thematic or project focused communications provide platforms for highlighting the importance of institutional work in that field to local media.
Online programs for the Wikimedia community can also draw participation and collaboration with contributors outside of the geographical scope of the organization, especially on topics of broader interest than local history and culture. Typically, contribution campaigns focus on a theme or topic that the institutions offers digital collections on, and require a fair amount of online Wikimedia community skills. For example, the National Archive of the Republic of Macedonia runs a multilingual competition for contributing content related to parts of its collections that it has uploaded to Wikimedia Commons; a similar strategy that has also been adopted by the Bulgarian Archives State Agency.[1] Working closely with existing Wikimedia communities or online networks to find the right topics that will excite or engage volunteers, helps ensure that these kinds of projects succeed.
Case study: Wicipop - an initiative funded by the Welsh Government and managed by the Wikimedian in Residence at the National Library of Wales used a blend of online and offline activities to achieve the project's goal of creating 500 new Welsh language Wikipedia articles about Welsh pop music in three months. Three themed public editathon events were held, which drew new and experienced editors into the same physical space in order to create new content. Events like these are great for publicity and several of the events attracted interest from the local media. The project also targeted active editors online by establishing a project landing page on Wikipedia itself. This lead to a substantial contribution from experienced Wikipedians that the National Library of Wales hadn’t previously engaged. A social media campaign also lead to local publishers releasing content on an open licence which editors could then reuse on Wikipedia -- contributing to a broader cycle of increased public access to knowledge.[2]
Planning for new contributors
Engaging new volunteers with Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects has its challenges. Some first time editors lack the confidence to publish on such a visible and far reaching platform as
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- ↑ See the second iteration of this contest at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/DARM_Challenge_2 and the documentation of the Bulgarian Challenge at: https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/October_2016/Contents/Bulgaria_report.
- ↑ See the Wicipop project final report at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jason.nlw/Wicipop_Project
