Alex Stinson

“ Wikipedian in Residence roles are high risk/high reward roles for institutions: they cost a fair amount of money, in terms of the role itself and supervising the role, but it ensures that someone in the staff has the energy and time to integrate Wikimedia, either through its projects or at the least its values of openness and public access, into the organizational strategy. However, when an organization isn’t ready for that kind of strategic commitment, it’s still worth designating an advocate from outside the organization, to experiment within existing collections or resources. ”

“ Increasingly, institutions are turning to the concept of a “Wikimedia Visiting Scholar”: someone whose real expertise is on creating Wikimedia content and exposing the institution to the relationship between institutional knowledge and Wikimedia, while not focusing on capacity development. ”

“ For formal organizations, such as libraries, wanting to not just contribute small amounts of content, but to take advantage of and participate in the Wikimedia community, navigating the community and culture of the Wikimedia projects can be complicated. Working with affiliates or at least finding an individual Wikimedia contributor to help interface with other experienced volunteers lowers the barrier for participation in the community, allowing the Wikimedia-experienced partner to provide community expertise while the organizational partner brings their knowledge and network. ”

“ Within many organizations that don’t formalize the strategic interest in Wikimedia projects, staff end up taking Wikimedia collaborations on as “volunteers” beyond their staff roles. In the face of the undervaluation of cultural heritage work more generally, expecting staff to do this work as an “extra” to their existing jobs leads to uneven focus, and in the long term, contributes to the underrecognition of something that is fundamental to organizational missions: a strategy for broader public access to collections and specialized knowledge. ”

“ The Wikimedia community is at a critical point in time: a very slow decline in active contributors on Wikimedia projects, from a peak of participation during 2007-2009, has recently leveled off, but during that time, the content on Wikimedia projects has more than doubled. [1] Developing communities of knowledge seekers and preservers ready to build the next stage of quality improvements, as well as finding knowledge stewards who can ensure the long-term reliability of Wikimedia content, is a strategic investment in the broader availability of information for the public. ”

“ As a community working with libraries, the Wikimedia community is still learning what consistently creates desired outcomes, and how to best serve the missions of both communities, institutions and Wikimedia. Within this shifting context and understanding of how these collaborations work, it behooves Wikimedia allies in the library community to continue iterating upon what we know about community engagement: public programming around access to knowledge is something that librarians have much more experience with than the Wikimedia community. ”

“ Wikimedia’s culture of bold volunteerism with a very low barrier to entry, means that Wikimedia volunteers often have a range of motivations, capacities and organizational skills that may or may not meet the needs of more formal institutions. Additionally, Wikimedia volunteers may invest a large amount of energy in projects in which they find a passion or connection with the needs of other communities--but like all projects of passion, that enthusiasm can wane, or you might find that your local Wikimedians don’t want to focus on the topics you are interested in. ”

“ For hundreds of years libraries were the world's primary provider of knowledge and information, and while libraries continue to provide vital services, the landscape in which they operate has changed dramatically. ”

“ Residencies can be described as successful based on just tangible metrics and impacts. However evaluating and implementing the WIR model in isolation often struggles to leave any lasting institutional impact on Wikimedia’s projects and mission once the residency ends. Meaningful strategic impact, particularly in larger GLAM’s, can take a very long time and may meet with resistance from staff with conflicting priorities and targets. In order to aid a lasting Wikimedia collaboration, the WIR must work closely with the institution to build a sustainable model for engagement. ”

“ In this context, even the formal organizations that support the Wikimedia community, such as the Wikimedia Foundation who controls the trademarks and servers that keep the websites operating, have almost no control of the governance, editorial practices or decision making that creates the content on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata, and other Wikimedia projects--except for defining the terms of use for participation and a privacy policy. ”

“ In parts of the world with less overlap of culture, language, country and geography, or in countries like the United States, Australia and Canada, where the the contributors to one project might be spread across very wide distance, regional communities, national affiliates or chapters have less cohesion or influence, or where the volunteer community doesn’t have organizational capacity, another solution is needed. ”

“ Working with a full class of students at local University might be a unusual form of outreach for public or non-university research libraries: however, for local history, public history and GLAM professional programs, direct engagement with collections held by institutions and using Wikipedia as an example environment and platform for public access to heritage, provides ample learning opportunities. ”

“ Moreover, the deeply engaged online community only has so many volunteers both capable of setting aside their careers for temporary employment and with the right skills for effective program development at partner organizations. Instead, hiring individuals with moderate-to-little Wikimedia experience, but with demonstrated energy, experience and alignment with digital communities alongside outreach and project management skills has proven effective in a number of situations. ”

“ In order to address these and other issues of building sustainable communities of local editors, most projects needs at least one champion. Such champions come in many guises, from enthusiastic outreach staff within libraries and proactive local community leaders to Wikimedian’s in Residence and online Wikimedia volunteers. ”

“ When more seasoned Wikipedia volunteers have first interactions with new editors, sometimes they are rather abrupt or less than welcoming. Having a human on hand to explain what a template means, or how to figure out if the critique of the new editor’s work is valid, provides in-person opportunities for modeling the community/social dynamic of developing content. ”

