Tag Archives: Wikipedia

Digital.Bodleian + Wikipedia

16th century, 17th century, 18th century, 19th century, 20th century, 21st century, Digital archives, Digitisation, Early modern, Humanities, Learning and teaching, Medical, Medieval, Modern, Sciences, Social Sciences, ,

For anyone looking to define Taijitu, Putso or Sangha, or to learn about Elizabeth Fry, the Junior wives of Krishna, or the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, one of the top internet search hits will be Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Articles about these, and hundreds of other topics, are now being improved using the Bodleian Libraries’ historic collections.

Images from Digital.Bodleian collection are being uploaded to Commons, the database of freely reusable digital files. From here they can be embedded in articles not just in English Wikipedia, but in other languages and in other educational projects. So far, more than six hundred articles, across many different languages, are illustrated with images from the Bodleian Libraries, reaching a total of nearly 1.5 million readers per month.

Military Insignia of the Late Roman Army (Insignia of the magister militum praesentalis. Folio 96 v of the manuscript Notitia dignitatum. Bodleian Library, MS. Canon. Misc. 378.) Licensed under CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Military Insignia of the Late Roman Army (Insignia of the magister militum praesentalis. Folio 96 v of the manuscript Notitia dignitatum. Bodleian Library, MS. Canon. Misc. 378.) Licensed under CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Bodleian images come from many different countries and eras. The themes range from the serene watercolours of 19th century Burma (present-day Myanmar), via geometrical diagrams in an 11th century Arabic book, to the nightmarish demonic visions of the 14th century Book of Wonders.

A taste is given in an image gallery on Commons. Clicking on any of the images – here or in Wikipedia – and then on ‘More details’ will bring up a larger version, along with links and shelfmarks so that interested readers can track down the physical object.

Anyone is allowed to edit the entries for the images, for example to translate descriptions into other languages. However, these edits are monitored to make sure they respect the educational goals of the site.

This is just the start of an ongoing project: more files and more themes will be added over the next nine months. The Bodleian Libraries’ Wikimedian In Residence, Martin Poulter, welcomes enquiries – you can get in touch via the form below.

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Women in Science Editathon: Ada Lovelace Day 2013

20th century, 21st century, Humanities, Learning and teaching, Modern, Sciences, , ,

300px-Ada_Lovelace_color.svgOn Tuesday 15 October, IT Services and the Libraries celebrated Ada Lovelace Day by hosting a Wikipedia editathon focused on women in science. The event was a success, with over 20 participants and  coverage in national newspapers. Ada Lovelace is widely held to have been the first computer programmer, and Ada Lovelace Day aims to raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) by encouraging people around the world to talk about the women whose work they admire. This annual day of celebration helps people learn about the achievements of women in STEM, inspiring others and creating new role models for young and old alike. A Wikipedia editathon celebrates the spirit of Ada Lovelace Day by helping people learn about the  contribution of individual women to the world of science, and the aim of our editathon was to add to and improve the coverage of individuals, events and resources related to women in science. The afternoon kicked off with a welcome from Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, an Oxford astrophysicist who discovered the first radio pulsars. This was followed by a short training session by the Jisc Wikimedian Ambassador, Martin Poulter, who taught new editors the basics and gave them a bit of background on Wikipedia culture.

Once his training was over, Martin sent participants straight to their computers to get started. We had a small group of Wikipedia helpers who wandered the room, offering assistance where needed, but many editors were content to jump straight in, using reference books and resources provided. We had provided a short list of suggestions, including a number of Oxford-related women, and by the end of the day entries had been created for Margaret Jennings (one of the members of the penicillin team working under Howard Florey), Audrey Arnott (a medical illustrator working with Hugh Cairns), Mabel Purefoy Fitzgerald (a physiologist), Antoinette Pirie (who worked with Ida Mann) and Cecilia Glaisher (a botanical photographer in the Victorian period). A wide variety of other articles were improved and updated, and the Wikipedia trainers were particularly pleased with the skill, knowledge and enthusiasm with which editors worked – even those who had never edited Wikipedia before!ada cake 2013

The event was accompanied by a morning session by the Jisc Ambassador on using Wikipedia in teaching and research (see http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/23things/wikipedia-learning-by-sharing-knowledge/). It was covered in a Guardian piece by organizers Liz McCarthy (Bodleian Libraries) and Kate Lindsay (IT Services).