Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Wikidata-ArchivesSpace GLAM plugin (ID: 23096591)
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Applicant Details
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
nmilbrodt
- Organization
Research Foundation of the City University of New York
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
N/A
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
Main Proposal
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
Wikidata-ArchivesSpace GLAM plugin
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2025-07-01 - 2026-06-30
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
International (more than one country across continents or regions) Primarily in the United States, but ArchivesSpace has users globally https://archivesspace.org/about/whos-using-archivesspace
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Other (please specify) GLAM / Education / Wikidata
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
The Wikidata-ArchivesSpace GLAM plugin is a tool being developed to verify and establish authority control for personal names in archival collections online, helping to bring a wide range of GLAM professionals and their daily work into the Wikimedia ecosystem. Building on an earlier SNAC effort, the plugin will connect the popular ArchivesSpace platform with Wikidata such that Wikidata content appears in ArchivesSpace, as a second authority listed alongside the Library of Congress, name authorities and that will foster better representation of more diverse topics that are absent from the Library of Congress headings.
Background
In the United States alone, there are over 18,000 archives (https://osf.io/cft8r/) and 20,000 museums (https://www.imls.gov/research-evaluation/surveys/national-museum-survey-nms), the great majority of them small and under-resourced institutions. Add to that an estimated 9,019 public library systems with 17,192 branches and bookmobiles (https://www.imls.gov/pls-benchmarking-tables) and the scale of the country’s diverse cultural heritage sector begins to come into focus.
Of these tens of thousands of libraries, archives and museums in the United States, many are adopting the leading open-source software to describe their collections online: ArchivesSpace, whose organizational home is at the US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit Lyrasis.
ArchivesSpace stores metadata about archival collections and present it to the public for online discovery, presenting strong parallels with Wikidata. While anyone can download and use this open-source software, the most dedicated institutions also become engaged as ArchivesSpace members so they have access to training resources and governance activities. This is a lively and engaged open-source community with over 1100 listserv subscribers and over 3000 users registered in the ArchivesSpace help center. Paid membership has been growing steadily (https://archivesspace.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/AR-2024-ArchivesSpace.pdf) since its launch in 2013, now with over 500 dues paying members. 64% of ArchivesSpace members are from small institutions like community colleges, arts organizations and independent archives - 113 small (51-150 staff) archives and 229 very small (0-50 staff) archives. These are exactly the small organizations that make up the fabric of cultural heritage preservation in the United States and beyond, and that house the local historical and cultural knowledge that can enrich Wikimedia platforms when it’s possible to leverage.
A key function of the descriptive metadata stored in ArchivesSpace databases about archival collections, is providing unique “authority control” records for individuals, organizations, events, and places associated with archival collections. For example, if an archival repository has the personal papers of a scholar, their team would want to associate that scholar’s name authority record with the collection they are describing in order to disambiguate it from other archival collections created by others who might have the same or similar names. For more widely known individuals, the Library of Congress has an extensive set of name authority records that archivists can use. But if, as is often the case, an archival collection is associated with important local figures whose contributions are significant, but not widely known beyond their region or area of interest, Wikidata entity records become an excellent authority record to create and use.
Challenge
Very few of the staff and volunteers who use ArchivesSpace are aware that Wikidata content is available to support their archival workflows. Those who are aware have labor limitations and are unable to overcome the barriers of entry into the Wikidata ecosystem, which is substantial for new users who lack an orientation on how Wikidata can interact with their existing archival practices. Although ArchivesSpace software is popular, using it is still technological stretch for these often under-resourced organizations, and implementing Wikidata as a second, complementary system is difficult in the absence of existing ArchivesSpace / Wikidata interconnections.
Proposed changes
This initiative seeks to lower the barrier to entry for GLAM workers to interact with Wikidata entity records in their archival metadata cataloging activities. We propose to create a Wikidata plug-in for ArchivesSpace that would allow users to search for and select existing Wikidata entity records for the individuals, organizations and placenames represented in their archival collections. A similar tool exists for the search and selection of Library of Congress Name Authority Records and has drastically simplified the process of assigning these headings to resource records in ArchivesSpace. But the Library of Congress system only covers a rather limited scope of knowledge, namely authors, and has a top-down approach with minimal room for input from on-the-ground archivists.
There is a precedent for developing this kind of plugin. In 2017, various Wikimedians and institutions created a plugin for SNAC, which is a comparable archival system. Researchers at the University of Virginia were the lead developers of the tool and documented the project at d: Wikidata:WikiProject_University_of_Virginia/SNAC. That documentation includes a Wikimedia Foundation staff presentation on the plugin to the Digital Public Library of America, a presentation from staff of the United States National Archives to a WikiConference, and a narrative of how various Wikimedia community members collaborated to support the creation of the plugin.
