[Wikimediauk-l] Re: "Court of Appeal ruling will prevent UK museums from charging reproduction fees—at last"

[Charles Matthews]

The copyright point came up at a recent training event I attended. It is good 
that there is now solid UK case law to support our way.
 
For the technical obstructions sometimes put in place of downloading, I suppose 
it would take statute law to shift those.
 
Charles

> On 29/12/2023 21:19 GMT Lucy Crompton-Reid 
>  wrote:
>  
>  
> Excellent news. Thanks for sharing Andy. 
>  
> Best
> Lucy
> 
> On Fri, 29 Dec 2023 at 19:57, Andy Mabbett  mailto:a...@pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:
> 
> > A recent Court of Appeal (England and Wales) case has clarified that
> > there is no new copyright in photographs reproducing 2D artworks that
> > are themselves in the public domain - and that (as many of us have
> > argued) this has been the case since at least 2009.
> > 
> > 
> > https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/12/29/court-of-appeal-ruling-will-prevent-uk-museums-from-charging-reproduction-feesat-last
> > 
> > --
> > Andy Mabbett
> > @pigsonthewing
> > http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
> > ___
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> > 
> 
>  
> --
> Lucy Crompton-Reid
> Chief Executive
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[Wikimediauk-l] Re: Stained glass window image sought

[Charles Matthews]

Indeed.


I've had an offlist reply from someone in the neighbourhood, so the matter is 
now in hand.


Charles > On 13/05/2023 07:12 WereSpielChequers  
wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Charrles, I've had a look at the Geograph site 
> https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=181239399 and we don't seem to have 
> anything more there. But always worth checking when you are looking for UK 
> photos  as we have a lot of images there that have not yet been uploaded onto 
> Commons.
> 
> 
> Jonathan
> 
> 
> On Fri, 12 May 2023 at 09:52, Charles Matthews 
> mailto:charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com>> 
> wrote:
> > 
> > Thanks! That's certainly an interesting kind of query to have around.
> > 
> > 
> > For the many people it turns up on the Geograph site, it would be 
> > relatively easy to look at nearby squares on the site.
> > 
> > 
> > Charles > > > On 11/05/2023 13:57 Magnus Manske 
> > mailto:magnusman...@googlemail.com>> wrote:
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > This might help to find specific people to ask (who took the most 
> > > pictures on Commons within 5km around Newcastle-under-Lyme):
> > > https://w.wiki/6gzB
> > > 
> > > 
> > > On Thu, May 11, 2023 at 11:28 AM Charles Matthews 
> > >  > > <mailto:charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com>> wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > I'm currently drafting an article on William Francis Gordon of 
> > > > Lichfield. He gave the east window to Porthill church, and an interior 
> > > > view would be good.
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:St_Andrew%27s_Church,_Porthill
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > is as much as Commons has about the church, near Newcastle-under-Lyme.
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Can anyone help out?
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Charles ___
> > > > Wikimedia UK mailing list
> > > > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimediau...@wikimedia.org>
> > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
> > > > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk > > > 
> > > > ___
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[Wikimediauk-l] Re: Stained glass window image sought

[Charles Matthews]

Thanks! That's certainly an interesting kind of query to have around.


For the many people it turns up on the Geograph site, it would be relatively 
easy to look at nearby squares on the site.


Charles > On 11/05/2023 13:57 Magnus Manske  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This might help to find specific people to ask (who took the most pictures on 
> Commons within 5km around Newcastle-under-Lyme):
> https://w.wiki/6gzB
> 
> 
> On Thu, May 11, 2023 at 11:28 AM Charles Matthews 
> mailto:charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com>> 
> wrote:
> > 
> > I'm currently drafting an article on William Francis Gordon of Lichfield. 
> > He gave the east window to Porthill church, and an interior view would be 
> > good.
> > 
> > 
> > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:St_Andrew%27s_Church,_Porthill
> > 
> > 
> > is as much as Commons has about the church, near Newcastle-under-Lyme.
> > 
> > 
> > Can anyone help out?
> > 
> > 
> > Charles ___
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> > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimediau...@wikimedia.org>
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
> > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk > 
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[Wikimediauk-l] Stained glass window image sought

[Charles Matthews]

 I'm currently drafting an article on William Francis Gordon of Lichfield. He 
gave the east window to Porthill church, and an interior view would be good. 


 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:St_Andrew%27s_Church,_Porthill 


 is as much as Commons has about the church, near Newcastle-under-Lyme. 


 Can anyone help out? 


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[Wikimediauk-l] Re: Wikidata 10th Birthday

[Charles Matthews]

I'm working on a birthday present.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML-ULyARpU4 is an interesting, top-down survey 
of Wikidata at Ten, including an academic at King's College London. (Lengthy 
discussions.)


Charles  > On 20/10/2022 21:32 Lewis Cawte  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> Just wondered if anyone knew of any UK-based Wikidata 10th birthday events 
> happening next weekend?
> 
> Doesn't look like the chapter currently has any (public) plans to do anything 
> - is there much Wikidata interest in the chapter's sphere of influence?
> 
> 
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[Wikimediauk-l] photoLondon site

[Charles Matthews]

 I was particularly glad to come across 


 https://www.photolondon.org.uk/ 


 today, because its information on old London photographers is very useful in 
researching images. I was wondering where it had got to. 


 There is more at 


 
https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2826398369?profile=original 


 and an Internet Archive page at 


 https://archive.ph/JpEF3 


 Does anyone have contacts with the Museum of London or the original compilers? 
The individual photographer biographies now have IDs and Wikidata ought to be 
able to make use of those. The underlying research is important, and is there a 
way we can support that? 


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[Wikimediauk-l] Re: UK Newspapers: 1 Million become free-to-view (registration required)

[Charles Matthews]

> On 09 August 2021 at 20:33 Berrely  wrote:
> Excited to be uploading some PD newspaper covers to Commons... (hopefully 
> we can get BNA back on The Wikipedia Library eventually as well).
> 

Well indeed. I had BNA access via the Wikipedia Library once, and very useful 
it was.

The selective quotation from the BL blogpost Andy gave was unhelpful, as far as 
that is concerned. The BNA is now managed by Findmypast [1] for the BL. The 
argument that subs are needed to plough back into further and faster 
digitisation is an obvious one. The counter-argument that some Wikipedia 
Library accounts might well lead to a net increase in subs is valid (recently I 
got myself given one, as a birthday present). 

Charles

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Findmypast

> 
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Wikimedia UK awarded funding by The National Lottery Heritage Fund

[Charles Matthews]

> On 18 March 2021 at 14:52 Lucy Crompton-Reid 
>  wrote:
> 

>There will be a focus on heritage which is underrepresented on Wikimedia, and 
>we may narrow this focus down further to specific groups.

Would be good to have the interface with the cultural sector reconsidered. The 
GLAM concept is something of an old warhorse now, and starting out by defining 
types of institutions to work with doesn't look best.

Anyway, good news for sure.

Charles
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Fwd: [MoveCom] New online learning courses on Building Partnerships and Identifying and Addressing Harassment

[Charles Matthews]

> On 16 December 2020 at 09:51 Lucy Crompton-Reid 
>  wrote:
> 
> 

> The Wikimedia Foundation is launching WikiLearn (Online Learning Pilot) 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Development/WikiLearn and 
> volunteers from anywhere in the world are welcome to apply. See the email 
> below for more details but note the deadline of 1st January 2021.
> 

It's good to see the WMF identifying training needs. Has taken a while.

Charles
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Tom Lehrer is PD'ing his music and lyrics

[Charles Matthews]

> 


> On 20 October 2020 at 23:16 Owen Blacker  wrote:
> https://tomlehrersongs.com/
> 
> 
> > > I, Tom Lehrer, and the Tom Lehrer Trust 2000, hereby grant the 
> following permission:
> > 
> > All the lyrics on this website, whether published or unpublished, 
> > copyrighted or uncopyrighted, may be downloaded and used in any manner 
> > whatsoever, without requiring any further permission from me or any payment 
> > to me or to anyone else.
> > 
> > Some lyrics written by Tom Lehrer to copyrighted music by others 
> > are included herein, but of course such music may not be used without 
> > permission of the copyright owners. (The translated songs may be found in 
> > their original languages on YouTube.)
> > 
> > In other words, all the lyrics herein should be treated as though 
> > they were in the public domain.
> > 
> > In particular, permission is hereby granted to anyone to set any of 
> > these lyrics to their own music and publish or perform their versions 
> > without fear of legal action.
> > 
> > This permission applies only to the lyrics on this website. Most of 
> > the music written by Tom Lehrer will be added gradually later with further 
> > disclaimers.
> > 
> > Note: This website will be shut down on December 31, 2024, so if 
> > you want to download anything, don’t wait too long.
> > 
> > > 

"Pollution, pollution, wear a gas mask and a veil / Then you can breathe, long 
as you don't inhale."

Things have changed a bit since peak Lehrer in the 1960s, but the song remains 
the same.

Charles
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Change in licence requirement for National Lottery Heritage Fund projects

[Charles Matthews]

> On 16 September 2020 at 13:40 Lucy Crompton-Reid 
>  wrote:
> Dear all
> 
> The National Lottery Heritage Fund has today announced a significant 
> policy change 
> https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/stories/advice-understanding-our-licence-requirement
>  , with a new requirement for grant recipients to release the digital outputs 
> of funded projects under a CC-BY 4.0 licence. This includes images, research, 
> educational materials, project reports, software, web and app content, 
> databases, 3D models, sound and video recordings.
> 

A very positive development, and kudos to those involved.

