On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 8:30 AM, Brian McNeil <[email protected]> wrote: > Chris, > > I assume Fae has mentioned to you that the National Archives of Scotland > might be interested in doing something around soldiers' wills? > > As-opposed to a more formal "last will and testament", these documents > are a final letter to loved once to be delivered if they were killed. > Along with each, their CO would have returned personal effects which > might include items like ticket stubs for a theatre show seen the night > before they went to the front. > > How, and where in the family, this could work with Wikimedia projects is > what I'm not entirely sure on.
Commons, and Wikisource, would be the place to start. IMO, any text held by a national archive should be within the scope of Wikisource. Most texts will fit within the current English Wikisource policy, but it could be expanded a bit by relying on the selection process of external organisations. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/WS:WWI#Documentary_sources > On Mon, 2011-10-17 at 15:35 +0100, Chris Keating wrote: >> I see from the 2012 activity plan that there's a budget for a >> World >> Wars project [1]. Is there a leader for this? An online >> presence? >> >> >> Hello! :-) >> >> >> The short answer is Yes, sort of, me. And no, not yet. And I would >> love to speak to you about it (and to anyone else interested in what >> we can do with the World War I centenary). >> >> >> The longer answer is; >> >> >> There is a really big opportunity both for Wikimedia UK and indeed >> the whole movement connected to the World War I centenary. For a >> period of about 4 years there's going to be increased public interest >> in this area. Around some key dates the number of people researching >> World War I topics on Wikipedia (everyone from primary-school children >> to journalists) will be massive. What's more, pretty much every museum >> and archive in the country which has any relevant collections is going >> to be doing *something* related to World War I in 2014. >> >> >> Further - it's not just us - this is a massive global event; 2014 is a >> major centenary for almost every European nation and lots of >> non-European ones. >> >> >> This is something I've long had in mind - a couple of years ago I >> started the Great War Centennial project on-wiki, which was then >> incorporated into the Military History Wikiproject. However, it didn't >> get very far (particularly not compared to the Battleships >> wikiproject). >> >> >> Since I've been on the Board, I have been very gradually making >> contacts both within Wikimedia (including the military history >> wikiproject) and with potential partner institutions about what >> Wikimedia UK could do in this regard. I know Milhist is up for doing >> more outreach, indeed one of the Milhist coordinators is is UK-based >> and has been contacting the Ministry of Defence about releasing more >> of their material under the Open Government License, which is great. >> >> >> The budget we've put in for 2012 could yet be spent in a number of >> different ways. And I hope this won't just be a 2012 activity - I >> would like to see us make this an ongoing area of activity, certainly >> to 2014, quite possibly beyond. >> >> >> I am keen to move this further, though I don't have much time spare >> until the New Year as I'm mainly occupied on the Fundraiser. So at the >> moment I'm mainly collating interested parties, with a view to getting >> a core group of Wikimedians together who want to shape what we do with >> this, and a core group of partner institutions, and putting the two >> groups together in a room in January or February and seeing what they >> come up with in terms of inspiration for the period 2012-2014. Some >> (but not all) of the decisions about how the WW1/WW2 allocation in >> 2012 budget is spent will already have been taken by then, but not all >> of them, and as I say I think the 2012 budget figure is a beginning >> not an end. >> >> >> If anyone's interested in this, please wave :-) >> >> >> I can be >> persuaded to invest in and read some books, although if the >> books were >> to come out of the budget and then be placed in Wikimedia UKs >> hands >> afterwards that would be preferable. >> >> >> >> We can already handle support investment in books, via the Microgrant >> scheme: http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Microgrants >> >> >> Thanks, >> >> >> Chris >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia UK mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l >> WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org > > > Brian McNeil. > -- > http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Brian_McNeil - Accredited Reporter. > Facts don't cease to be facts, but news ceases to be news. > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org -- John Vandenberg _______________________________________________ Wikisource-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikisource-l