This project will replicate the previous SNAC project for ArchivesSpace. The coordinating team will include staff from the City University of New York, the University of Virginia, the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian, and ArchivesSpace.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
The $5000 requested in this proposal will be dedicated to funding 45 work hours at $100/hour for a software developer familiar with ArchivesSpace. Supervision of this worker will be provided by CUNY Office of Library Services, with $500 in administrative support from the grant. The developer will follow the detailed product requirements [1] drafted collectively by members of the ArchivesSpace user community from the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian and the City University of New York. The output will be the ArchivesSpace plugin which presents Wikidata content within the ArchivesSpace platform.
Hiring: ArchivesSpace staff developers maintain an active roster of freelance developers who they work with regularly. The team will draw from this talent pool to identify an individual appropriate to hire for this contract.
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc. Team members involved in the grant application need to be aware of their involvement in the project.
Volunteers on the project whose salaried jobs allow them to make contributions to this project on regular, paid hours include (usernames):
- User:Nmilbrodt, City University of New York
- User:Infopetal, New York Public Library
- User:Pharos, City University of New York
- User:Bluerasberry, University of Virginia
The only paid project staff will be the developer hired to create the ArchivesSpace plugin.
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
The project team will engage members of the ArchivesSpace member community and the Wikimedia community around the development of this plugin. ArchivesSpace has an active listserv and help site, and we will engage the GLAM-Wiki community through Wikidata forums, telegram channels, and among Wikimedians in Residence and LD4 groups.
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
No
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
N/A
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
In January 2025, Natalie Milbrodt from the City University of New York and Karly Wildenhaus from the New York Public Library connected with Amanda Sorensen from the Smithsonian to discuss their shared interest in a Wikidata plug-in for ArchivesSpace. Sorensen had used the popular and very active ArchivesSpace listserv to reach anyone who might be aware of an existing Wikidata plug-in for ArchivesSpace, or have interested in developing one. Six meetings then took place in the following 4 months in which interested stakeholders defined their shared goals and plan for building a plug-in. The team has included colleagues from Ohio University pursuing https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Property_proposal/Ohio_University_ArchivesSpace_Agent_ID as well.
Part of this plan includes securing funds to support the work of a developer who could follow the requirements developed by the group. As frequent contributors to exchanges taking place in these two open-source communities, the members of this team of project stakeholders will use the online and in-person tools available to them to disseminate information about this project and solicit contributions from their peers.
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Culture, heritage or GLAM
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Innovate in Free Knowledge
Learning and metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
We want to explore how the incorporation of Wikidata into GLAM professionals’ daily workflow broadens the scope and diversity of names that have an authority control in their archival databases available online for researchers. To what extent can Wikidata help make up for the shortcomings of the Library of Congress system? Will the plugin encourage the creation of new swathes of Wikidata items to fill in the gaps? The project team wants to see if GLAM engagement becomes strong enough to justify the possible future development of a round-tripping function between Wikidata and ArchivesSpace.
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 3000 | The ArchivesSpace open-source community has over 1100 listserv subscribers and over 3000 users registered in the ArchivesSpace help center. |
| Number of editors | 2 | The project team's two Wikimedians-in-Residence will contribute edits to Wikimedia projects as part of this initiative. Developing documentation for this project and standards and modeling for others like it will be their main content areas. |
| Number of organizers | 5 | Staff from the City University of New York, the University of Virginia, the New York Public Library, ArchivesSpace, and the Smithsonian will all provide time, support and knowledge to this project. |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | |
| Wikimedia Commons | |
| Wikidata | 1000 |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
We are developing a plug-in that will enable many additions and edits to Wikidata, but our project is creating the tool, not the content. However, we are hopeful that this plug-in will bring more ArchivesSpace users into direct contact with Wikidata to create and expand entity records for upload into the description of their archival collections.
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
No
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
We would survey ArchivesSpace user community through existing communications platforms to track the number of Wikidata items used for authority control in ArchivesSpace instances.
Financial proposal
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
5000 USD
- 22.2. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done only to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD.
5000 USD
- We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
Endorsements and Feedback
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Community members are invited to share meaningful feedback on the proposal and include reasons why they endorse the proposal. Consider the following:
- Stating why the proposal is important for the communities involved and why they think the strategies chosen will achieve the results that are expected.
- Highlighting any aspects they think are particularly well developed: for instance, the strategies and activities proposed, the levels of community engagement, outreach to underrepresented groups, addressing knowledge gaps, partnerships, the overall budget and learning and evaluation section of the proposal, etc.
- Highlighting if the proposal focuses on any interesting research, learning or innovation, etc. Also if it builds on learning from past proposals developed by the individual or organization, or other Wikimedia communities.
- Analyzing if the proposal is going to contribute in any way to important developments around specific Wikimedia projects or Movement Strategy.
- Analysing if the proposal is coherent in terms of the objectives, strategies, budget, and expected results (metrics).