Charles
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] British Museum, copyright and public domain images

[Charles Matthews]

> On 26 August 2020 at 13:22 Andy Mabbett  wrote:
> 
> 
> On Wed, 12 Aug 2020 at 20:45, Stella Wisdom  wrote:
> 
> > organisational change is not always easy, or quick!
> 
> That's a fair point - but it's also worth bearing in mind that the BM
> had a Wikimedian in Residence in 2010, and the BL (for whom I and
> other WMUK volunteers have also donated our time, at several events)
> had one in 2012.

It is also worth bearing in mind that Liam Wyatt was at the British Museum only 
for a short time in summer 2010; and that Matthew Cock, the Head of Web with 
whom most of the Wikimedia dealings went on, was concerned mainly with public 
engagement rather than open content, and left the BM in 2014. I see no point in 
overstating what a WiR can do, but of course others may disagree.

Charles

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[Wikimediauk-l] Charles Rogers and Plymouth Museum

[Charles Matthews]

I have just finished an article about Charles Rogers, an 18th-century art 
collector:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rogers_(collector)

If anyone has or can get a photograph relevant to his collection, in the 
Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, that would be a great addition.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Covid-19 articles and licensing

[Charles Matthews]

While we're on the topic of restrictive licensing, I have some comments to make about Covid-19 literature, and what to do about it.In the familiar good news, bad news pattern, major medical publishers are allowing pandemic-related articles to be read online, even though their copyright status would normally mean they would be behind a paywall. That means that numerous sources used in Wikipedia, for example, can be read, when it would be more usual to need an institutional subscription.The fine print:- No Creative Commons license applies, in general. - There is a time limit. The article may go closed again, for example when the WHO says the pandemic is over. Or, when the publisher feels like it.I'm working on a Wikidata Covid-19 literature project. One part of it is to use Wikidata property P953 "full work available at" to store the URLs at which papers can be read. The data entry involved in this step is really simple, if an item for the paper exists, and you have a URL.In some cases the URL will also give you a Creative Commons license: PubMed Central is a site that is good at telling you about CC licenses, for example. Wikidata can store the license info as P275. You then have a genuine open access paper, not just a grace-and-favour reading permission.The other point I'd like to make is that these URLs may not go to waste, when and if the publisher later closes up the paper. The Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive may then have a stored copy.If you are interested in knowing more, and working in this area, please contact me offlist. I'm pulling together a project about data entry, and am concentrating on the sources already used in pandemic-related Wikipedia articles. Data entry, on Wikidata, is not that hard to get into, but is a devil-in-the-detail kind of area. And leads onto queries. The documentation could undoubtedly be improved if people bring up their issues, especially if they are new to Wikidata. I wouldn't plan anything as grand as "online training", but I'd be happy to give online support and perhaps do some calls.Charles
 

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Change of Chair at Wikimedia UK

[Charles Matthews]

Welcome, Nick, to the Chair. Josie, you will be missed.  Charles___
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Help with Wikipedia’s coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic

[Charles Matthews]

> On 09 April 2020 at 18:00 Richard Nevell  
> wrote:
> 

> 
> If anybody needs familiarity with the sourcing standards for medical 
> articles, take a look at 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources_(medicine)
>  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources_(medicine)
>   - although most of the content will only need to meet the usual standards 
> for sourcing that you're used to.
> 
> Richard Nevell, on behalf of Wikimedia UK
> 
> Doug Taylor, on behalf of Wikimedia Medicine
> 

Yes, that's an important point in practice.

The extraordinary times Covid-19 has brought with it have seen the major 
medical journal publishers react. This Twitter thread is very helpful with the 
open access aspects of the huge volume of publications:

https://twitter.com/MsPhelps/status/1249662402255298560

Temporarily, much more of the literature is going to be available to read, on 
the PubMed Central repository, than would usually be the case. The actual 
details of all that could be the basis of a crash course on open access. And 
why it matters. 

The bibliographical situation that is emerging is scary, really. Let's note 
that Wikidata can help cope: by holding details on papers, and data giving an 
idea of the reliability of journals. By capturing Creative Commons license 
information. By allowing us to add topical information. And with queries that 
are quite intuitive, supporting use and maintenance of the data.

Charles
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Wikimedia UK office closure (COVID-19)

[Charles Matthews]

> On 17 March 2020 at 14:38 Lucy Crompton-Reid 
>  wrote:
> 
> We are also keen to explore ways in which we can support editors and 
> readers during this period. Some of our ideas at this point include:
> 



> * Exploring the potential for online editing events specifically 
> focused on producing quality information about the pandemic and associated 
> issues
> 

I've been working today on Wikidata, improving items related to Covid-19 
medical publications. There is obviously a lot of do in this area, on the most 
recent papers. It is not that hard to get to the coalface.

> * Joining wider advocacy efforts across the movement encouraging 
> bodies such as the WHO to release their content under open licences
> 

And this naturally goes with. The actual situation, in terms of the general 
public being able to read the best sources on the pandemic, is a crash course 
in "open access", and what the more weaselly definitions amount to.

Charles
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 21 March

[Charles Matthews]

This event has had to be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic: it is 
hoped it will now take place in June.

All those who signed up will receive a mail, or user talk message, with further 
details.

Charles

> On 28 February 2020 at 10:50 Charles Matthews 
>  wrote:
> 
> 
> This meetup will take place in the Microsoft Research Lab near Cambridge 
> station:
> 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/43
> 
> Please note the fine print about getting past the front door: this seems 
> to be industry-standard, judging by our previous event hosted by Amazon.
> 
> This time we are being hosted by Andy Gordon of Microsoft Research. He 
> has a couple of ideas related to Wikidata, including a use of Excel, so we'll 
> be having some presentations at the beginning of the meetup.
> 
> Hope to see you there.
> 
> Charles
> 


 
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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 21 March

[Charles Matthews]

This meetup will take place in the Microsoft Research Lab near Cambridge 
station:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/43

Please note the fine print about getting past the front door: this seems to be 
industry-standard, judging by our previous event hosted by Amazon.

This time we are being hosted by Andy Gordon of Microsoft Research. He has a 
couple of ideas related to Wikidata, including a use of Excel, so we'll be 
having some presentations at the beginning of the meetup.

Hope to see you there.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 42, 14 December

[Charles Matthews]

A reminder for Saturday:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/42

While I can't promise the election won't be mentioned, I believe we'll have 
other things on the agenda.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] November 27 tagging incident

[Charles Matthews]

> On 10 December 2019 at 03:06 geni  wrote:
> 
> 
> On Mon, 9 Dec 2019 at 10:32, Charles Matthews
>  wrote:
> >
> > That ANI report makes it clear enough that this was a spree resolved by 
> > blocking an IP address. Nothing is said there about any actual deletions. 
> > It would be helpful if it could be confirmed that nothing was actually 
> > deleted on grounds of lack of notability.
> >
> 
> Not on this occasion no. The IP has no deleted edits and in any case
> they were throwing up notability tags not prods or AFDs. Previously
> some of Jess Wade's articles have been deleted.

Thanks. So the tagging was contained and dealt with, and while it was 
harassment, clearly enough, that was what it amounted to.

Charles

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] November 27 tagging incident

[Charles Matthews]

> On 09 December 2019 at 11:47 Fæ  wrote:


 
> That the press has picked up on this story, could be seen as an
> opportunity to embrace the criticism and to do more to make the
> environment less hostile for committed contributors like Jess.

From Jess:

https://twitter.com/jesswade/status/1203583885369630721

Jess does not subscribe to the narrative found in the Telegraph and Mail, for 
sure. 

That narrative has been around for ten years, during which time much progress 
has been made on English Wikipedia. I think in fact around 2011 the community 
realised there needed to be a more positive effort with newbies; and as 
recently as 2016 some kinds of knee-jerk deletionism started to receive serious 
deprecation. 

I don't doubt that more work needs to be done. As far as I know, the editor 
retention issue is much less pressing than it used to be. In 2009 the Murdoch 
press was pushing the line that the 2007 decline in editors, which had just 
come to light in terms of stats rather than anecdote, was an existential 
threat. No longer.

> Regardless of the trivial of this incident, the underpinning issues
> are real and measurable and are the real reason for this long-running
> perception of Wikipedia culture.

So, informed and accurate coverage of Wikipedia stories is also to be wished 
for. If a single idiot adding templates can cause a media furore, it is either 
trivial or non-trivial. If it isn't trivial ... well, the link to ANI I gave 
has to be interpreted. In a past furore I helped a Guardian journalist to 
understand exactly what had happened, via a page history. We see shoddy 
journalism based on the vaguest ideas of fact-checking. We should call that out.