“ Employing students to get involved in Wikimedia contributions for the institution, acts as a flip-version of the Wikipedia Visiting Scholar project: instead of a low-cost, low risk contribution from a Wikimedian, student employees offer a low cost, low risk introduction where the institutional supervisor and their student learn how to effectively participate within the guidelines put out by the Wikimedia community. ”

“ Moreover, thematic or project focused communications provide platforms for highlighting the importance of institutional work in that field to local media.
Online programs for the Wikimedia community can also draw participation and collaboration with contributors outside of the geographical scope of the organization, especially on topics of broader interest than local history and culture. Typically, contribution campaigns focus on a theme or topic that the institutions offers digital collections on, and require a fair amount of online Wikimedia community skills. ”

“ The first obvious, and relatively cost effective, way to integrate Wikimedia projects into the strategy of a GLAM is to formalize the role of staff for organizing activities and working on Wikimedia project within the course of their work. Staff can allocate a certain amount of their work hours to work on Wikimedia projects, typically with a broader public access or outreach mission in mind. ”

“ Many activities and projects within Wikimedia communities are entirely volunteer led, some of those volunteers may be working with support or funding from the Wikimedia Foundation or local Wikimedia chapters, and even others are working on projects developed by other stakeholder groups, such as education institutions, research communities or cultural heritage organizations -- the last of which is the focus of this chapter. ”

“ In certain parts of the world, Wikimedia communities have formed relatively strong Wikimedia affiliates, called chapters, which are non-profit organizations -- many of which are in Europe -who represent the aims of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia projects, and the local Wikimedia community, and frequently have small professional staffs that provide different kinds and levels of support to the local communities. ”

“ For librarians looking to increase engagement with local communities, Wikipedia offers a ready built platform, in multiple languages, where local communities can work with their local libraries to improve Wikipedia content relating to their interests or expertise. ”

“ Working with classes of students can also introduce a number of complications for libraries who have previously not worked with educational communities, for example, it may be necessary to plan around a semester, provide research skills support, and match projects against learning outcomes. In the United States and Canada, there is a fair amount of assignment design and student support available from the Wiki Education Foundation for curriculum development and online tracking and community engagement support. ”

“ The best approach is to develop new interest in Wikimedia contributions from other volunteer communities in your local context, who can attend local events. Typically these new contributors can come from hobbyists or volunteers already associated with your organization or similar heritage organizations. Local community groups may offer some of the best allies: for example, local history societies (the city of Swansea in South Wales has over 100 active historical societies) and social, charitable and educational groups of all sorts. ”

“ To find the folks most invested in the broad maintenance of the projects, we need to look at different numbers: folks who contribute 100+ edits per month, which includes about 14,000 people per month across the Wikimedia projects. On English Wikipedia, still the biggest highly active community, this includes about 3,500 individuals during any given month. For a top 10 website, this is actually a rather small community with relationships and community dynamics that have evolved over the 16 years of Wikipedia’s existence. ”

“ When supported by a broader community of Wikimedians through an affiliate or network, it's even possible to develop effective programs with someone with no Wikimedia experience: for example, West Virginia University Libraries hired Kelly Doyle, a community organizer and educator, who had no previous experience working with the Wikimedia community. ”

“ Modeled off “visiting scholar” positions at academic institutions, the Wikipedian gains some type of unique access arrangement, such as access to materials licenced by a research library or direct support from a handful of the staff, that allows them to more effectively research so that they can contribute around an agreed upon field of knowledge. ”

“ By building champions out of the students and their supervisors, the institution is able to do low-risk experiments while learning about Wikimedia projects, and testing whether the student can be a good long-term advocate, in the form of a staff champion or Wikipedian in Residence. ”

“ The big difference between the two communities is in their degree of formal responsibility: librarians are trained professionals working in institutions with public charges to create information access, while Wikipedians are (for the most part) volunteers, whose interests aligns with their hobbies and values. But the closeness of the goals, skills and interest of Wikimedians and librarians, means that, often, finding the common ground for collaboration is not only a possibility, but actually quite easy. ”

“ Iterating on other forms of volunteer and stakeholder development, and finding ways to make Wikimedia participation relevant to local stakeholder groups, is important for both communities for the long term. ”

“ Many heritage organizations are not ready to invest large amounts of staff time to developing a case for or test of Wikimedia contribution tactics as part of a broader public-access strategy. Instead, many organizations will build another role into their staff, with either volunteers or term-based staff. ”

“ Your local user group or Wikimedia chapter may also have a budget for merchandise such as badges, pens, stickers and t-shirts which they can distribute for free, and these are usually well received by volunteers. Innovating on different kinds of motivation and moral support, and sharing what works helps develop best practices for public knowledge projects more generally. ”

“ There is also a growing number of individuals prepared to volunteer at libraries and other cultural institutions. These communities frequently are interested in communicating knowledge in your context, many of whom publish their own journals, newsletters and books. ”