Evenementen/Wikipedia seminar NO
The Norwegian Arts Council, National Archive and Nationale service for cultural heritage organised a seminar on cooperation with Wikipedia for GLAMs. They've invited me to give a presentation on the type of projects we have done in the Netherlands.
A few observations:
- The seminar was organised by the executive organisations, Wikimedia Norway was only involved for the program. This is the first time I've been to a seminar on this topic where a Wikimedia chapter was not one of the (main) organisers. This might seem a minor detail, but I think it is important. By organising this event, these implementing organisations have made a (strong) statement that actively support the idea of opening up collections and datasets. If Wikimedia Norway had been one of the organisers this statement would not have been so strong.
- When I asked to raise hands if someone knew Creative Commons licenses and how to use them, more than 60% of the room raised their hand. This is an absolute record compared to all events that I've visited in the last three years (apart from Wikimedia events of course).
- The room was filled with people working at GLAMs and policy makers. There were very few Wikipedians compared to events we've had in The Netherlands.
- The Wikipedia terminology is being used internationally. It was easy to see/hear the topics that the speakers before me already covered in Norwegian so I could skip those in my presentation.
But...
- There was little interaction with the room. People where clearly there to get inspired. I'm very curious if this event will lead to
- More projects, like events, positions for Wikipedians in Residence, etc.
- A better understanding of the impact of cooperation with the Wikipedia Community and donating content
- More contributors to the platforms
The event inspired me to:
- see if an event like this could/should be organised in The Netherlands
I personally forgot to ask how many people in the room where
- An active user
- A non-editing believer
- Skeptical about sharing