Charles

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[Wikimediauk-l] November 27 tagging incident

[Charles Matthews]

A notability tagging incident on English Wikipedia some ten days ago is receiving ongoing media attention. It would be a good idea to get the facts straight.The rather curt onwiki discussion is athttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive1024#IP_mass_tagging_notable_mostly_women_scientists_for_notabilityThe articles targeted were some of those authored by User:jesswade88, who is known for her work on STEM and the gender gap.That ANI report makes it clear enough that this was a spree resolved by blocking an IP address. Nothing is said there about any actual deletions. It would be helpful if it could be confirmed that nothing was actually deleted on grounds of lack of notability.Jess Wade was on Woman's Hour,  BBC Radio 4 speaking about this incident. She began with comments about WP demographics that made me wince a bit. She made clear her positive feelings about WP, editing and Wikimedia, but that of course is less sensational than the narrative of a "hostile environment". There was quite a lot of Twitter comment, with some people swearing off editing WP: which is pretty much what the spree was designed to achieve, surely. Others indicated they were inspired to edit.There have been articles in the Daily Telegraph:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/07/physicist-embroiled-sexism-row-wikipedia-female-scientists-wrote/And in the Daily Mail:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7769415/Physicist-accuses-white-men-North-America-Wikipedia-editors-sexism.htmlThese are pretty bad journalism, in terms of respect for the facts. It appears to me that the enWP admin response was perfectly adequate, rather than there being a systemic problem there.The Woman's Hour interview was reasonable, the press reports unreliable. I think the point here is that good intentions aren't enough to curb the latter: the Mail's article of 2 January about Jess's projecthttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6544657/London-scientist-creates-Wikipedia-page-underrepresented-group-DAY.htmlis of course very upbeat, but that hardly entitles the Mail to a hatchet job in December.Charles
 

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[Wikimediauk-l] Mobile health units

[Charles Matthews]

As part of a Wikidata project, I have created 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Mobile_health_units

These units are many and varied, and would be an interesting thing to document 
with a photo, wherever you go.

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[Wikimediauk-l] George Blake

[Charles Matthews]

Last week, on its chatty back page, the Times Literary Supplement commented 
that the Scottish novelist George Blake (1893–1961) didn't have a Wikipedia 
article. Well, he does now:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Blake_(novelist)

The comment came in an announcement of a new "series" on Writers Who Are More 
or Less Forgotten. Which would bear watching, therefore. I found a couple of 
issues, now fixed, with 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novel_in_Scotland

which also might be more or less forgotten as an article.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Order of Industrial Heroism recipients

[Charles Matthews]

> On 16 May 2019 at 15:57 Andy Mabbett  wrote:
> 
> I have created a list at:
> 
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recipients_of_the_Order_of_Industrial_Heroism
> 
> and would be grateful for help in checking and disambiguating many of
> the blue links.

Thanks, Andy. From a small sample, WP:ONEEVENT will apply to many entries. I'd 
have thought a table was a good idea, since (to take the first on the list) 
Joseph Sloss, a Liverpool docker who stopped a serious fire, might be best 
served by having that on the page.

Charles

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] SPARQL workshop at Cambridge 41 - 12 May

[Charles Matthews]

Reminder of this event on Sunday.  Charles

> On 24 April 2019 at 11:27 Charles Matthews  
> wrote:
> 
> 
> I'll be running an introductory workshop on SPARQL queries and their 
> applications at the next Cambridge meetup, on 12 May:
> 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/41
> 
> Apologies for the clash with the London meetup: I'll not make a habit of 
> this.
> 
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[Wikimediauk-l] SPARQL workshop at Cambridge 41 - 12 May

[Charles Matthews]

I'll be running an introductory workshop on SPARQL queries and their 
applications at the next Cambridge meetup, on 12 May:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/41

Apologies for the clash with the London meetup: I'll not make a habit of this.

This will be a largely Wikidata-oriented edition of the Cambridge meetup, and 
I'm constrained by available spaces for the Makespace classroom, which is 
suitable for training. The main topic will be getting a grip on scientific 
literature as catalogued on Wikidata, in its many aspects, as required by the 
ScienceSource project I'm working on.

If you've not really seen the point of Wikidata, so far, this should be a point 
of entry. In the time provided we'll get to some more advanced things, too. 

The SPARQL session will be 1300 to 1530, will not assume much previous Wikidata 
knowledge, and if you come you should bring a laptop.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Festival event 23 March

[Charles Matthews]

A reminder of the workshop in this year's Cambridge Science Festival, on 23 
March.

https://www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk/events/sciencesource-workshop-how-do-scientific-discoveries-become-clinical-medicine

is the official page. And

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-do-scientific-discoveries-become-clinical-medicine-festival-workshop-tickets-56499051183

is the signup page.

I've just added the programme to the Eventbrite page:

"The workshop will be divided into three sections.

>From 1000 to 1300 there will be an introduction to systematic reviews and 
>evidence-based medicine, somewhat unconventional and from a data angle. We’ll 
>work with a seven-factor view of how the quality gap between scientific 
>discovery and medical knowledge is bridged.

A lunch will be provided, from 1300 to 1340. At 1340 there will be a 50-minute 
general interest talk, as advertised on the official Festival page. It will be 
directed towards lay folk with an interest in searching the medical literature 
online.

>From 1430 the workshop will continue, with a look at “Prospects”, picking up 
>on themes from the first section with emphasis on the application of the 
>Semantic Web, in particular Wikidata, in the areas of review literature and 
>lay search."

This is a ScienceSource event, but overall more on the medical side. The 
afternoon section will be broadening out on the Wikidata side, otherwise known 
as WikiCite, MEDRS and so on. Hope to see some of you there.

Charles


 


 


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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] UK Wiki

[Charles Matthews]

> On 04 March 2019 at 20:41 Andy Mabbett  wrote:
> 
> 
> On Fri, 8 Feb 2019 at 12:28, Thomas Morton  
> wrote:
> 
> > Jo and I are looking at this and trying to sort it out. Its taking a  bit 
> > of time to fully
> > debug and resolve this - but we are hopeful to share progress soon.
> 
> Another month has passed; could we have an update, please?

Looks like this request is a perennial. Having gone over the ground recently 
with the developer tasked with QRpedia, I'm able to give the following summary.

(1) There is essentially no documentation.
(2) There have been numerous patches in the past.
(3) The code on GitHub is not the working code.
(4) There was a holdup on an access, which has now been granted.

The whole situation clearly must be rectified. Simply pushing for more of (2) 
is not the professional answer. (1) needs fixed. (3) needs fixed with a README.

For more context: the way leading browsers operate has changed over time. 

HTH.

Charles

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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 3 March, Festival event 23 March

[Charles Matthews]

> On 31 January 2019 at 11:34 Charles Matthews 
>  wrote:
> 
> 
> Another in the series of meetups in the Makespace community workshop in 
> central Cambridge, this time on a Sunday:
> 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/40
> 

Reminder of this event, where the period 1300 to 1500 will be a software 
workshop.

I also wanted to mention the ContentMine workshop in this year's Cambridge 
Science Festival, later in March on the 23rd:

https://www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk/events/sciencesource-workshop-how-do-scientific-discoveries-become-clinical-medicine

is the official page. And

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-do-scientific-discoveries-become-clinical-medicine-festival-workshop-tickets-56499051183

is the signup page. This is a ScienceSource event, but more on the medical than 
on the Wikidata side.


Charles


 


 
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[Wikimediauk-l] LSHTM workshop Tuesday - places available

[Charles Matthews]

I'm giving a workshop on the state of my WiR work on Tuesday at the London 
School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 10 to 1 pm. This is an internal event 
there, but I have learned just now that there are places available.

The title is "Wikidata and ScienceSource: open critical bibliography for 
medicine on the Semantic Web". It assumes no prior knowledge of Wikidata, but 
as you'd expect from the venue will have a slant towards tropical diseases, 
more particularly neglected tropical diseases. New software will be shown. I 
think it would be a reasonable introduction to both Wikidata and WikiCite, and 
what sort of traction they are getting. It is hosted by a librarian at the 
LSHTM.

If you'd like to attend, please let me know offlist, by Monday morning. Happy 
to answer questions about the programme.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 3 March

[Charles Matthews]

Another in the series of meetups in the Makespace community workshop in central 
Cambridge, this time on a Sunday:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/40

The initial workshop will be on the software being developed for the 
ScienceSource project. From 3 pm it will be a normal meetup, if that's not an 
oxymoron. Hope to see you there.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Recent changes and watchlists on the UK wiki are still broken

[Charles Matthews]

> On 08 January 2019 at 09:53 John Lubbock  
> wrote:
> Please ask us.
> 

Here's a thought I last expressed 20 years ago, to the chair of a voluntary 
organisation experiencing disaffection: when things get a bit better, people 
complain more.

That was in private, and I have no reason to assume it did any good. But I hope 
the logic might be taken on board in 2019.

Charles
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 15 December

[Charles Matthews]

> On 11 November 2018 at 13:56 Charles Matthews 
>  wrote:
> 
> 
> The next Cambridge meetup will be on 15 December:
> 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/39
> 

The meetup in Makespace, 16 Mill Lane, on Saturday will be preceded by a 
ScienceSource workshop from 1300,  a midpoint survey of the ScienceSource 
project, which is live at http://sciencesource.wmflabs.org.

There will be an emphasis on novel visualisations as a use of SPARQL, which is 
a fundamental aid to understanding what is going on.

I hope to include work by Tom Arrow, my colleague at ContentMine last year, 
that he showed at the WikiCite conference in November. This is now a rapidly 
developing area of Wikidata technology.

It would also be good to have some discussion of adaptation of Wikidata tools 
to more general Wikibase sites. There is a timeline of those:

https://tinyurl.com/y7f5my4t

Be reassured that from 1500 we'll have the traditional meetup occasion.

