Wikipedia:GLAM/MGS/Final summary and reflection

Background
A Wikimedian in Residence is a Wikimedia editor based with an organisation or group of organisations, usually a GLAM (Gallery, Library, Archive or Museum) with the aim of increasing the quality and volume of content on the encyclopedia and associated Wikiprojects concerning the organisation(s) collection. Museums Galleries Scotland is a charity and development body for the museum sector; it works with more than 400 institutions based in Scotland.

Wikimedia UK had been working with MGS for several years discussing a potential project, and finally in 2014 set the project up, after MGS had applied to Wikimedia UK to partner on this activity. The process was successful and Wikimedia UK was happy to partner with MGS to deliver a year long residency. The overarching idea for the project was to use the MGS network to reach many institutions and help them engage with open knowledge. It was felt that the project would be more successful it if started with a secondment in a particular institution, so that the resident could first engage with an organisation on the ground level, and apply that learning to other museums in the network. The result of this was the four-month secondment to Glasgow Museums. The resident, Sara Thomas was embedded with the Kelvin Hall team at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum for 2.5 days per week during the period 26 January 2015–30 May 2015. The Summary & Reflections report for this element of the residency can be found here.

Following the secondment, the resident moved to work from the Edinburgh office of MGS, again for 2.5 days per week, making contact with those organisations who had shown interest in the residency during the secondment, and then using MGS' network to identify other organisations who would be interested in pursuing open knowledge work. Throughout the residency there was a great deal of advocacy work carried out, and attention paid to increasing the sphere of influence and connection. The Summary & Reflections report for this second phase of the residency, which ran from 1 June 2015 - 31 January 2016 can be found here.

The third phase of the residency ran from 1 February 2016 - 2 July 2016, with the resident working 3 days a week. The final months were short due to funding and annual leave requirements, however the focus was on the completion of particular projects.

This report will focus on the third phase of the residency, and update final statistics. This report should be read in association with the Secondment Summary & Reflections Report and the 12 month report.

Aims and objectives of residency
As a networked residency, working across the Scottish museums sector, this residency was quite different from most others. Primarily, throughout the residency, there was a greater focus upon advocacy and attitudinal/culture change than content development.

Outcomes
WMUK outcomes relevant to this Residency as set out in the WiR Agreement:


 * G1: Develop Open Knowledge
 * G2a: Develop, involve and engage WMUK volunteers
 * G3: Reduce barriers to accessing open knowledge
 * G5: Develop, support & engage with other Wikimedia & Open Knowledge communities

These outcomes are mapped to more specific outcomes in the below table.

Positive influencing factors for success in the residency

 * Momentum built up over the course of the residency meant that there was a good deal of interest in further projects, however many could not be pursued due to time & funding constraints.


 * Being able to offer training for free significantly increased take up, especially for those organisations with limited budget, or who were particularly remote and for whom travel costs would have been prohibitive.


 * Continued appetite for digital learning within the sector.

Negative influencing factors against success in the residency

 * Fear & uncertainty surrounding open licensing and copyright; ownership of images and decisions surrounding commercialisation of collections.


 * Limited time frame of project limited follow up work with organisations who had shown interest earlier in the residency.

Outputs
In the third phase of the residency:


 * 7 Editathons
 * 5 training sessions / workshops
 * 4 speaking engagements
 * 11 new cultural institutions or groups (presentations to conferences counted as 1 group)
 * 285 recorded contact points

This gives a total for the entire residency of:


 * 19 editathons
 * 21 training sessions
 * 27 speaking engagements
 * 90 cultural institutions (roughly)
 * 983 recorded contact points

Users and content

In the third phase of the residency:


 * 115 individuals trained
 * 97 new users
 * 43 new articles created
 * 233 articles improved
 * 39 images uploaded

This gives a total for the entire residency of:


 * 347 individuals trained
 * 281 new users
 * 110 new articles created
 * 336 articles improved
 * 277 images uploaded

Events & Presentations
Editathons & Training events

Presentations & conferences 

Organisations reached
GLAMs & associated organisations - direct contact, training, events, content upload

GLAMs reached but where level of contact is below training - e.g presentation, follow up discussions, but no further action taken.

Universities - conferences & training

Other
 * Govan's Hidden Histories  - partner for Strong Women of the Clydeside'' editathon
 * Edinburgh Digital Meetup - presentation given
 * DigIt!

Major achievements

 * The number of new users trained in the third phase of the residency, and indeed overall, is a significant achievement.


 * The engagement with Groam House Museum was the culmination of a great deal of work and provided a near textbook example of small-GLAM partnership working with Wiki. The period of work resulted in vertical buy-in throughout the organisation, content upload, and a draft open licensing policy was created and submitted to the board of directors for approval. More information on the Groam House work, including details of the outputs and outcomes, can be found here.


 * Also as part of the Groam House work, a set of questionnaires was created which provided a template for benchmarking the efficacy and impact of Wiki work with GLAMs. This template has been made available on Commons.

Reflections & Recommendations for WMUK

 * As previously discussed, more formal, stewarded connections between residents would be appreciated.
 * Support from WMUK in general greatly appreciated.

Reflections & Recommendations for MGS

 * It was a pleasure to work with MGS and I'm very sorry to have left them! Being able to access their network gave an incredible opportunity to work at a sector-wide level.
 * The state of the sector does seem to indicate that this project could be repeated in future, with perhaps more success around content release and adopting of open licensing policies.