Resources for Using & Editing Wikipedia

The GLAM-Wiki (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums with Wikipedia) initiative helps cultural institutions share their resources with the world through high-impact collaborative projects with experienced Wikipedia editors. The GLAM/US portal provides resources for connecting with Wikipedians and tools for beginning a project with the US GLAM-Wiki community.

Read Success Stories of cultural institutions who have partnered with WIkipedians in Residence.

The GLAM-Wiki initiative is an unparalled opportunity for the custodians of our cultural heritage to present their collections to new audiences.

Wikipedia gets millions of page views per day, has more than 250 language versions, and includes more than 20 million articles. Its content is created and maintained by thousands of dedicated volunteer “Wikipedians” around the globe. Everyone from academic researchers to amateur genealogists to young students uses Wikipedia to find information and resources. By 2015, Wikipedia is projected to serve 1 billion people with over 50 million articles.

The Wikipedia community is eager to help institutions improve online articles about their collections. A Wikipedian in Residence can be assigned to a specific cultural institution to help plan and coordinate ways that they can broaden their presence on Wikipedia. Activities organized by Wikipedians in Residence are broad and varied, and could include direct content improvement in partnership with curators, coordination of image or multimedia donations, organizing visits/events (e.g. behind the scenes tours for Wikipedians), and organizing challenges and competitions that promote article improvement.

An overview of the type of work GLAM-Wiki does, and why it's important, is described in a convenient one-page handout. 

How Wikipedians-in-Residence Are Opening Up Cultural Institutions, The Atlantic (June 16, 2011)

Venerable British Museum Enlists in the Wikipedia Revolution, The New York Times (June 4, 2010)

Smithsonian and Wikipedians Team up for Edit-a-thon, The Chronicle of Philanthropy (August 11, 2011)