If anyone is curious on how such a platform could look like, the Swedish National Heritage Board is running one. Even if it is in Swedish I guess you can get a feel for it here: http://www.platsr.se/
*Med vänliga hälsningar,Jan Ainali* Verksamhetschef, Wikimedia Sverige <http://wikimedia.se> 0729 - 67 29 48 *Tänk dig en värld där varje människa har fri tillgång till mänsklighetens samlade kunskap. Det är det vi gör.* Bli medlem. <http://blimedlem.wikimedia.se> 2014-12-11 1:11 GMT+01:00 Joe Aeberhard <[email protected]>: > Thanks for your feedback Wil and glad that you like the idea. > This is the link to a page giving some more detail on this proposal - > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/PlaceBook_Wiki > Initially I was thinking that a new platform would be the way to go with > this, as I had thought that the type of content being posted could be > likely to contain more multimedia resources than the standard wiki postings > and so was thinking about the volume of data that might need to be stored > and how this could be linked in as flexible a way as possible - perhaps > using a Graph database. I was also thinking that a new platform could allow > us to tailor an API specifically for this using the GPS co-ordinates as the > primary means of indexing information and that this could open up the data > to being used in unexpected ways by other developers. > > However, that was before I had found out about the WikiData project, which > as you suggested, could at first glance looks like it could be a good fit > for adaptation for use with this proposal. I've not had a chance to study > its data schemas in any depth to research its suitability in detail though, > but am hoping to find time to do so soon, so any pointers about the best > place to start would be gratefully received. > > The co-ordinates link you mentioned seems to give you geographical > information about the location via a Geohack page, which is not without > interest. However, it does not seem to be providing a gateway onto a richer > set of resources about that specific location - so we don't seem to be able > to access more narrative content with images and footage of significant > events that may have occurred there or stories of those who have lived in > this place. > I like your thoughts about dataset mappings to jumpstart this and was > thinking that the way to do this would be to team up with local historical > societies to begin with to get them to take ownership of their local areas > and begin to upload images and data with their commentaries and narratives. > With an organisation like the Wiki Foundations backing this, it would lend > a lot of credibility to the project and I'm sure this would be met with > enthusiasm by professionals and amateurs alike, particularly if it was seen > as a way of promoting local heritage. > > For instance, English Heritage already has a system of assigning blue > plaques to houses of special interest in the UK and so I imagine it would > be relatively easy to persuade them to link these into this kind platform, > along with images of the people in question and more detail of what they > did at the specific residence that was of such importance. Ideally I would > hope that ordinary people accessing this information would start to realise > that they could upload personal narrative and recollections to the same > system, so in effect affording them an opportunity to create their own > "blue plaque" and in so doing create a folk history of the locations in > which they live. > > I think there is a real human need to try to leave a mark and record > something of themselves within the landscape - you just need to look back > at cave paintings to see that this is an ancient urge within us. This is > one of the reasons I'm confident that a system similar to the one I've > proposed is fairly inevitable, as it's ultimately motivated by human need > but facilitated by current technology, rather than vice versa. My initial > thoughts were that this natural desire could allow us to charge a small fee > based on the number of megabytes posted, which could be used to guarantee > the data storage for a certain number of years (or decades), as well as > funding the project more widely and helping to finance the cataloguing of > other items that could be of more general historical importance. > Further thoughts anyone may have on this gratefully received. > > > On Wednesday, 10 December 2014, 22:45, Wil Sinclair <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > I'd like to know more about the proposal; is there a page on Meta that > describes it in more detail? > > Specifically, I'd like to know: > > * You mention "platform". Are you proposing a new top-level wiki > project that would require critical mass to succeed? > * Wouldn't this be a good fit for additions to the existing data > schemas in Wikidata? Even if you have specific geo-oriented > functionality in mind, it seems the current way to do this would be to > build out tool on WMF Labs. > * Is there a free dataset mapping events/people/places to coordinates > that could be used to jumpstart the initiative? > * I seem to remember seeing coords as structured data on some > Wikipedia articles. Are there existing efforts to join/build on? > > I ask these questions in this forum, because I think that physically > mapping data on Wikipedia and other projects is a great idea and could > have a large and broad impact across all WMF-hosted projects. I look > forward to the day that I can query our entire set of articles by > what's happened, when it happened, who made it happen, and *where* it > all went down. > > Best. > ,Wil > > On Tue, Dec 9, 2014 at 3:39 AM, Joe Aeberhard <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello, > > I just wanted to promote a project proposal that I'd really welcome any > feedback on - PlaceBook Wiki - Meta > > > > | | > > | | | | | | > > | PlaceBook Wiki - MetaCreation of a platform that would allow people to > create wiki-type entries to record both historical, public narrative and > personal memory and, by fixing these with GPS co-ordinates, content could > be shared through the physical landscape in which it occurred. | > > | | > > | View on meta.wikimedia.org | Preview by Yahoo | > > | | > > | | > > > > > > The essential idea behind my proposal is that we could open up novel and > productive ways of accessing knowledge about our physical environment by > allowing the wiki posts to be indexed by GPS co-ordinates, so that we build > up a catalogue of information about specific places. This information could > be about matters of general historical importance, but also it could be > much more broad than that and provide a way for individuals to record their > own personally significant events that occurred at a specific location, > which would provide more of a folk history of a place too. > > > > Through seeing what has occurred and who has lived in that location we > potentially create a new way for people to engage with their environment > and hopefully provide new narratives for their sense of personal and > community identity. > > > > Anyhow, it seems very likely to me that systems similar to the one I've > proposed will be created in the near future, so I am hoping that an > organisation like the Wiki Foundation could be involved in the beginning, > so that there is a chance that a community based, not-for-profit ethos > could get a strong foothold and prevent what could be a very valuable > resource being controlled solely by commercial imperatives. > > > > Any feedback on this would be great, as I would like to hear your views, > both critical and supportive. > > Joe > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > [email protected] > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
