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Denmark report

Mass uploading and educational materials

By Matthias S.L.

Wiki Labs Kultur (Wiki Labs Culture, abbreviated WLK) is the main Wikimedia-GLAM initiative in Denmark. The initiative involves Wikimedia Denmark, the National Gallery of Denmark, the Danish Art Workshops, the Hirschsprung Collection, the Danish Film Institute, AU Library Emdrup and the Copenhagen City Archives. In previous years, the initiative functioned mostly like a recurring once-a-month edit-a-thon with a focus on Danish cultural heritage, but in 2019 the events have been varied somewhat, with more of a focus on concrete Wikimedia-GLAM initiatives.

The previous two events, held on February 25 and March 1, focused on mass uploading of media files and educational materials respectively. The next event will be held on March 29 at the Copenhagen City Archives from 15:00-17:00 CET and will focus on teaching new users how to edit Wikipedia.

News and announcements take place in the Wiki Labs Kultur Facebook-group. A mailing list hosted on Wikimedia servers is currently being set up to provide an alternative to Facebook, but is not yet in use.

February: Mass uploads

The February meeting took place at the National Gallery of Denmark

Historically, Danish cultural institutions have been making their collections available on Wikimedia Commons in a variety of ways: Uploading them manually, having volunteers photograph and upload them manually, or uploading them to the cultural institution's website under a license compatible with Commons and letting others transfer them to Commons.

Now, more and more institutions are interested in automated mass uploading of collections to Commons. There are various tools for this purpose available, with varying degrees of documentation. Despite several of the Wikimedians contributing to WLK having extensive technical knowledge, no one had in-depth experience with these tools. Luckily, Kim Bach was willing to put in time for picking a specific tool (the GLAMwiki Toolset), learning its ins and outs, and communicating that knowledge to everyone else.

The meeting began with Kim holding a presentation on the ins and outs of how GLAMwiki works, and the various paths one can take when uploading collections to Commons. On top of the usual participants, a tech person from the National Gallery was in attendance as well.

Following the presentation, discussions were had about various practical matters, as well as the needs of each specific institution in this area. A followup meeting will be held on April 26 at the Danish Film Institute.

March: Educational materials

Sara Stenderup Glahn explaining the plans for Wikipedia-integrated educational materials

An effort to create a set of Danish Wikipedia-based educational materials suitable for use in various different contexts has been in the works for a couple of months now. The effort has been spearheaded by historian and journalist Majken Astrup, and recently Sara Stenderup Glahn has joined the project. On March 1 WLK participants met at the Black Diamond library building to discuss the details of the materials. Which age groups should be the target? What benefits do educators get from working with Wikipedia, and what are some potential pitfalls? How can the materials be useful to both educators as well as cultural institutions?

The current plan is to have the materials finished and distributed sometime in mid-2020.


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