Grants talk:PEG/Museology Lab/MemoArt project event

This grant is currently under review. Comments are welcome on this page. Remember the Friendly space expectations!

GAC members decisions

WMF Comments

Hi museologylab. Thank you for your proposal. It's wonderful to see interest in preserving Corfu's local cultural heritage. Our understanding from the grant proposal is that participants will focus on "intangible" cultural heritage. Can you please explain what you mean by "intangible"? Unfortunately, the Wikimedia projects cannot support material or information for which no published resources exist. All material in Wikipedia must be attributable to a reliable, published source. This is aligned with Wikipedia's no original research policy. If the project is working on adding content about Corfu to Wikimedia projects that do have published sources, then please let me know. Once we have resolved this core question, we can talk about other project details. Cheers, Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 03:37, 26 July 2016 (UTC)

Hello Alex Wang (WMF).

According to UNESCO[1] Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) are: 1. oral traditions (fairy-tails, myths, narrative songs) 2. performing arts (dance, music, folklore theater) 3. social practices (rituals, festive events) 4. knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe (traditional farming, folklore perceptions regarding meteorology, etc.) 5. knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts (weaving, pottery, wooden shipbuilding, etc.) The reason we have chosen ICH for the MemoArt project is because it 'represents the variety of living heritage of humanity as well as the most important vehicle of cultural diversity'[2] and simultaneously multiculturalism. In contradiction with the tangible heritage, that people might not be connected to it for various reasons, ICH is still a vital aspect of communities[3].

Therefore, our intention is to record and catalogue all the intangible aspects of the Corfu region with the aid of the local community. After collecting all the data, the Museology laboratory (university professors and students) of the Department of Archive, Library Sciences and Museology (Ionian University) in collaboration with other academics with expertise on this particular aspect will cross-fertilize scientifically these testimonials with various published resources. Unfortunately, many of these resources are not available to the wide public, as some books are no longer published and can only be found in libraries, other because they were published from small local publishing houses or many of them can only be found in the Greek language. Hence, we strongly believe that is our duty to record and publish this information via Wikimedia in Greek and other languages as well.

[1]UNESCO. What is Intangible Cultural Heritage? Available at: http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/doc/src/01851-EN.pdf [2]Lenzerini, F. 'Intangible Cultural Heritage: The Living Culture of Peoples.' In European Journal of International Law, Vol. 22, Issue 1, 101-120, 2011. Also available at: http://ejil.oxfordjournals.org/content/22/1/101.full [3]Singer, G.G. 'The Importance of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.' In Terrae Antiqvae, online, 2011. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/403826/The_Importance_of_the_Intangible_Cultural_Heritage

Hi museologylab. Thank you for the above responses. We understand the importance of preserving and documenting the type of intangible cultural heritage you listed. We are definitely interested in supporting activities to train people on how to contribute to the Wikimedia projects and utilize the resources the university holds on these subjects. However, we have a number of significant concerns with the proposal as submitted:

1. The scope and budget of the current project is too large for what we would consider minimal impact on the projects (as laid out in your measures of success).
2. Our understanding of the MemoArt project, as described on their website, is that it is for-profit company currently running an art competition. There is currently no mention of Wikimedia-related activities in any of the plans.
3. As a volunteer-driven movement, we do not typically fund project managers, event coordinators, graphic designers, etc. for projects like these. We can fund expenses related to editing events, such as venue, food, drink, some promotional costs, and prizes for contests.
4. Partnership with experienced Wikimedians for any type of editing training is essential. The first step in making a project like this successful is to reach out to local Wikimedians (a good place to start is to contact the Wikimedia Community User Group Greece) to see if they are interested in partnering on a project and providing support for trainings or workshops. There are a lot of nuances to editing Wikimedia projects and engaging with the online Wikimedia community. It is essential to have someone who knows the policies, cultural norms, and best practices to train new people so they do not become frustrated or discouraged.

We encourage you to work with the local user group to develop a project that utilizes both their experience and the expertise of your university professors and students related to intangible cultural heritage. Please let us know if you are interested in discussing this and we can set up a time to discuss. Best, Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 19:38, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

museologylab I am a Wikimedian in Corfu, member of Wikimedia Community User Group Greece) and I would be glad to meet you and discuss about this project. Please email me using the Wikipedia email system. Thanks, Magioladitis (talk) 19:49, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

museologylab and I had a meeting. The proposal will be reworked. -- Magioladitis (talk) 13:49, 16 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello Alex Wang (WMF)!! Thank you for your support. After the meeting we had with the Magioladitis:

1. you can find on the "Grants" page our revised proposal, regarding the measures of success, budget, free content and engagement of the Wikimedia community.
2. MemoArt project was born by the peripatos team which is for-profit cultural company. However, it was initially launched, via the Start fellowship programme and currently taking place in Corfu via the Museology laboratory of the Ionian University, which is a non-profit research-educational institution. Thus, not only peripatos doesn't earn anything out of the MemoArt, on the contrary it supports financially this initiative. Moreover, the only website available at the moment to host the Competition is the one that peripatos holds. Unfortunately, the official lab's website is under construction and will be available from September, as the University is currently close due to summer vacations. As soon as it will be running it will host all the details, including the Wikimedia-related activities. museologylab (talk) 16:40, 16 August 2016 (UTC)