DISCLAIMER: I am a founding administrator of Wikimedia Community Malta, a voluntary organization that aims to promote Wikimedia projects in Malta. I am also an administrator on the Maltese-language Wikipedia. This page is my personal profile as a volunteer contributor rather than as a WCM board member or mt.wikipedia administrator. All the views expressed through this user account reflect my own personal opinions and should not be construed as coming from Wikimedia Community Malta or a local language Wikipedia administrator.
Background
I am the Director of the Digital Curation Lab at the University of Salford's School of Arts and Media in the UK. I previously worked at the University of Hull at the now-defunct Scarborough School of Arts and New Media, also in the UK, where I lectured on performance and creative technologies between 2004 and 2016. Before that I was based in New York City for many years, where I was associated primarily with New York University (eventually writing a book about the Franklin Furnace Archive from my time there) but also Adelphi University and Touro College. I also have various connections with Malta and the University of Malta. There's an article about me in the Maltese Wikipedija and there's also one in the English Wikipedia.
Between 2014 and 2020, I was also the artistic director of Spazju Kreattiv, Malta's centre for creativity. Fondazzjoni Kreattività, the legal entity that runs the centre, has its base and main spaces within the walls of St James Cavalier in Valletta. My association with Malta through wikis also involves work with Wikimedia Community Malta and the M3P Foundation.
You can find out more about me either on my personal website or my university profile page...or alternatively you could have a look at my top go-to page on Wikmedia Commons.
I have been active in the global Wikimedia movement since 2010, as a volunteer contributor. In March 2013 I was appointed Wikimedia UK's Education Organiser and served in this capacity until 2015.
In October 2010 I had some of my students explore the mechanics of contributing and/or editing entries on Wikipedia. I've outlined this work on the page about School and University Projects on Wikipedia. This work received national attention in the UK through an article in The Guardian on 29 March 2011. [1]
Through support from WMUK, I was invited to speak about my experience with Embracing Wikipedia as a Learning & Teaching Resource in Higher Education at the Wiki Conference in India which took place at Mumbai University on 18-20 November 2011. At this conference, I was particularly impressed by the work of the Wikipedia India Education Programme. [2]
In July 2012 I also attended WikiMania 2012 at George Washington University in Washington D.C. through support from the University of Hull's Innovation in Student Learning Award, and the School of Arts and New Media. This conference was particularly useful as a networking exercise and to get a better understanding of the inner workings of the Wikimedia Foundation.
In September 2012 I attended EduWiki 2012 at the University of Leicester and GLAMcamp 2012 at the British Library in London. I gave a presentation about the work I was doing at the University of Hull's Scarborough Campus at the EduWiki conference [3], and engaged with others interested in Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums during GLAMcamp 2012, particularly towards gauging interest in the MediaWiki extension to import data from Facebook, which I've been working on co-developing since April 2012.
An outline of some of my work as Education Organiser with Wikimedia UK, including the convening of EduWiki 2013 and EduWiki 2014, and participation in Wikimania 2014 can be viewed here. My employment with WMUK ended in May 2015.
Details about the courses, classes, workshops, students, pages, etc. I ran at the University of Hull between 2010 and 2014 can be found on this sub-page. I also created a simplified help page for my students. This is where I direct anyone who tells me they're overwhelmed with how to edit Wikipedia...so, it's not just for my students.
As of late 2015 I became a founding member of Wikimedia Community Malta (WCM). With WCM I am heavily involved in the Malta editions of Wiki Loves Monuments and various GLAM activities in Malta, frequently running Wikipedia Editing Workshops and leading or assisting others at edit-a-thons.
On 19 April 2020 I became an administrator for the Maltese-language Wikipedia following an invitation from Leli Forte and overwhelming support from the local community.
.png){kind=small}
