Wikipedian in residence
A Wikipedian in residence or Wikimedian in residence (WiR) is a Wikipedia editor, a Wikipedian (or Wikimedian), who accepts a placement with an institution, typically an art gallery, library, archive, or museum (a.k.a. GLAM cultural institutions), learned society, or institute of higher education (such as a university) to facilitate Wikipedia entries related to that institution's mission, encourage and assist it to release material under open licences, and to develop the relationship between the host institution and the Wikimedia community. A Wikipedian in residence generally helps to coordinate Wikipedia-related outreach events between the GLAM and the general public such as editathons.
Institutions that have hosted a Wikipedian in residence include large institutions like the National Library of Wales, the British Museum,[1] the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the British Library,[2] the Smithsonian Institution,[3] the Royal Society of Chemistry,[4] UC Berkeley,[5] Columbia University,[6] the University of Toronto, the National Library of Norway, and the Federal Archives of Switzerland and smaller venues like the Derby Museum and Art Gallery and The New Art Gallery Walsall[7] in the UK; the Palace of Versailles in France; the Museu Picasso in Spain; and the Children's Museum of Indianapolis,[8] Consumer Reports, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library,[9] and the National Archives and Records Administration[10] in the United States.
The primary role of the Wikipedian in Residence (WiR) is often to serve as a liaison between the host institution and the Wikimedia community by assisting with events and training that support the missions of both organisations. Typical training duties include arranging and/or leading training events and editathons[2][11] and providing explanations to other staff and members of the public about policies and practices, such as policies about conflict of interest. Editing activities may include making contributions to articles relevant to the institution's materials and mission, such as articles about significant cultural objects in an organization's collection,[12] or articles in a specific field of knowledge.[13]
Another common form of collaboration involves digital collections.[14] A WiR can provide training on digitization and help upload media (with any existing metadata) to Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia volunteers can then translate, extend, and reverify metadata, categorizing media[15][16][17] and manually transcribing and structuring scanned documents on Wikisource.[18] The description and categorization functions on Wikimedia Commons are sometimes preferred to those of commercial websites[19] and the institution's catalogue software. Media added to Commons are used in Wikipedia, both by the WiRs and by volunteer editors.[15]
A third form of collaboration involves datasets and APIs in their own right; for instance, the Wikimedia Foundation funded a Wikipedian in Residence at OCLC to integrate the OCLC's WorldCat Search API into Wikipedia's citation autocompletion tools, making adding references faster for Wikipedia editors.[20] WiRs have also helped integrate ORCID metadata[21] and rights statement data.[22]
Some WiRs work for only a short period, as little as a few weeks, while others have permanent positions. In the case of short-term positions, it is important that the work to be done be well-planned in advance.[15]
