Encyclopedia of Philippine Heritage

An initiative of the
Wiki Society of the Philippines
The Encyclopedia of Philippine Heritage is an ongoing program of the Wiki Society of the Philippines (WikiSocPH) which aims to use the Wikimedia projects as a platform to document and preserve information about the cultural and natural heritage of the Philippines.

About

From 2014 to 2015, WikiSocPH (then known as Wikimedia Philippines) implemented the Cultural Heritage Mapping Project, which sought to improve Wikipedia articles about and capture photos of cultural heritage sites and structures in the Philippines. The project resulted in almost 300 new and over 500 improved Wikipedia articles, including 4 Good Articles and 37 Did You Know? entries, and over 5,000 photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons of which over 2,000 were included in Wikipedia articles.

The Encyclopedia of Philippine Heritage aims to build on that project's success by expanding the scope to include natural heritage, such as the Tubbataha Reef, which is one of the country's World Heritage Sites, and to involve Wikidata and Wikisource in addition to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. Wikidata will be used to collect structured data on heritage and historical sites while Wikisource will be used to store documents such as heritage declarations.

Subprojects

The Encyclopedia of Philippine Heritage currently has two subprojects, one focusing on heritage sites, and the other on historical markers.

Heritage sites

Boljoon Church in Cebu, declared as a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum and as a National Historical Landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

The heritage sites subproject is focused on documenting the cultural and natural heritage sites of the country that have official declarations from national and international bodies. These sites include National Historical Landmarks, National Cultural Treasures, World Heritage Sites, and Ramsar sites.

Some specific activities of this subproject are:

  • Creating and improving Wikipedia articles on notable heritage sites. Example: Wikipedia article for Maribojoc Church, declared as a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum.
  • Creating and improving Wikidata items on all declared heritage sites. Example: Wikidata item for Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetlands, the 8th declared Ramsar site in the country.
  • Uploading photos of heritage sites to Wikimedia Commons. Example: Commons category for the Rizal Monument, declared a National Monument by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.
  • Documenting declarations of heritage sites in Wikidata, Wikisource, and Commons. Example: Wikisource page, scanned PDF in Commons, and Wikidata item for the National Historical Institute Resolution No. 06, S. 2008 which declared the Gala-Rodriguez House in Sariaya, Quezon as a Heritage House.

Heritage Sites Map

The Heritage Sites Map is an interactive map website that lets you browse through the heritage sites that are already in Wikidata. Each heritage site is represented by a map marker that when clicked provides more information about the site including snippets of its Wikipedia article if it exists, and photos from Wikimedia Commons.

Historical markers

Historical marker installed by the Philippine Historical Committee in 1960 (recreated in 2010) to commemorate José Rizal's stay at Pastor Ullmer's house in Wilhelmsfeld, Germany.

The historical markers subproject is focused on documenting the historical markers that have been issued by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and its predecessor agencies. This mainly involves creating and improving Wikidata items for the historical markers and uploading photos of these markers into Wikimedia Commons. Example: Wikidata item and Commons category for the Luneta Hotel historical marker.

Historical Markers Map

The Historical Markers Map is an interactive map website that lets you browse through the historical markers that are already in Wikidata. Each historical marker is represented by a map marker that when clicked provides more information about the marker including the marker inscription and links to related Wikipedia articles.

Panandâ

Panandâ is a free and open source Android mobile app developed by seav that lets users explore the historical markers. The data for the historical markers is taken from Wikidata and the photos are provided by Wikimedia Commons.