Engaging the Central Indiana Museum Community with Wikipedia

Abstract

Many museums and other cultural heritage institutions have discovered the value of including Wikipedia in their strategies for public engagement. When a potential patron has a question about an historical or cultural heritage site, they may use a search engine, or an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant such as Siri to learn more. They probably click on the first result, often Wikipedia, and use that as their source of information. Wikipedia, therefore, is a tool that connects communities to cultural heritage and museums can benefit from it. For example, museums with digital collections, like the Met and the Smithsonian, have contributed images to Wikimedia Commons (the image server for Wikipedia) to expand their public audience. Others have hosted events for patrons to edit Wikipedia using the historical resources available at the museum. Some have even created positions to host or employ a “Wikipedian in Residence.” These programs, however, place a burden on museum professionals who already have many new skills to learn and duties to maintain. Central Indiana’s cultural heritage organizations are no exception. By pooling expertise from IUPUI University Library and local Wikipedia experts, barriers to participation in Wikipedia’s open knowledge projects can be lowered.

This paper describes a program in development to foster a community of practice in the central Indiana gallery, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) sector to support Wikipedia initiatives. The paper presents a community engagement plan to learn more from local museums professionals about their past, current, and future interests in Wikipedia collaborations. One outcome of this plan will be events and training opportunities for both museums professionals and their communities. These Wikipedia meetups, training sessions, and edit-a-thons will help people learn more about their museums, communities, and the use of Wikipedia as a non-profit, community-maintained information tool. Many people may be interested in learning how to edit Wikipedia entries, but could be intimidated by the learning curve. If central Indiana museum professionals participate in the program described in this paper–for example, by contributing historical resources and co-hosting editing events, Wikipedia’s coverage of related topics will improve and local museums will benefit from new connections with the public.