Charles
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Recent changes and watchlists broken on the WMUK Wiki

[Charles Matthews]

> On 01 December 2018 at 09:30 Jonathan Cardy  
> wrote:
> 
> More radically, you could move the UK wiki to be a project on Meta. 
> 
> 



> I can’t think of anything we have ever gained from having our own 
> independent Wiki as opposed to a project on Meta, unless you count 
> independence and seperation from the rest of the movement as a positive.
> 

As a matter of history, independence was a big motivation, rightly or wrongly.

There is fundraising to consider, naturally. There is more than that one wiki 
hosted, even in terms of MediaWiki instances. 

In terms of fundraising, I spoke in 2010 (as WMUK staff) to someone then 
working in online fundraising as CE of a charity. Who told me that Wikimedia as 
a whole undershot what could be done in terms of raising funds, by an order of 
magnitude; and that you had to cater for the needs of the savvy donor, who 
researches charities online. The point is obviously not to rely entirely on 
impulse giving.

Now, that cannot be done on meta, clearly.

Does there need to be a wiki involved? There an element here of business logic 
versus open logic. Certainly one argument is "a report on the charity's 
activities is under professional control, and that is what should be online". A 
counter-argument is that it would convey nothing distinctive, everyone knows 
that glossiness can be purchased, and the WMF set its face some time ago 
against the plusher models of charity and NGO development.

A colleague told me not long ago that the trend for corporate sites is to make 
them leaner. The rationale is that people will anyway use other sources of 
information about corporation C, researching it elsewhere. Part of this 
discussion should be whether that would actually be a good thing for chapter's 
comms. There is a familiar debate here about who are the stakeholders and so 
on, and honestly anyone who brings up rationalising the wiki out of existence 
really needs to have their own version of that to hand.

Actually the UK wiki seems to me to have suffered from a couple of things. 
These really shouldn't have to be spelled out. They are:

(a) That it has been treated as an appendage to the office system; and

(b) A division of labour that is familiar from WP, that everyone should muck in 
on the scutwork, some people develop substantive content, and others do 
maintenance work like tagging with templates and effectively archiving old 
content, has not been understood by the office. And that none of this should be 
confused with the developer time cost, though there is certainly a cost to not 
having the site run like a dog and suffering periods of downtime.

For heaven's sake, a way to engage volunteers familiar with wiki editing is to 
have a wiki they'd want to edit. Not some sort of obsolescent filing cabinet. 
In these terms, beware the stakeholder analysis that simply ignores the group 
of people who, wait for it, actually write Wikipedia.

Charles
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Recent changes and watchlists broken on the WMUK Wiki

[Charles Matthews]

> On 30 November 2018 at 15:42 leu...@fabiant.eu wrote:
> 
> 
> Please have a look at the Engine Room 
> https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Engine_room . It is unfortunate that there has 
> been no reply to Brian Kelly's inquiry about the VLE made back in August.
> 

"Sorry, the website moodle.wikimedia.org.uk cannot be found" is as much as I 
know about it.

Charles
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Recent changes and watchlists broken on the WMUK Wiki

[Charles Matthews]

> On 30 November 2018 at 14:01 Fæ  wrote:

> Now would be a good time for the WMUK board to review whether having
> its own wiki is worth the on-going investment in scarce volunteer time
> or employee time.

Not so much. There has been an issue for five years, IMX, and a "review" that 
concluded that starving the wiki of resources, and, more importantly, of 
respect by staff has left a mess is not a long job. Just rationalising it away 
is cheap, in all senses of the world. Besides, it could be useful, and a plus 
for fundraising, with TLC.
 
> For QRpedia, current and potential usage is far wider than the UK.
> Discussing its maintenance and long term future should be widely
> promoted and can easily justify a specific WMF funding case.

For QRpedia, I would agree that a tech review now would be a good idea. 

Charles

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Recent changes and watchlists broken on the WMUK Wiki

[Charles Matthews]

> Trust me nobody is more frustrated about it all than me.
> 

The whole "three wise monkeys" approach by WMUK to its wiki has been going on 
for years, and is quite unacceptable.

Charles
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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 15 December

[Charles Matthews]

The next Cambridge meetup will be on 15 December:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/39

It will follow our current pattern, of a traditional meetup as social occasion, 
from 3 pm, in the Makespace community workshop, preceded by a two-hour 
ContentMine workshop. This time the workshop will be about the ScienceSource 
wiki at

http://sciencesource.wmflabs.org/

and its function as a place to help annotate scientific papers. Real data for 
that, from text-mining, is on the way. Account creation for the wiki will be 
opened up, at least for a period: right now, to avoid giving the spammers an 
early Xmas present, you need to ask me.

Anyway, please set aside time to come and join us.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Reminder: Cambridge Wikidata Workshop on Saturday

[Charles Matthews]

The programme at

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:ContentMine/Cambridge_Wikidata_Workshop

has filled put, and there will be something about images as well in the 
afternoon. If you intend to come, please sign up: we do need to order lunch.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge Wikidata Workshop 20 October

[Charles Matthews]

This is an early event for the Wikidata 6th birthday celebrations, going on 
around the world:

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:ContentMine/Cambridge_Wikidata_Workshop

The venue is where a number of recent meetups have been held.

The programme has largely pulled together now, but you should probably check 
back later - there may be more on images.

All welcome: the morning session will be relatively introductory. Space is 
limited, so sign up if you are coming (and please strike yourself if it 
turns out you can't).

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge workshop and meetup 29 September

[Charles Matthews]

> On 05 September 2018 at 14:33 Charles Matthews 
>  wrote:
> 
> See https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/38 for the signup 
> page. We're back in central Cambridge at 16 Mill Lane, in the Makespace 
> community workshop. Jo Brook who is the ScienceSource developer is also 
> involved in Makespace, and will be able to show people around the laser 
> cutters, 3D printers and other interesting kit. 
> 

Reminder about this event on Saturday.

Details of the Wikidata workshop from 1300. It will start with a basic 
introduction of 30 to 40 minutes. Then there will be a hands-on session centred 
on Lyme disease, as a bibliographical challenge. The workshop will finish with 
some demo material explaining where the ScienceSource project has got to, after 
four months.

Then the usual meetup, from 1500. We will be laying on food.

Charles


 
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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge workshop and meetup 29 September

[Charles Matthews]

The next Cambridge meetup will be on 29 September, with the usual meetup social 
occasion 3 pm to 6 pm, with optional pub visit afterwards. There will be a 
workshop 1 pm to 3 pm beforehand, on the ScienceSource project: see John 
Lubbock's blogpost

https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2018/08/science-source-seeks-to-improve-reliable-referencing-on-wikipedias-medical-articles/

If that leaves you with unanswered questions - well, you'd better come along.

See https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/38 for the signup page. 
We're back in central Cambridge at 16 Mill Lane, in the Makespace community 
workshop. Jo Brook who is the ScienceSource developer is also involved in 
Makespace, and will be able to show people around the laser cutters, 3D 
printers and other interesting kit. 

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[Wikimediauk-l] ScienceSource launches its focus list

[Charles Matthews]

I'm back working at ContentMine, as Wikimedian in Residence , on the 
ScienceSource project, which is the sequel to WikiFactMine. We started in June, 
and yesterday launched our first participatory subproject. (The ScienceSource 
wiki is coming along, but will not be active for a little while yet.)

The landing page for the ScienceSource focus list is at

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:ScienceSource_focus_list

and that page has a couple of videos that start in at a very basic level. There 
is also some general discussion today on Wikipedia, at WT:MED, from the 
perspective of medical editors. The overall aim of ScienceSource is to give 
proper technical support to those who want to edit Wikipedia medical articles. 
There is a barrier to entry, namely the WP:MEDRS guideline on reliable sources 
in the health area. It is quite an education to try to understand it, from a 
standing start.

To add a biomediical paper to the focus list, which currently has about 600 
papers, you need to add a P5008 statements to the paper's Wikidata item, with 
object ScienceSource (Q55439927). More detailed instructions are on the page, 
and the list can be viewed using a query on its talk page. 

We are looking to collect 30K relevant open access papers, with good coverage 
of medical conditions. Please have a go yourself, and forward this mail to 
anyone you think might be interested. Those with suggestions who don't want to 
work on Wikidata can use the talk page to make them. Wikimedians, medical 
experts, librarians, all are welcome.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 29 April

[Charles Matthews]

Final reminder: this is a ticket-only event and the list will close at midnight 
tonight. So please sign up now, if you intend to be there.

If you are under 18 and wish to attend, please notify me off-list, as well. 
These conditions come with the venue.

Charles

> On 28 March 2018 at 19:13 Charles Matthews <charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> 
> For the next Cambridge meetup, on Sunday 29 April, we are taking up an 
> opportunity to be in Amazon's new research place, just opposite Cambridge 
> station. (This is not their Castle park centre.) That means it is 
> ticket-only. 
> 
> The event page is at
> 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/37
> 
> You do need a ticket from 
> 
> 
> https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cambridge-wikimedia-meetup-tickets-44524229168
> 
> to get in, and there will be a list of real names on the door. Sorry if 
> these arrangements don't suit everybody, but they come rather literally with 
> the territory. (If it helps, just mail me.) I see the map on the Eventbrite 
> page is a bit rubbish.
> 
> Charles
> 


 
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] UK chapter membership numbers

[Charles Matthews]

> On 10 April 2018 at 11:41 Fæ  wrote:
>
> It appears that the jump in numbers was a one-off event, there has
> been no continued growth since whatever happened. 

