GLAMTLV2018/Submissions/Lost at sea of Wikipedia - how organisations navigate the impact of working with open knowledge

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Submission no. 49
Title of the submission
Lost at sea of Wikipedia - how organisations navigate the impact of working with open knowledge
Etherpad

Author(s) of the submission
Daria Cybulska (WMUK)
E-mail address
daria.cybulska(_AT_)wikimedia.org.uk
Country of origin
Poland
Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)
Wikimedia UK (Head of Programmes)

Type of session
Talk
Length of session
15 minutes + discussion (flexible)
Ideal number of attendees
flexible. This talk would be relevant to GLAMs wanting to learn what long term impact they could expect; and to Wikimedians wanting to know how to structure their programmes for maximum impact

Abstract

I’d like to share Wikimedia UK’s insights of the Wikimedian in Residence (WIR) programme, and its impact.

This should be of interest to cultural or educational institutions that are exploring the potential of open knowledge and the benefits of working with Wikimedia. It will also be useful to programme leaders within the Wikimedia movement.

The WIR programme in the UK is about five years old. Partner organisations are increasingly focused on sustainability and change (rather than immediate outputs). There is an opportunity to provide further insights about best practice, to capture learning from previous and current residencies, and to describe possible barriers.

Over 2017 we conducted research into the kinds of impact that can be expected from setting up residencies and how to maximise that impact over the short and long term.

We considered the change this work creates in host institutions, how it enables content improvements on Wikimedia projects, and how it creates ambassadors for open knowledge within, and beyond, host organisations.

  • WIRs have extended the reach of existing collections to new audiences, thus strengthening institutions’ mission to share their knowledge. The reach has continued to increase after the residencies ended.
  • WIRs have brought about positive changes to institutions’ external image in their respective sectors and with existing and new audiences. This can bring institutions out of a persistent, historical image of being outdated and out of sync with the needs of their users and potential users.
  • WIRs have transformed the institutions’ culture and self-perception to become more open and connected with their audiences. In some cases changes were strengthened by internal policy changes.
  • The WIR collaborations had a wider focus than just the partner institutions themselves. The projects often had a sectoral impact.

This talk will expand on these thoughts and invite others to discuss them.

What will attendees take away from this session?
  1. what's longer-term impact
  2. what sort of impact is possible after running a Wikimedian in Residence project
  3. what are the key 'enablers' of impact of Wikimedians in Residence - what to put in place before and during the project to make sure its impact is sustainable
Slides or further information

Full report (in a gdoc atm) is here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NYYouioroV2FWjU-c_UZQPRhSe1GsoDM6ckH0vRzEVc/edit#heading=h.ttog0taas8t8

Interested attendees[edit]

If you are interested in attending this session, please sign with your username below. This will help reviewers to decide which sessions are of high interest.

  1. Hannah Evans (WMUK) (talk)
  2. John Cummings (talk) 11:51, 30 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Vysotsky (talk) 12:22, 6 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Beireke1 (talk) 12:51, 31 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  5. ...