Dr Martin Poulter was employed by the Bodleian Libraries half-time, from October 2016 to October 2019, funded by the university's IT Innovation Challenges and by the university's Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) Division, as the Wikimedian In Residence at the University of Oxford. The project is titled "Embedding Innovative use of Wikimedia across the University" and involved working with Wikimedia UK and with staff in the university to foster a step-change in how the university supports Wikimedia-related activity. The phase of work that continued to October 2019 was focused on how Wikidata can be used as a platform for publishing Linked Open Data about the collections and research resources in the university.
This placement follows on from the Wikimedian In Residence at the Bodleian Libraries funded by Wikimedia UK, which ran from April 2015 to March 2016.
A global ranking issued in October 2016 put Oxford as the top university in Europe and 6th in the world. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, announced in September 2017, put Oxford at number 1 in the world.
Advocacy blog posts[edit]
An overview of the work funded by the IT Innovation Fund is given in the blog post "Embedding Innovative use of Wikimedia across the University".
- Bodleian Digital Library blog: Welcome Japan Search to the web of Linked Open Data, May 2019
- "The hyper-engaged volunteers helping Oxford GLAM" Published on the University of Oxford GLAM Digital Strategy site, May 2019
- Bodleian Digital Library blog: "What Wikidata offers Oxford’s GLAM Digital Strategy", March 2019
- Bodleian Digital Library blog: "Build your own Digital Bodleian with IIIF and SPARQL", March 2019
- Bodleian Digital Library blog: "Making Wikidata visible", January 2019, republished by Wikimedia France as "Rendre Wikidata Visible"
- Bodleian Digital Library blog: "Detailed depictions with IIIF, Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons", December 2018
- Bodleian Digital Library blog: "Wikidata and GLAM catalogues: another round-up", October 2018
- Bodleian Digital Library blog: "A global collection of astrolabes in linked open data", August 2018
- Bodleian Digital Library blog: "Wikidata and GLAM catalogues: a round-up", July 2018
- Bodleian Digital Library blog: "Translating a blog post into structured data", May 2018
- "Some ways Wikidata can improve search and discovery", Bodleian Digital Library blog
- "A Reconciliation Recipe for Wikidata", Bodleian Digital Library blog
- "Semantic data and the stories we're not telling, Bodleian Digital Library blog
- "Resource discovery and Wikidata", Bodleian Digital Library blog
- "Publicising a Historic Event in Wikipedia", Bodleian Digital Library blog
- "Wikimedia for public engagement", Bodleian Digital Library blog
- "Wikidata: the new hub for cultural heritage", Oxford University Museums Partnership blog
- "Learners as creators: student work on Wikipedia", Academic IT Services blog
- 'Histropedia: “The power of data visualisation combined with free knowledge”' by Samir Elsharbaty, Wikimedia blog. Martin is quoted.
Final report[edit]
- The final report submitted to the first-stage funder, the university's IT Innovation fund.
Research projects[edit]
During the placement I worked with a variety of research projects on activities that would improve their impact.
| Project | Interest | Example outcome | Write-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Voltaire Foundation | raising awareness of Voltaire as a historian | Interactive timeline of Voltaire works, including all historical works | "If Voltaire had used Wikipedia…" |
| Cultures of Knowledge | visualisations of the Early Modern Letters Online database | Interactive map of birthplaces of people in the Early Modern Letters Online database | See "Reconciling database identifiers with Wikidata" |
| Oxford Research Archive (ORA) | sharing links to digitised theses and linking them from Wikipedia biographies | Created Wikidata Property P4101. Bulk dump of metadata about 3238 doctoral theses, with links from Wikipedia gradually being added |
"A step forward in the sharing of open data about theses" |
| Electronic Enlightenment | a timeline of Enlightenment authors, and encouraging the creation of Wikipedia articles about authors in EE; offering accounts via The Wikipedia Library | Created Wikidata property P3429: Electronic Enlightenment ID. 3101 links imported, enabling a range of queries. EE access added to the OUP Scholarship Wikipedia Library arrangement. | "Reconciling database identifiers with Wikidata" |
| Transcribing an out-of-copyright biographical dictionary | s:A Dictionary of the Booksellers and Printers who Were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to 1667 | "Turning a historical book into a data set" | |
| RitualModes | Rescuing a deleted article and getting more lay summaries of concepts into Wikipedia. This is a five-year project that began in late 2016, so deliverables mostly outside scope of current funding. | Wikipedia articles on Identity fusion and Modes of religiosity | "Deletion is not the end: making an academic article stick on Wikipedia" |