I don't know what happened. I did correspond with the office about a prompt to 
renew. One could simulate such a "one-off event" by simply asking people whose 
membership had lapsed to renew. I was doing this sort of thing for WMUK some 
seven years ago, so as an explanation it is not far-fetched.

Charles

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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 29 April

[Charles Matthews]

For the next Cambridge meetup, on Sunday 29 April, we are taking up an 
opportunity to be in Amazon's new research place, just opposite Cambridge 
station. (This is not their Castle park centre.) That means it is ticket-only. 

The event page is at

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/37

You do need a ticket from 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cambridge-wikimedia-meetup-tickets-44524229168

to get in, and there will be a list of real names on the door. Sorry if these 
arrangements don't suit everybody, but they come rather literally with the 
territory. (If it helps, just mail me.) I see the map on the Eventbrite page is 
a bit rubbish.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge Science Festival editathon 15 March

[Charles Matthews]

> On 21 February 2018 at 11:03 Charles Matthews 
> <charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> By the way, the Cambridge Science Festival is in mid-March:
> 
> https://www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk/
> 
> The programme PDF mentions an editathon at the Moore Library, 6 to 8 pm, 
> on 15 March. I'll try to get more details for that.
> 

On further research, it turns out I'm running it! 

https://www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk/events/wikipedia-edit-thon

The scope mentioned there is narrower than is now intended (that text should be 
updated): the general area is plants, images, Wikipedia and Wikidata editing. I 
have some local help, would welcome one or two more pairs of hands.

Charles
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[Wikimediauk-l] CULIB article, forthcoming Cambridge events

[Charles Matthews]

The Cambridge University Library Bulletin has published an article of mine:

http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/CULIB/current_issue.htm

It is a retrospective on my Wikimedian in Residence period last year. For more 
recent information on ContentMine, see the grant proposal at

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/ScienceSource

Which has closed, now (as of yesterday), so _please don't_ add to the page. I'm 
listed as a participant, reflecting my current volunteer status at the company.

The CULIB article allows for mail comments. I'm always glad to hear from 
Wikimedians interested in what ContentMine is up to.

By the way, the Cambridge Science Festival is in mid-March:

https://www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk/

The programme PDF mentions an editathon at the Moore Library, 6 to 8 pm, on 15 
March. I'll try to get more details for that. The event "Wiki, please, 
explain!" on 21 March is actually about machine learning. 

Also of possible interest, in Cambridge, is this:

https://elifesci.org/innovationsprint2018.

Second week of May, apply though by 5 March. It's basically a hackathon.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Open data job opportunity

[Charles Matthews]

https://mysociety.workable.com/jobs/654698 went past on Twitter.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Possible news story about Wikipedia tomorrow

[Charles Matthews]

> On 17 January 2018 at 13:24 Harry Mitchell  wrote:
> 
> Would it be worth Wikimedia UK's while to put out a blog post talking
> about quality control processes (ad-hoc as they are) on Wikipedia? Not so much
> as a direct reply -  both because these articles look like they're just
> filling empty column inches, and because we obviously can't prove a negative
> (that "Russian trolls" *aren't* running amok on political articles). Rather as
> a timely reminder of what Wikipedia is about and how the 'wisdom of the crowd'
> makes it quite difficult to grossly distort its content. I could say something
> about what admins do, though there I'm sure there are people who spend more
> time on politicians' biographies than I do.
> 
> 

As you say, proving the negative is out of reach.

I would say, take the lesson of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_the_well
to heart. Along with straightforward lying, selective quotation, guilt by
association, and the reporting of rumour as truth, there is a lot of it about
these days.

I'm glad to see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie has had some recent
attention, while we're on the topic of propaganda techniques everybody should
know about.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] New Wales-related properties in Wikidata

[Charles Matthews]

Sigh. To the old-school eye this is a {{sofixit}}. The conventional wisdom,
which is that no more need be said, holds good.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 25 November

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 29 November 2017 at 09:15 Gordon Joly  wrote:
> 
> 
> On 12/11/17 19:48, geni wrote:
> > Does maker space mean "someone who might know something about .STL
> > files"? (although I'll be there either way since I want to go to
> > duxford).
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STL_(file_format)
> 
> Just in case like me you did not know what STL was!
> 
> :-)
> 
> 

It was my afternoon to say "and now for something completely different", as
Deryck Chan offered to talk about complex property replacement on Wikidata.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 25 November

[Charles Matthews]

Reminder about tomorrow's event. The introduction from 1 pm will be an occasion
for me to try out a new approach, under the title "Twenty Things to Know and Do
when editing Wikipedia".

Charles

> On 02 November 2017 at 21:12 Charles Matthews
> <charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> The meetup has a conventional wiki page
> 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/36
> 
> and also an Eventbrite page (has been shown to bring in people we don't
> otherwise see):
> 
> 
>
> https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cambridge-wikimedia-meetup-tickets-39510025550?ref=estw
> 
> Let me hasten to say that you can attend without a ticket!
> 
> Since the room has a projector, I'll be running an introductory Wikipedia
> editing session from 1 pm to 3 pm. Some followup was requested after a local
> workshop in September. The meetup proper will start at 3 pm. Last time we had
> several demos.
> 
> Hope to see some of you there.
> 
> Charles
> 


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[Wikimediauk-l] UCL database

[Charles Matthews]

A letter 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/22/historians-working-towards-a-full-imperial-reckoning-for-britain

in today's Guardian comments on the role of the database at

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/

"uncovering Britain’s imperial past". In a headline sense, I agree. I did some
work on Wikipedia on Abel Rous Dottin, an MP from a West Indian slave-owning
background, and his part in the launching of the London & Greenwich Railway:
family connections were certainly behind some of the initial funding. Not at all
the emphasis in the standard history of the L & G.

I thought some people would be interested in the more technical background
(which amounts to inheritances, genealogy and land ownership records, politics
and commerce); or at least what is being done on Wikidata in this direction.
There is a property, P3023, for the database identifier for people. It occurs on
506 items. That sounds quite good, until you realise that the database has
around 50,000 people mentioned, so only 1% of entries are so identified.

Of those, 298 have occupation "politician". and 241 are identified in the
History of Parliament Online (sterling work by Andrew Gray means for the
relevant period to 1832, Wikidata has complete coverage of MPs). That sounds
like quite good coverage of the "West India lobby" and anti-abolitionism in
Parliament. 

On the other hand, one of the conclusions of the research in this area is that
many of the fortunes made by Caribbean slave-owners were not in the public eye,
in the same way. Further, the database is primarily about those who were
compensated after the 1837 abolition of slavery in the British Empire. It does
have information digging further back: but for some reason the identifiers used
are long and apparently random numbers, where those who were compensated form a
simple and essentially unbroken sequence.

To sum up, we can reach for our old friend, the "low-hanging fruit", which
appears to have been largely gathered so far. Information is sparse, in the
database, in the average case: we cannot yet place most of these people, and the
"long tail" of those who were given smaller sums is mostly opaque. (Sorry, mixed
metaphors there, but never mind.)

There were large sums paid out, particularly to those who had acquired estates
in British Guiana: and we don't always know much about them, because they were
prominent only in commerce. And those who are central to the database are not in
general those who built up and profited most from the plantation system, which
peaked in commercial terms at least a generation before 1837. Matthew Parker's
well-written "The Sugar Barons" gives the impression that the smaller
landholders really were there to "make up the numbers".

The approach, now standard on Wikidata, is to put a dataset into the mix'n'match
tool, and gradually cross-match it. That way has not been pursued in this case,
because it isn't clear how to proceed, and much of the data is just not there
for those receiving compensation (they would be marked N/A for matching, in the
jargon). I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who could help with the
first point.

Right now, honest piecemeal effort can bring a few more of the people involved
into better focus.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 25 November

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 12 November 2017 at 19:48 geni <geni...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> On 10 November 2017 at 19:33, Charles Matthews
> <charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> >
> > There is a joke "free as in carbon paper" in there somewhere.
> >
> 
> Information wants to be free. Information wants to be expensive.
> 
> Does maker space mean "someone who might know something about .STL
> files"? (although I'll be there either way since I want to go to
> duxford).
> 
> 

A good guess. There are a number of 3D printers in the place. Do you want me to
ask a colleague?

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 25 November

[Charles Matthews]

> On 10 November 2017 at 17:59 leu...@fabiant.eu wrote:
> 
> 
> Well, there was a conception  open documents certainly back in the
> fifties. Check Neils Bohr's concept of an Open World in his Open Letter to
> the United Nations  http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Deterrence/BohrUN.shtml
> June 9, 1950 http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Deterrence/BohrUN.shtml .
> 

There is a joke "free as in carbon paper" in there somewhere.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 25 November

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 10 November 2017 at 09:28 Gordon Joly <gordon.j...@pobox.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>     On 02/11/17 21:12, Charles Matthews wrote:
> > The meetup has a conventional wiki page
> >
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/36
> >
> 
> 
> Can you ask Prof. Hawking why he did not publish his thesis as an open
> document?
> 
> 

Sure, next meeting he attends. (It gives me a chance to say that, from the point
of view of wheelchair access, the current venue is much better than we have had
in the past.) In fact the last time I was in a room with him, it was at a a
shortened version of the Ring Cycle. But that was many years ago.

