This was just published on the Dictionary of Sydney blog: http://trust.dictionaryofsydney.org/dictionary-of-sydney-wins-continued-support-from-city-of-sydney/ In a unanimous decision of council, the Dictionary funding for the next year was released last night! :-) I made sure the Dictionary staff were aware of our supporting letter and, in a nice gesture, they made mention of this in their post.
Thank you everyone for supporting this proposal! If you're ever looking for some freely-licensed content to integrate to Wikipedia (not to mention lots of Reliable Source references - with an inbuilt "cite this page on Wikipedia" tool), go to their list of entries and click "sort by license type" http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/browse/entries Sincerely, -Liam On Monday, July 30, 2012, Gnangarra wrote: > Congratulations to Dictionary of Sydney 20 minutes ago they posted on > facebook <https://www.facebook.com/dictionaryofsydney> that they have > secured continued funding from the City of Sydney Council > > On 29 July 2012 11:26, John Vandenberg > <presid...@wikimedia.org.au<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', > 'presid...@wikimedia.org.au');> > > wrote: > >> Dear City of Sydney CEO Monica Barone, >> >> On behalf of Wikimedia Australia, I write to express our concern about >> the imminent closure of the Dictionary of Sydney due to the City of >> Sydney's delays in releasing sponsorship funds. >> >> Wikimedia Australia is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, >> officially recognised as a national Chapter of the Wikimedia movement >> - the volunteer community behind Wikipedia and other online >> educational resources. We would like to express our support for the >> Dictionary of Sydney project not only for the quality content that it >> has produced but also for the globally pioneering role it has played >> in its use of free-licensing. The Dictionary of Sydney provides the >> vast majority of its content with a "Creative Commons" copyright >> license that ensures the material can be used by third parties under >> very open terms. This is considered world's best practice and is >> consistent with the principles espoused by the "Open Educational >> Resources" and "Open Source Software" communities globally. It should >> be noted that the official State history project of Minnesota in the >> USA, entitled "MNOpedia" http://www.mnopedia.org/ has used the >> Dictionary of Sydney as the inspiration for their comparable copyright >> policy. >> >> The strong stance of the Dictionary of Sydney on open access and >> collaboration with historians both locally and further afield has >> ensured that the content it has created is both legally and >> practically compatible with Wikipedia, the world's fifth most visited >> website. As a result, many of the Dictionary's articles about >> important people, places and events have been integrated into >> Wikipedia, including but not limited to: >> >> "Florence Violet McKenzie" >> (Australia's first female electrical engineer: >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Violet_McKenzie ) >> >> "Glebe Island" >> (a crucial part of Sydney's economy for centuries: >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glebe_Island_%28New_South_Wales%29 ) >> >> "Sydney Artists' Camps" >> (one of the most significant art movements in Australia's history: >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_artists%27_camps ) >> >> We draw your attention to the comprehensive acknowledgement of the >> Dictionary of Sydney at the bottom of each Wikipedia article that uses >> Dictionary material as the source of its content. Without the >> Dictionary of Sydney, and without its pioneering efforts in open >> access, this content simply would not have been available to the >> online encyclopaedia and its wider audience. It would be a great shame >> to see this outstanding collaborative digital history project fold. >> >> Wikimedia Australia urges the City of Sydney to ensure the continued >> funding and support for this project, without which the global >> appreciation of Sydney's history would be very much poorer. >> >> If you would like to contact Wikimedia Australia or one of our Sydney >> based members for further information on this or related matters we >> would welcome your enquiry. >> >> Sincerely, >> John Vandenberg >> President, >> Wikimedia Australia >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimediaau-l mailing list >> Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', >> 'Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org');> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l >> >> > > > -- > GN. > Photo Gallery: http://gnangarra.redbubble.com > Gn. Blogg: http://gnangarra.wordpress.com > -- wittylama.com/blog Peace, love & metadata
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