#WikiLibCon22: An Worldwide Expertise – Digital scholarship weblog

It was with slightly little bit of apprehension that I made my option to Eire, in late July. After two years of restricted journey, and worldwide restrictions, it felt unusual to be standing in line at an airport, passport in hand, on my option to an in-person convention. Blended in with the nervousness, nevertheless, was pleasure. I used to be on my option to the primary ever Wikimedia + Libraries Convention, hosted at Maynooth College. I’m completely satisfied to report that it was a unbelievable occasion and value each minute of journey nerves.

A whole lot of arduous work and inspiration had gone into making this occasion occur: with simply three months to arrange, the organising committee outdid themselves at each flip. Laurie Bridges (Oregon State), Dr Rebecca O’Neill (Wikimedia Neighborhood Eire), Dr Núria Ferran Ferrer (College of Barcelona) and Wikimedian of the 12 months 2022, Dr Nkem Osuigwe, organized a weekend filled with fascinating talks, fantastic networking alternatives, and even some conventional Irish dancing. (Fortunately, the contributors have been observing this half!)

For me, the spotlight of the weekend was assembly such a broad neighborhood of Wikimedians and library specialists. Having began my submit remotely, the chance to work together with individuals from all around the world, in individual, felt too good to be true, however as this picture demonstrates, it actually did occur.

Contributors in entrance of St Patrick’s School, Maynooth by B20180, CC BY-SA 4.0, by way of Wikimedia Commons

I did numerous tweeting over the weekend, making an attempt to seize these wonderful displays. You may catch numerous impressions and enjoyable reminiscences of the weekend over on Twitter utilizing the #WikiLibCon22 hashtag.

Afternoon session on the superb ebook ‘Wikipedia and Tutorial Libraries: A World Undertaking’, feat. @LaurieMBridges, @restlesscurator, @BiblioQC, @infoduck, @martab_lib & Adaora Obuezie was unbelievable. ? follows… #WikiLibCon22

— Dr Lucy Hinnie (@BL_Wikimedian) July 24, 2022

There have been many highlights over the course of the 2 days. The keynote presentation by Dr Nkem Osuigwe was excellent. She spoke about ‘Wikimedia By The Prism Of Vital Librarianship’. I couldn’t presumably do justice to the depth of thought on this wonderful piece, however sure observations and quotes stood out. Nkem described vital librarianship as ‘search[ing] to seek out out who’s misrepresented, underrepresented or not even seen in any respect, [a system which] seeks to uphold the human rights of person communities; to seek out out inequities throughout the system’. It is a very highly effective assertion which actually ties in with the Wikimedia purpose of information fairness and world data. As Nkem identified, we now have over 6000 dwelling languages, and between 1000 and 2000 in Africa alone. Wikipedia is now extant in over 300 languages, however it is a small proportion of the world at giant.

Many issues in Nkem’s presentation have caught with me, and the proverb “Till the lions have their very own historians, the historical past of the hunt will all the time glorify the hunter” is without doubt one of the strongest. It was a real privilege to listen to Nkem communicate, and to fulfill so many fantastic individuals from the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA).

Contributors got here from all around the world, and from all totally different areas of Wikipedia. Viral hit Annie Rauwerda, of the well-known @depthsofwiki account, was there to speak about her work in outreach and exploring the engagement potential of social media, whereas public librarian and writer Amber Morrell spoke about her expertise utilizing TikTok @storytimeamber to teach and entertain. Sadly, I couldn’t attend all of those papers in individual, as I used to be presenting with Satdeep Gill (Wikimedia Basis) on the work that the British Library and Two Centuries of Indian Print have finished on Wikisource and Bengali books.

Different standout talks included Felix Nartey of the Wikimedia Basis giving the second day keynote on ‘Wikimedia and Libraries: Working Collectively To Construct The Infrastructure For Free Data’. I attended a wonderful workshop on importing bibliographic knowledge to Wikidata, run by Dr Ursula Oberst (Leiden), and an insightful reflective discuss by Liam Wyatt (Wikimedia Basis) and Alice Kibombo (Wikimedia Neighborhood Consumer Group Uganda) on ‘Libraries and Wikimedia: The place Have We Come From and The place Are We Going?’. I wished to say specific due to Alice, who chaired our panel on Wikimedians in Residence. I used to be actually happy to speak alongside Rachel Helps (Brigham Younger) and Kim Gile (Kansas Metropolis Public Library), sharing our experiences of Residencies and the position of a Resident. In her presentation with Liam, Alice requested an important query of all contributors: ‘Are we outfitted to guide the change we would prefer to see?’ That has caught with me. I really feel strongly that after an occasion like #WikiLibCon22, we’re definitely on the appropriate path.

NB: You may see some of the presentations on Commons, in addition to images from the event.

This submit is by Wikimedian in Residence Dr Lucy Hinnie (@BL_Wikimedian).