Hawking's papers are actually at the Moore Library in Cambridge.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 25 November

[Charles Matthews]

The meetup has a conventional wiki page

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/36

and also an Eventbrite page (has been shown to bring in people we don't
otherwise see):

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cambridge-wikimedia-meetup-tickets-39510025550?ref=estw

Let me hasten to say that you can attend without a ticket!

Since the room has a projector, I'll be running an introductory Wikipedia
editing session from 1 pm to 3 pm. Some followup was requested after a local
workshop in September. The meetup proper will start at 3 pm. Last time we had
several demos.

Hope to see some of you there.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] GLAM/MILHIST volunteer role

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 20 October 2017 at 10:29 Chris Keating 
> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hmmm - sadly I don't think writing Wikipedia articles is what they
> have in mind when they say they want "significant experience working
> at an influential level in the media, whether broadcast, print or
> online" :)
> 

Aww, don't say that! Maybe a WP background by itself wouldn't do, but it might
help.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Wikipedia training 28 September at the Fitzwilliam Museum

[Charles Matthews]

I'm leading a straightforward and gentle Wikipedia editing session in Cambridge
next week:

https://tinyurl.com/yc5jr6aw

The page rather implies a specialist audience, but that doesn't reflect what the
content be.

Tickets remain: come along if this would suit you, or recommend it to friends in
the area.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Wikimedia UK Office Move

[Charles Matthews]

> On 16 August 2017 at 15:41 Lucy Crompton-Reid
>  wrote:
> 
> Dear all
> 
> As many of you will be aware Wikimedia UK has been looking for new office
> space as our current building, Development House, has been sold by our
> landlords and is being redeveloped. After an extensive process led by Davina
> Johnson, our Director of Finance and Operations, and supported by Nicola
> Furness, our Fundraising, Membership and Operations Assistant, the team will
> be moving next Wednesday 23rd August.
> 
> Our new offices are in Southwark, just behind Tate Modern and about a 10 -
> 15 minute walk from both Waterloo and London Bridge stations, and a five
> minute walk from Southwark. Our new address is:
> 
> Wikimedia UK
> Europoint
> Office 1, Ground floor
> 5-11 Lavington Street 
> London SE1 0NZ
> 
> We will circulate new telephone numbers as soon as these are set up, but
> please note the last date the current address and phone numbers will work on
> is Tuesday 22nd August. Of course our email addresses will remain the same
> however it would be fair to expect a bit of disruption to emails and possible
> delays in replies, particularly over the next week as we pack the current
> office down and set up the new space. 
> 
> Once the dust has settled we will have a little 'open office' event with
> drinks and nibbles where volunteers, members and partners can come and visit
> us in our new offices. We will circulate a date for this as soon as possible
> but it's likely to be in the early autumn. 
> 
> If you have any questions about this please get in touch. 
> 
> 

Hope the move went well. https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Contact_us should be
updated, of course.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Meetup 3 September - workshop

[Charles Matthews]

The Cambridge meetup on 3 September 

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/35

will be preceded by a software workshop starting at 1 pm. More details will be
given on the page, in due course. This innovation will not affect the usual
largely social occasion starting at 3 pm.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Copyfraud by the British Museum

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 28 July 2017 at 13:24 Andy Mabbett  wrote:
> 
> 
> On 28 July 2017 at 13:11, Richard Nevell
>  wrote:
> > Attempting to embarrass the British Museum is misguided and certainly
> > would
> > not build bridges for future collaboration.
> 
> Perhaps, but as Fae indicates, it might also cause some movement.
> 
> What's your - WMUK's, I mean - alternative proposed action?
> 

As a Cumbrian by upbringing (not so far from Carlisle), I would suggest not
attributing anything to anything when there is something else you could
attribute it to.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 3 September

[Charles Matthews]

The next Cambridge meetup will be on Sunday 3 September:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/35

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cambridge-wikimedia-contentmine-meetup-tickets-36220149442

As for last time, which was as large a group as we've had, we'll be in
Makespace, Mill Lane, Cambridge, off the small car park – from 3 pm.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge Wikidata talks, this Thursday and next

[Charles Matthews]

> On 26 June 2017 at 12:03 John Lubbock  wrote:
> 
> Would you like me to make you a poster for this event and share it on our
> social media, Charles?
> 
> 

Yes, any publicity channels you can use would be helpful. 

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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge Wikidata talks, this Thursday and next

[Charles Matthews]

http://moore.libraries.cam.ac.uk/news/wiki-teaching-sessions-22-june-6-july-2017
for the announcement of my third talk in the series, on 6 July. Still time to
sign up for this Thursday's, which a Wikidata introduction. Next Thursday's will
explain in particular ContentMine's recent work on tools related to WikiFactMine
and WikiCite.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Firefox doesn't like cert for https://donate.wikimedia.org.uk

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 25 June 2017 at 09:18 David Gerard  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>
> https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=donate.wikimedia.org.uk
> is as broken as ever and clearly shows the incomplete cert chain
> issue.
> 
> I'm not going to mess around with yet another Bugzilla when what I'm
> reporting on is that I'm trying to give WMUK money and the site's not
> working properly. Y'know, WMUK can either care or not.
> 
> 

I believe they accept cheques.  Charles___
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Anyone in a position to photograph the towers that appear to have flammable cladding

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 23 June 2017 at 21:16 geni  wrote:
> 
> 
> Since they are likely to change appearance soon if they haven't
> already. 
> 

Photos of work in progress to remove cladding would be really good, clearly.
National documentation.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Introduction to Wikidata Thursday, 29 June, 2017, Cambridge Moore Library

[Charles Matthews]

There are still places left for my talk on Thursday in Cambridge:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-reliability-of-wikipediaand-what-you-can-do-to-help-tickets-35340835390

The following week, same time same place:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/introduction-to-wikidata-tickets-35340980825

This will follow the same pattern: sandwich lunch, opening talk, two hour
workshop session. A free event.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Wikipedia training 22 June in Cambridge

[Charles Matthews]

I'll be leading a Wikipedia training session in Cambridge 1 pm to 4.30 on
Thursday 22 June.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-reliability-of-wikipediaand-what-you-can-do-to-help-tickets-35340835390

Tickets are limited – some remain today. Please note that the handson session
requires you to bring your own machine, and to create an account before you
come.

There will be lunch, and refreshments. There is guest wifi. The event is free.

It is in the Glass Room, downstairs at the Moore Library in west Cambridge: see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_for_Mathematical_Sciences_(Cambridge)

for an image of this interesting modern building.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 3 June

[Charles Matthews]

> On 04 May 2017 at 11:24 Charles Matthews <charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com>
> wrote:
> 
> 
> I have been, for a couple of weeks now, Wikimedian in Residence at
> ContentMine Ltd., based in Cambridge. The next Cambridge meetup will be a
> joint event with ContentMine:
> 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/34
> 

Please note that the start time for this meetup is now 4pm.

Charles


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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Old Bailey Online links

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 06 May 2017 at 11:17 John Levin  wrote:
> 
> 


> 
> And just found that there is a template for OB trials:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Old_Bailey
> But not found it used anywhere.
> 

Yes, that's a decent template including the Old Bailey identifier, created in
2012 by Andrew Gray. Just used in 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Williams_(baby_farmer)

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Marks

as far as biographies go, according to "What links here" on the template page.
Using the template does allow tracking usage of the Old Bailey page, that way
and by tools.

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[Wikimediauk-l] The Good Fight episode 6

[Charles Matthews]

Anyone else watch "The Good Fight",[1] the sequel to "The Good Wife" which I
didn't get drawn into? The first series is showing on More 4, and episode 6,
“Social Media and Its Discontents” which I saw earlier this week, was certainly
one to get me shouting at the television.

An absurd plot, but it had a Chicago law firm acting as "ArbCom" in a ban appeal
by an attention-seeking troll. Starting with the proposition that websites do
have terms of service, I think I could teach a class on the whole business of
online toxicity and "fake news" by critiquing the handling by the scriptwriters.

Seriously, I do suggest that "literacy" in these issues should not be left to
TV.

Charles

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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 3 June

[Charles Matthews]

I have been, for a couple of weeks now, Wikimedian in Residence at ContentMine
Ltd., based in Cambridge. The next Cambridge meetup will be a joint event with
ContentMine:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/34

The venue is an unusual community workshop, and some people may enjoy the chance
to look around it.

