Wikipedia:GLAM/Bodleian/3rd month report

Content
Summary objective: To make content from the Bodleian available for use on the Wikimedia projects.

There were 164 uploads in June, from a variety of different collections, mainly on the theme of non-Western books. At the end of June, these files had 178 usages as listed by GLAMorous. Their hits will be reported in the “Files uploaded by the Bodleian Libraries’ Wikimedian In Residence" category on BaGLAMa2.

I have the option to request higher-resolution versions of some images, but for now have concentrated on sharing images at 1000px resolution. An image gallery showing the variety of themes is being created at commons:Commons:Bodleian As well as uploading, I have Identified existing files on Commons that originate in the Bodleian Libraries (only scans that were digitised by the Bodleian, not all scans or photographs of Bodleian books or manuscripts). These, as well as the files I upload, are included in the “Files from the Bodleian Libraries” category used by BaGLAMa2.

The Oxford Text Archive includes huge numbers of public domain or CC-Zero texts, including Eighteenth-Century Collections Online (ECCO). Since the ECCO texts are not fully corrected from OCR scans, and links to page scans had broken, the archive could not be used to create definitive versions of the texts for Wikisource. As a result of my highlighting this problem, ECCO texts now have links to page scans on Jisc Historic Texts. The Jisc scans are restricted to UK FE & HE institutions rather than free & open, but people with access can use them to correct ECCO texts and create Wikisource editions. For an example done in volunteer time, see wikisource:An_exhortation_%26_caution_to_Friends_concerning_buying_or_keeping_of_Negroes

I have investigated whether PDF scans of out-of-copyright books, from a past project involving the Bodleian, can be used on Wikimedia projects. These are not on the web and the process for getting hold of the files is difficult, so I will build up a list of interesting works over the coming months and make a request later in the year.

I attended an event which involved handling historic diaries. This brought up the possibility of illustrating Wikipedia articles about events (e.g. Siege of Bhurtpore (1805)) by photographing paragraphs from diaries of participants. This, along with photographing early books, is a strand of work that I will follow up on later in the project.

Community
Summary objective: to expand, diversify and train the contributor community

I ran no events in June, but met with academics in the Music faculty to propose an editathon on medieval music, and have corresponded with the Chemistry department about a possible workshop for academics.

There will be three workshops for staff in Oxford forthcoming in July. I am also pursuing meetings with:

We are also exploring running a “virtual” event by capturing one of my presentations and sharing it as a series of short video clips. There are a variety of possibilities for this, and it might be filmed in Oxford or Bristol depending on facilities available.
 * IT Services about workshops for staff
 * Radcliffe Science Library about possible image sharing
 * Conservation team
 * Digital Humanities Champion about work with the Oxford Internet Institute
 * Academic experts about medieval women

Institutional policy
Summary objective: Shape and implement policies and workflows for licensing and releasing digital media and reporting their use and impact.

As explained above, I have opportunities to request book and image content and will take advantage of these in subsequent months.

Once I have, and publicise, impact data for the content shared so far, I’ll be in a better position to demonstrate the value of alternative practices.

In the discussions I’ve had about ECCO texts and scanned books, I’ve been able to discuss the advantages of Wikimedia sites as platforms for similar projects. These aren’t ongoing projects so there is not a current workflow for me to influence.