| The Hillforts Atlas Project | importing hillfort-related material into Wikidata and English Wikipedia; uploading site images to Wikimedia Commons | Created Wikidata Property P4102. Project page for making use of imported data to improve Wikipedia. Wikidata queries |
"Creating Wikipedia articles from research data" |
| Vestiges: Traces of Record journal | Journal-to-Wiki publishing of biographies of Africans | New articles on Cameroon Press Photo Archive, Jacques Toussele Biographical notes coming June onwards |
"Extending the reach of a journal with Journal-to-Wiki publishing" |
| Women In German Studies | Training academics and postgraduates in contributing to Wikipedia and contributing translations to Wikisource | Training workshop | |
| Beazley Archive Pottery Database | Sharing selected fields from the database on Wikidata |
- Other projects contacted
- Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative Already has Wikidata property P2474: CDLI ID Draft Wikipedia list of cuneiform inscriptions, generated by Listeria bot
- I.Sicily
- Quill Project (presented at event)
- Biosharing
- Lexicon of Greek Personal Names
- Oxford GLAMs
- Eighteenth Century poetry archive
- Thomas Gray archive
- Department of Psychiatry (delivered lunchtime seminar)
- John Mittelmeier, doctoral student in Geography using Wikipedia as a data source about public interest in species. Custom queries of taxonomy terms in Wikidata
- Marton Ribary, doctoral student in Philosophy: advised on Wikidata as an example of practical ontology
- Other projects of interest
- Nomisma.org: already has a Wikidata property (P2950: Nomisma ID) and imported data, but could be a case study/ cross-query?
- Cult of Saints: Definitely a compatible project, but delivering its final product in 2018 so outside scope of my current funding stream
- Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: Activities going on related to this project, not at my instigation, but worth promoting. Wikidata property P3768: Medieval Libraries of Great Britain Book ID.
- The Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD): an editathon/editing campaign about Greek & Roman drama wanted for January, outside the scope of the current placement
- British Book Trade Index, hosted at the Bodleian, is being reconciled on Mix'n'match
Events[edit]
I also took opportunities to deliver customised training workshops or presentations for specific audiences.
Past events
- 7 July 2017: Wikipedia training for Oxford Food Symposium, St. Catherine's College, Oxford
- 6 July: Masterclass on "Wikipedia's sister projects as platforms for Digital Humanities" at Oxford Digital Humanities Summer School
- 22 June: Women in German Studies editathon as part of Women in German Studies Open Conference, St. Edmund Hall, Oxford
- 31 May: Two-hour Workshop for staff in IT Services
- 25 May: Lightning talk at meeting of GLAM Digital Strategy Implementation Board
- 24 May: Lunchtime talk for staff in Department of Psychiatry: "Free knowledge for everyone about mental health"
- 24 May: Presentation for medical librarians at the Cairns Library, John Radcliffe Hospital
- 18 May: "Working with the Open Culture movement": workshop for library staff
- 8 May: Presentation at meeting of the Negotiated Texts Network
- 4 May: Presentation on "Integrating the CDLI wiki and Wikipedia: Wikimedia tools" to the AssyrOnline workshop
- 5-6 April: Three sessions at OER17: The Politics of Open:
- "Putting Wikipedia and Open Practice into the mainstream in a University" presentation
- "Citation Needed: Digital Provenance in the era of Post-Truth Politics" presentation jointly with Ewan McAndrew
- "Gamifying Wikimedia – Learning through Play" workshop jointly with Ewan McAndrew
- 22 March: "New developments in Wikimedia": short presentation to Bodleian Digital Library Systems and Services departmental meeting
- 8 March: Short presentation to the Digital Humanities Working Group
- 3 March: Improving Wikipedia in your subject area (2.5 hour workshop)
- Abstract: Wikipedia has become the most-consulted informational web site, and is the top web hit for a vast number of academic topics. This session will include an introduction to Wikipedia editing, including how to add citations and links from Wikipedia to your own research outputs. In particular we will look at how to make changes that are kept and built upon by Wikipedians, and how to interact constructively with other users. We will also look at shortcuts to improving Wikipedia, including by repurposing existing text and images. This is a hands-on workshop in which you will actually get to improve Wikipedia. No prior knowledge of wikis is necessary.
- 28 February: Wikipedia and Wikimedia for Public Engagement (lunchtime workshop)
- This event was cancelled but written up as a blog post/ worksheet.
- Abstract: How does Wikipedia, for no money, document a city, a category (such as “Grade II listed building”) or a concept (such as “religious practice”)? It uses online tools to identify actions and divide them between volunteers. We will explore this process, using photographs of Oxford as an example.
- 21 February: Wikidata for visualising and publicising research (2.5 hour workshop)
- This event was cancelled but written up as a group of worksheets.
