Grants:IEG/Batch uploader for small GLAM projects/Timeline

Timeline for Batch uploader for small GLAM projects edit

Timeline Date
The initial versions of the Pattypan uploader are ready to download 03/2015
A new upload tool page on Wikimedia Commons is up and volunteers are beginning to upload files. 04/2016
Milestone 3


Monthly updates edit

Please prepare a brief project update each month, in a format of your choice, to share progress and learnings with the community along the way. Submit the link below as you complete each update.

January 2016 edit

Project planning meeting – January 15th

  • We updated the project page and established a preliminary project timeline;
  • First drafts of the mock-ups of the program were drawn;
  • A preliminary list of interested institutions was written;
  • An invitation to participate in the project was written to be later distributed among potentially interested GLAMs.

Further activities

  • GLAM institutions who confirmed interest in testing and upload (as of late January 2016):
  • The State Archive in Poznań
  • The State Archive in Łódź;
  • Muzeum Historii Polski w Warszawie;
  • National Museum of Ethnography, Warsaw;
  • Zachęta National Gallery of Art;
  • European Solidarity Centre (uploaded)
  • Wikipedians interested in collaborating to the project (testing the software, submitting comments on functionalities, other collaborations) were informed;
  • We are working on the mock-ups of the software in order to present it to the participating institutions and the project advisors.
  • We have created a first-draft questionnaire asking the GLAM institutions about their needs (technical restrictions, software available to the GLAM staff, description fields to be included in the new software (equivalent to Artwork template/equivalent to Document template/other)

February 2016 edit

  • Mock-ups of the software were created and are currently submitted to community comment.
  • We prepared a quick survey for interested GLAM institutions.

March 2016 edit

  • Programming work;
  • We ran test uploads and previewed results. We are working on integrating the preview onto the program before inviting the volunteers to begin uploading GLAM content.

April 2016 edit

 
Pattypan uploader
  • A first basic working version of the software was written and made available on Github
  • The third release of pattypan includes the Artwork, Information and Photograph templates, an option to write wikicode instead of template selection. The Book template will be added.
  • Files were first uploaded to a Wikimedia test site;
  • After initial tests files are now uploaded into the upload tool category
  • The uploader has a page on Wikimedia Commons
  • We would like to test and implement uploading audiovisual files.
  • We wrote a basic manual in English and Polish – a longer, more detailed version of manual and work on further informative material is in progress.


Is your final report due but you need more time?



Extension request edit

New end date edit

31/07/2016

Rationale edit

As we have detailed in our Midpoint report, the majority of programming work has been done. Pattypan − the new upload tool − has been tested and is available for use, with an information page on Wikimedia Commons, currently in three languages. 220 files have been uploaded since the initial tool release in March − contributed by volunteers and GLAM employees from 3 countries.

By now, we have carried out the following, from our original proposal:

  • The batch uploader tool is available and functional;
  • More than 5 GLAMs (please refer to our Midpoint report) are already involved in uploads;
  • 220 out of 300 images have been uploaded
  • A Commons infrastructure and tool category can be used to monitor uploads.

However, we would like more time to:

  • Expand the documentation - in the process of uploads users report to us with issues which could be resolved by having more detailed documentation on program options/functions (for example, how to insert multiple categories into the spreadsheet, where to find the partnership template field, etc.)
  • Prepare some promotional materials (eg. a pdf) with relevant links, and send these to all potentially interested Wikimedians (starting from ones who endorsed our project and extending into specific groups) - and further inform the community (among others, at the upcoming Wikimania)
  • Incorporate final corrections / additions into the program (Book template, audiovisual file upload),
  • Allow the GLAM volunteers and institutions time to perform uploads,
  • Allow the GLAM volunteers and employees time to reuse their new uploads in Wikimedia projects.
  • Collect data and statistics

(note: we found it challenging to prepare a "one-size-fits-all" questionnaire, so we will instead gather surveys in the form of 3 open questions for the contributors to freely submit comment, which will then be analysed, alongside upload/reuse statistics).

Many of these tasks will be done by Marta Malina – partly as GLAM coordination locally, partly on a volunteer basis. Over the last three months, other new WMPL projects meant there was less time than needed to properly promote the uploader. Also, informing the GLAM community about the tool could start in earnest only in April when the program was ready for use. Therefore, another 3 months would make it possible for us to properly promote the tool, improve the documentation so using the tool becomes as easy and pleasant as possible, encourage the GLAMs and wider community to reuse the files, and gather stuctured feedback.

Thanks for your summary of this schedule change. This extension request is approved, for a new project end date of July 31, 2016. --Marti (WMF) (talk) 14:12, 25 June 2016 (UTC)