As for ContentMine, it is a non-profit startup, and I'm working on its
WikiFactMine project, funded by a WMF grant. I have a desk in the Moore Library
in west Cambridge, and am doing a blog for them:

http://moore.libraries.cam.ac.uk/meet-your-wikimedian-residence

In simple terms the project is to get text-mined scientific facts into Wikidata.
I'd be glad to hear from anyone with an interest, and hope to see some of you at
the meetup.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] CC licenses for PhD theses

[Charles Matthews]

> On 02 May 2017 at 14:13 Lucy Crompton-Reid
>  wrote:
> 
> 
> It's definitely a problem if it takes such a long time for an OTRS to be
> resolved. I'm not criticising anyone actually involved in this as a volunteer
> but as you say, it suggests a lack of capacity that some dedicated training
> for interested volunteers within the UK community might help. 
> 

Yes. I've thought for years that OTRS is an example where Wikimedia as a whole
should be more concerned with training.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Monnow Bridge (symbol of Monmouthpedia) is at FAC

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 22 April 2017 at 14:17 Fæ  wrote:
> 
> 
> Thanks Charles.
> 
> Though I am aware of all the projects you list, I don't see any as
> being especially related to the UK, and it was those UK events we used
> to drive for ourselves that I was thinking of.
> 

Yup, sometimes innovations are of a new sort.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Monnow Bridge (symbol of Monmouthpedia) is at FAC

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 22 April 2017 at 13:54 Fæ  wrote:
> 
> > It would be nice to see the same level of innovation and excitement
> > again
> within our social group of active Wikimedians.
> 

That a bit "où sont les neiges d'antan?" Roger Bamkin and the Women in Red
project are going great guns. John Cummings is quietly busy at UNESCO getting
things released into the wild. Wikidata has prompted innovations such as
Histropedia, to give just one UK example, and on the educational front Magnus
Manske last week made a breakthrough with his WikiBase site Comprende! (see
http://magnusmanske.de/wordpress/?p=446), which has got the WMF interested.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Wikimedia Commons question

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 23 March 2017 at 15:08 Steve Bowbrick  wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> Very occasional post from a long-time subscriber here!
> 
> I run social media for the BBC's speech and classical radio stations and
> for some of the BBC's classical brands (orchestras, Proms etc.).
> 
> We have a constant need for images. We use the usual mixed bag of sources:
> commercial picture libraries, the BBC archive, commissioned photos, some
> public domain and cc sources.
> 
> We have a pretty cast-iron rule forbidding the use of Wikimedia Commons
> images. Historically, we've felt that there was sufficient uncertainty about
> the ownership of some Commons images that it would be safest for us to steer
> clear all together (sometimes, for instance, we find images in commercial
> libraries like Hulton Getty that are also in the Commons and this creates the
> kind of doubt about ownership that stops us from using them).
> 
> So, in the interests of updating my knowledge (and possibly our policy),
> is there any up-to-date advice for organisations like the BBC about the safe
> usage of content from the Wikimedia Commons? Should we rely on Commons images
> more often? Is there any guidance for how to judge the ownership of a Commons
> image reliably? And 
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> 

That's a number of questions!

In some order:

Q1: What's Wikipedia's policy about the use of these images in entries?

A: As far as Wikipedia is concerned, relevant Commons images can appear in
articles. Clearly, if the image is found not to belong on Commons, it should be
removed from Wikipedia, but that is an automatic take-down. (Details skipped.)

Q2: Is there any up-to-date advice for organisations like the BBC about the safe
usage of content from the Wikimedia Commons?

A: It depends what level of prudential advice you are seeking. Free advice from
the Web never trumps what you can get from an intellectual property
professional. 

Q3: Should the BBC rely on Commons images more often?

If the BBC doesn't use them at all now, the answer, almost certainly, is "yes".
But some attribution is going to be needed.

Q4: Is there any guidance for how to judge the ownership of a Commons image
reliably?

A: Take the metadata provided on the file description page with a pinch of salt.
The source of the image should be provided, and in some cases that will tell you
what you need. If there is no source, or if the information is scanty (happens
often enough with uploads from a while back), there is cause for concern. In
general Wikimedia Commons is more scrupulous than the mainstream media in
researching photographers' details, for example. 

Q5: What about overlaps with commercial image libraries?

A: Don't assume an image in both Commons and a stock image library is actually
in copyright, whatever you're told. It is certainly sometimes the case that
copyright is claimed in older images without too much basis. 

Well, it is hard to give really accurate advice, because international copyright
is genuinely tricky. But there are probably classes of images that would be OK
for the BBC to use.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Wikimedia UK policy updates - consultation

[Charles Matthews]

> On 02 March 2017 at 00:11 Michael Peel  wrote:
> 
> Hi Lucy,
> 
> I've added a few comments to the google docs - sorry for not quite meeting
> your deadline.
> 
> I see that the new volunteers policy removes a key phrase that was often
> used in WMUK's past: "staff should only do things that volunteers either
> cannot do or do not want to do".
> 



> When we hired the new staff members we tried to focus them on being
> enablers that would scale up volunteer activity rather than replace it (e.g.,
> coordination roles). Sadly, I think that worry was realised anyway, and staff
> did displace volunteer work in, e.g., talking to potential partners, at a time
> when there were still volunteers willing to do that work but they just weren't
> being invited to do so.
> 

The "either-or" thinking behind this argument was and is wrong-headed, anyway. 

What I would call the "freelance" approach to institutional contacts gives no
guarantee of continuity. We know that if it is one volunteer dealing with one
person in an institution, the relationship can easily go up in smoke. If it is
one contact in the office, ditto. These things are easy to illustrate from
recent history. To use the word "displace" when there should be a properly
understood division of labour is a reminder of past bad management, really. 

> I think that's part of what then led WMUK to become so London-centric, as
> that's where its staff was, even though its volunteers were distributed much
> more widely.
> 

Well, how about thinking instead in new terms, rather than this old blame game?

At the recent education conference we heard from Melissa Highton of the
University of Edinburgh, in her keynote. about "getting the Wikimedian in
Residence out of the library". GLAMs are more strongly concentrated around
London than the university system; and learned societies even more so. I think
it was fantastically unhelpful to slur over the difference between education
policy and the WiR policy, as was done around 2014. 

Anyway, the so-called "key phrase" never did much good, in my recollection, so
I'm glad to see the back of it.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Newnham College edit-a-thon 8 March

[Charles Matthews]

I'm happy to announce that Newnham College will be marking International Women's
Day, 8 March, this year with a Wikipedia editing event:

http://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/event/wikipedia-edit-thon-mark-international-womens-day-2017-2/

Everyone is welcome to come, and write on Wikipedia, in a woman's biography.
Please do read what the link has to say about that.

The event will run 12 noon to 8 pm in the Jane Harrison Room, Newnham College.
There are training places, and if that would be your main interest, please note
that training sessions start on the hour, and you need to book a slot for that. 

The most popular times are expected to be the initial two hours. If you are able
to help with one-to-one support of editors, please just come along. A number of
trainers will be there, but if also you'd like to be involved in that capacity,
please let me know offlist.

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[Wikimediauk-l] A web literacy text

[Charles Matthews]

In the current context,

https://webliteracy.pressbooks.com/chapter/wikipedia/

from

https://webliteracy.pressbooks.com/

would seem to be of interest. That's a whole chapter, by the way. 

It's a couple of years since I was writing in this area. And, if anything, "web
literacy" has moved further up the agenda. I think it counts as teachable, but
it is apparently hard to get a consensus syllabus.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] UK press corps - do we have editors on hand?

[Charles Matthews]

> On 13 February 2017 at 17:45 David Gerard  wrote:
> 
> yeah ... despite the Salford move there isn't a lot of this sort of BBC
> content actually produced there, is there?
> 
> 

BBC Breakfast. For those early-breaking North Korea stories that need nuanced
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] UK press corps - do we have editors on hand?

[Charles Matthews]

> On 11 February 2017 at 00:45 David Gerard  wrote:
> 
> I suspect we need to build up the UK press corps again. The call comes
> maybe every 1-2 years, but when it happens we need people. So if you see an
> email come by, you can *SPRING* into action and represent editors on the BBC
> ...
> 
> Last night's Newsnight didnt happen, because the Daily Mail bottled it.
> Possibly because Alastair Campbell offered to speak up on our behalf, ahem.
> I'm regretting I couldn't make it now ...
> 
> So! Who thinks they could do well off the cuff about the view of Wikipedia
> editors? I think Lucy would like all your names :-)
> 
> 

I did some live telly in 2009: see transcript
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Charles_Matthews/Interview

Newsnight being rather late in the day if you want to get a train back to
Cambridge, this was early evening.

As I recall, getting prepped was serious business, but paid off. If there is
something you want to put across, or even more if you aim to "turn the tables"
by deflecting the argument, you are not going to be successful just
spontaneously. What I said about "come back in a year’s time" was something I
intended to get in.

But then, I wasn't dealing with an interlocutor advocating solely for the other
side. The Beeb's folk are not so hard to deal with.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] What Volunteer Equipment should we buy?

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 09 February 2017 at 11:49 Gordon Joly <gordon.j...@pobox.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>     On 09/02/17 11:16, Charles Matthews wrote:
> >>
> > I imagine, rather less than the administrative cost of running a
> > membership organisation of a couple of hundred members. Remember the
> > discussion about this, in early 2010? Didn't think so.
> >
> > Charles
> >
> 
> 
> I am not sure I remember. Should I look it up?
> 
> I am happy to reflect on my own reasons for re-joining WMUK and what has
> happened in the past few years. For my own personal consumption, if
> that's OK with y'all.
> 
> 

If you want to hash over all this - I mean seven years of comms and membership
decisions by WMUK - you need another thread.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] What Volunteer Equipment should we buy?

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 09 February 2017 at 10:51 Gordon Joly  wrote:
> 
> 
> On 08/02/17 17:01, Lucy Crompton-Reid wrote:
> > The newsletter goes to paying members but also a much wider group of
> > subscribers.
> 
> 
> So what are we paying for?
> 
> :-)
> 
> 

I imagine, rather less than the administrative cost of running a membership
organisation of a couple of hundred members. Remember the discussion about this,
in early 2010? Didn't think so.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Digitisaton of East India Company/ India Office records

[Charles Matthews]

> On 08 February 2017 at 13:57 John Lubbock 
> wrote:
> 
> If you have ideas Charles, I'm very happy to hear them. I just don't know
> what our connections with the Indian diaspora in the UK are right now and
> whether they'd be interested in doing something on these records, rather than
> preferring something on their own culture. You're welcome to propose ideas and
> to suggest people we might work with. I'm all ears. :)
> 
> 

Other end of the telescope for me, really. We do have

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_East_India_Company_directors

and that says it was compiled from the EIC records. Looking down that list of
names, one leapt out at me: it was the subject of a thread

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Carbon_Caryatid#Richard_Smith

which led to something good. Namely, a correct identification of the model
(alleged) of the legal case in Bleak House. A good example of "follow the
money", which is not in the nabobs and planters mainstream.