- Abstract: Wikidata is the latest project from the people who brought you Wikipedia, and already holds billions of statements across every imaginable subject. These data are free for use by anyone, resulting in interactive maps, timelines and other tools to make engaging educational resources. Contributing research data to Wikidata is a low-cost way to get incoming links from sites such as Wikipedia, and to enable new kinds of query and interactive visualisation. This opportunity is already being taken by research projects in the university. This workshop assumes no prior knowledge about wikis, though some familiarity with databases and authority files will be helpful.
- 26 January: Short presentation for communications and public engagement staff in Medicine
- 27 January: A train-the-trainers event for IT Services staff
- 18 & 19 January 2017: Two lunchtime drop-in sessions for library staff on 1Lib1Ref. Six attendees, plus one staff member who tweeted that she had added a reference.
- 4 November 2016: "Embedding Wikipedia and Open Knowledge in Oxford University" for the Technology Enhanced Learning group. Eight attendees
- 26 October: "A New Look at Wikimedia, the World’s Largest OER" 1-hour webinar hosted by the Open Education Special Interest Group (OESIG) of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) (webinar recording) (Storify of Twitter reactions)
- 15 October "A Look Under the Bonnet of Wikipedia", session at Young Scientists Journal Conference. Six attendees (three teachers/ lecturers; three students)
Coverage[edit]
- 1 September 2017. "New resource for exploring Scotland's hillforts" History Scotland (not online)
- 22 June 2017. "Wikipedia and the Electronic Enlightenment" item in Outline, (Bodleian Libraries newsletter)
- 22 June 2017. Quoted in "Hillforts in Britain and Ireland reveal clues as to how our Iron Age ancestors lived", The Independent
- 21 June 2017. "Resource discovery and Wikidata" Guest post for Bodleian digital Library blog
- 19 May 2017. Short interview in Work In Progress podcast, episode 26
- 3 May 2017. "Publicising a Historic Event in Wikipedia" Guest post for Bodleian Digital Library blog
- 23 March 2017. "Wikimedia for public engagement" Guest post for Bodleian digital Library blog
- 20 February 2017. "If Voltaire had used Wikipedia…" Guest post for Voltaire Foundation blog
- 19 January 2017. "Wikidata: the new hub for cultural heritage" guest blog post for Oxford University Museums Partnership blog
- 15 December 2016. "Getting Citations into Wikipedia" Short item in Outline (Bodleian Libraries newsletter) about #1Lib1Ref
- 12 December 2016. "Learners as creators: student work on Wikipedia" Guest blog post for Academic IT Services blog
- 9 November 2016. Item in Wikimedia UK friends' newsletter
- 3 November 2016. Post on Wikimedia UK blog: "Announcing a new Wikimedian In Residence at the University of Oxford"
- 3 November 2016. Announcement in Outline (Bodleian Libraries newsletter) "Return of the Wikimedian"
- 30 October 2016. Interview for the Wikimedia blog about Histropedia and why academia needs remixes: 'Histropedia: “The power of data visualisation combined with free knowledge”'
- October 2016. Essay for Free Speech Debate: "Wikipedia at 15: The sum of human knowledge?"
Monthly reporting[edit]
Duration of residency: 24 October 2016 to 23 October 2017
| 1st Month Report | ||
|---|---|---|
| Period Covered | Date of Report | Link |
| 24 October-30 November 2016 | 15 December 2016 | Read the full report |
| 2nd Month Report | ||
|---|---|---|
| Period Covered | Date of Report | Link |
| 1 December-31 December 2016 | 5 January 2017 | Read the full report |
| 3rd Month Report | ||
|---|---|---|
| Period Covered | Date of Report | Link |
| 1 January-31 January 2017 | 9 February 2017 | Read the full report |
| 4th Month Report | ||
|---|---|---|
| Period Covered | Date of Report | Link |
| 1 February-28 February 2017 | 7 March 2017 | Read the full report |
| 5th Month Report | ||
|---|---|---|
| Period Covered | Date of Report | Link |
| 1 March-31 March 2017 | 11 April 2017 | Read the full report |
| 6th Month Report | ||
|---|---|---|
| Period Covered | Date of Report | Link |
| 1 April-5 May 2017 | 8 May 2017 | Read the full report |
| 7th Month Report | ||
|---|---|---|
| Period Covered | Date of Report | Link |
| 6 May-31 May 2017 | 6 June 2017 | Read the full report |
| 8th Month Report | ||
|---|---|---|
| Period Covered | Date of Report | Link |
| 1 June-30 June 2017 | 18 July 2017 | Read the full report |
| 9th Month Report | ||
|---|---|---|
| Period Covered | Date of Report | Link |
| 1 July-31 July 2017 | 1 August 2017 | Read the full report |