in Wales
 * Cities in Wales
 * Towns in Wales
 * List of towns in Wales
 * Villages in Wales

The folder also contains the expression of interest submitted on 20th December 2017 by Time Banking Wales to the Rural Development Programme for £55,000 to support the Geotemporal Pilot Project. We won't hear back on this until 14th March but there are other irons in the fire. Caerhys (talk) 17:26, 17 January 2018 (UTC)