Well, I like complicated narratives and tangled family history. Feels like
genuinely getting to grips with British history.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Digitisaton of East India Company/ India Office records

[Charles Matthews]

> On 08 February 2017 at 12:46 John Lubbock 
> wrote:
> 
> There's quite a lot of interest in this subject also because of the BBC
> series Taboo, which paints the East India Company in a pretty bad light that
> is quite believable given what is known about them
> 

I think Taboo is great, at a graphic novel sort of level. People should know,
though, that the East India Company was run by a board of 25 directors, rather
than Jonathan Pryce doing a lot of swearing. 

Among interesting employees were John Stuart Mill, and Thomas Love Peacock.

> If anybody wants a somewhat long but illuminating read on them, I'd very
> much suggest the historian William Dalrymple's piece in the Graun
> https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate-raiders
> from a couple of years ago. 
> 

I don't know that Dalrymple is taken seriously as a historian. I recently
enjoyed In the Footsteps of Stamford Raffles, by Nigel Barley, which complements
Taboo in its own way. 

> 
> Personally, I do think that if possible we should look at the possibility
> of bringing this collection onto Wikimedia projects, but I don't think it
> would be an appropriate project for trying to work with the Indian Wikimedia
> chapter or with the Indian diaspora here. I do think we should look at how we
> could do that in future with subject matter which is less contentious though.
> 
> 

For heavens sake, WP has the mechanisms for dealing with contentious subjects.
Communications being what they were, until the invention of the telegraph, there
was a big disjunction between what the Company could get done from London; and
what actually went on in South and East Asia. And what UCL are working on for
the West Indies, someone should attempt for the East Indies.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Digitisaton of East India Company/ India Office records

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 08 February 2017 at 08:57 Gordon Joly  wrote:
> 
> 
> On 06/02/17 13:36, Lucy Crompton-Reid wrote:
> >
> > Some of you may be aware that 2017 is the UK - India Year of Culture. I
> > guess this resource may relate to that, or it could be a coincidence.
> > Either way, it would be great to see what the potential is in terms of
> > the Wikimedia projects :)
> >
> 
> 
> I am not so sure. Wasn't the East India Company in reality a body that
> acted as if they were country of occupation in India?
> 

Come now. The HEIC archives are of major historical significance, and that is
nothing to do with thinking about whether they should have. 

What I know about this, from a family member who writes on Indian history, is
that there is altogether too much documentation. That is, with the classic
historian's POV that you should master the documentary record, that proves too
much for a typical scholarly lifetime. Obviously better access, transcription,
indexation can make some impact there. 

People do write on Wikipedia about East India Company leaders in the three
presidencies. Often these articles are stubby and thinly referenced. Primary
sources are problematic for referencing, as we know. Still, Wikipedia should be
useful for annotation of this archive (i.e. encyclopedic material complements
primary documents).

Plenty of stubs to choose from.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Wikidata property proposals for the 'Visions of Britain' database

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 04 February 2017 at 13:51 Andy Mabbett 
> wrote:
> 
> 
> I have also now proposed a property for the British History Online's
> Victoria County History pages :
> 
> 
>
> https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Property_proposal/British_History_Online_VCH_ID
> 
> 



It's a worthy cause. The VCH is still being published piecemeal, and as the name
suggests began in 19th-century antiquarian mode. It is partially digitised by
BHO. Its coverage of local history is generally pretty useful, fact-orientated
stuff.

So, rationalising the referencing on Wikipedia, and perhaps building a
mix'n'match catalog to help develop up its use in Wikidata's external links,
look like constructive things to do.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 18 February

[Charles Matthews]

The next Cambridge meetup will be on Saturday 18 February, once more at the Ibis
Hotel on the station forecourt, by popular demand:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/33

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Wikimedia developers discussion

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 17 January 2017 at 20:11 Gordon Joly  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Funny how my question about open source alternatives was not answered in
> Slack, but has prompted several responses in this email list
> 
> 

Ha-ha or peculiar? The old chestnut that WMUK should be using open-source, well,
because ... I'd hoped we'd laid to rest.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Intro / British statutes

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 11 January 2017 at 14:41 John Levin  wrote:
> 
> 
> On 11/01/2017 13:27, David Gerard wrote:
> > Obvious first thought: how to coordinate this with what
> > http://www.bailii.org/ does?
> >
> >
> 
> Contacting BAILII is on my list of things to do. Will do it soon.
> 
> 

Putting together what Andy and David are suggesting:
http://www.bailii.org/indices/uk-legis-index.html looks pretty interesting from
a data point of view. At first sight modern legislation at a fine granularity is
drowning everything else out: but here is

http://www.bailii.org/uk/legis/num_act/1689/bill_of_rights.html

So that provides an identifier (suffix) for the Bill of Rights. 

The existence of these legislation identifiers does mean that Wikidata could be
used to generate lists in an automated fashion, as Andy was saying. Plugging
into that infrastructure would probably pay dividends, for a project on the
scale you were indicating.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Intro / British statutes

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 03 January 2017 at 14:44 John Levin  wrote:
> 
> 



> 
>  My user page is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Technolalia
> 

Hello John - we actually exchanged mails a few years ago

> 
> 
> My Phd has involved a lot of digging around for historic statutes, and
> this has led to a side project, and one that I hope will work with
> Wikipedia. In short, I have OCRd around 80 volumes of various editions
> of the Statutes At Large and the Public General Statutes. They cover the
> period from Magna Carta, up to 1875 (after which digitized volumes are
> scarce). I believe they contain a more or less complete set of public
> acts from about 1765 to 1875. Although it is obviously alphanumeric soup
> at the moment, I am working on automatic correction of the more obvious
> errors, and on producing decent metadata.
> 

Wikisource can host primary rsource material, subject to some caveats.

> 
> 
> My aims are to make finding legislation easier, to make it easier to
> examine, both by eye and by machine, and to produce reliable metadata
> from and for it. My immediate priority is to extract the tables of
> contents from the collections, and build a reliable list of acts with
> regnal codes and full titles (correctly spelled).
> 
> My site for this project:
> http://statutes.org.uk
> and my github repo:
> https://github.com/Anterotesis/statutes
> 
> Wikipedia has many useful lists of statutes, some entries on particular
> acts, & in wikicommons a few of the texts. I very much want my work to
> contribute to wikipedia and improve this aspect of it.
> 

Well, laudable doesn't begin to cover it.

> 
> I've been talking with Andrew Gray, mainly with regard to Wikidata, but
> such is the size
> of the task I think more hands will be needed. & of course I don't want
> to start making great changes without consultation.
> 

Wikidata is a good place to develop metadata. It can do that in conjunction with
Wikisource, but I wouldn't want to imply that is the only way.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Mass image uploads expert

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 15 October 2016 at 14:08 Fæ  wrote:
> 



>If there's an area of copyright that interests you, it can really help
Commons to follow the copyright noticeboard [3] and participate in
some deletion request discussions. Asking questions and testing your
own understanding of the policies and UK copyright legislation would
quickly make you a valued participant. Getting the balance right of
what constitutes "significant doubt" and cases where the research done
is sufficient to keep an image on Commons within the law, even if much
remains unknown, is a constant challenge and one where there is a real
shortage of UK specific understanding and viewpoints.


I should certainly argue that WMUK would benefit from the development of its own
IP materials.

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[Wikimediauk-l] Cambridge meetup 5 November

[Charles Matthews]

The next Cambridge meetup will be in a new venue, the Ibis Hotel just by the
station:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/32

Not just new for us, after eight years of meeting in CB2: so new that the Google
street view is just hoardings and cranes. Be assured that the building is
finished!

We want to see everyone there, but especially we want to mark four years of
Wikidata, shortly after the actual day. Some early fireworks: see WikiFactMine
on

https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/10/07/new-project-grants/

and 

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/WikiFactMine

for the content mining grant application, now funded by the WMF. 

The meetup page should be updated with further developments.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] WMUK office move - alternative locations?

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 14 August 2016 at 11:03 Gordon Joly  wrote:
> 
> 
> On 13/08/16 20:30, Michael Peel wrote:
> >
> > I'd like to ask: are options outside of London being considered?
> >
> > Also, would WMUK be able to provide an update on the office move to this
> > list,
> > and perhaps ask for input on this move from list subscribers, please?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Mike
> 
> I would assume that a small organisation would find it hard to move out
> of London
> 

True, the staff might be lost. Cf. 2011.

> 
> The BBC moved stuff to Salford: was that a success? 
> 

I believe it was, from the BBC's point of view.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Chilcot Report uses OGL

[Charles Matthews]

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Index:The_Report_of_the_Iraq_Inquiry_-_Executive_Summary.pdf
is work in progress.

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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Chilcot Report uses OGL

[Charles Matthews]

> 
> On 12 July 2016 at 15:03 Andy Mabbett  wrote:
> 
> Neither am I; I asked whether [...]
> 

WP:DTS.  Charles___
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