Wikimedia Community Ireland/Reports/Report 2020

Events and outreach

Social distancing in the Bram Stoker Park

All of the events which had been planned for March onwards were cancelled due to the pandemic, with many others programs affected by the restrictions on movement and social gatherings.

Irish user survey

In 2020 we completed the Irish user survey. While all attempts were made to replicate the conditions of the first survey, the main difference was that users had to be logged in to see the banner inviting them to take part in the survey. In 2016, the banner was visible to all visitors to Wikipedia in Ireland. This resulted in a lower level of engagement than we had hoped for with the survey.

Online outreach

Since 14 May Rebecca has been live streaming Wikipedia editing on Twitch. Initially she began streaming four days a week, but stepped this back to two a week as other engagements and work took priority. The first 12 of these videos, demonstrating the very basic principles of editing Wikipedia, have been archived on YouTube.

Continuing a relationship that we have had with the Octocon Sci-Fi convention that we have had over a number of years, Rebecca took part in two events for this year's virtual convention. Firstly she took part in a pre-con panel, reflecting on how Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects can be used to collect and document the ephemeral. Alongside Antiqueight, she then facilitated a live demonstration and discussion on how to start editing Wikipedia with a focus on subjects and topics of interest to the conference audience.

Rebecca also gave a guest talk to the subscribers to the Maow Club in October. This is an informal learning and networking community of cat owners in Ireland, and was given in the context of lifelong learning and the exploration of broad interesting topics.

Rebecca was interviewed on three podcasts:

• The Europeans podcast
• Wariars Wici podcast
• Vjaġġi Enċiklopediċi

Events held with third level institutions

Dublin City University

• Meghan Dowling, a member of WCI, continued her work with students taking a module through Irish on Irish resources online. Again, it was very fruitful for Vicipéid, with 12 new editors creating 15 new articles on Vicipéid, including this one of the use of Irish on Social Media.

National University of Ireland, Galway

• Rebecca was approached to work with groups of students in two departments of NUIG which we had not previously worked with, Law and English. In early March, she led a group of Law students specialising in human rights law in an introduction to editing Wikipedia. It was planned to follow this up with a further editing workshop on 30 March, but due to universities closing for COVID-19 restrictions, this event did not go ahead. We hope to pick up with this group later in the year, if possible. A talk with the students of the MA in Literature and Publishing in NUIG on 20 March on open licencing was also cancelled due to the lock down.
• 12 May Open Scholarship week panel and wikithon
• 25 June NUIG Data Science Institute seminar - Rebecca was invited to speak to the staff and postgraduate students of the Institute as a lunch time event.

University College Dublin

• UCD information studies is our longest standing programme with lecturer Dr Crystal Fulton. Each year second year students work on improving a set of Irish historical biographies.

University College Cork

• 30 October UCC Understanding Diverse Digital Cultures - Rebecca was invited to give a lecture of a group of MA students on multilingualism, language change and the language politics of the internet, using Wikipedia as an example and manifestation of these issues.

University of Limerick

• 3 November Limerick History Research Seminar: ‘Teaching and Learning with Wikipedia’ - Rebecca was invited to give a broad introduction to Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects to a group of University of Limerick staff and students.
• 4 November Wikipedia Masterclass - A group of public history masters students in UL had a module which incorporated some Wikipedia editing as a writing exercise to explore different modes of public history discourse and dissemination.

Events held with GLAMs

Hunt Virtual Editathon - Early on in the lockdown, the Hunt Museum used their closure to facilitate the on uploading of images relating to their archaeological collections as part of a wider Europeana project. Through two workshops, Rebecca worked with the group to improve the descriptions, categorisation, and other information relating to the new images, as well as teaching the Hunt staff how to begin editing Wikipedia generally.

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  New image uploaded from the Hunt Museum
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  New image uploaded from the Hunt Museum
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  New image uploaded from the Hunt Museum

IMMA staff editathon - in May, Rebecca gave a workshop to a group of staff from the Irish Museum of Modern Art. This was the first such event with IMMA and precipitated very interesting conversations about the information they provide, access to their materials, and navigating copyright with living artists.

INVISIBLE Wikithon 12 June - the main event that we co-organised under this topic was with the Science Gallery for their exhibition INVISIBLE. The event was conceived of and shaped by one of the youth advisors for the SG, Shubhangi Karmakar. They chaired the virtual wikithon which was live streamed on YouTube by the SG. Rebecca with support from Dr Alice White from the Welcome Trust, led a Wikipedia editing workshop which was part of a larger conversation guided by Shubhangi on aspects of inclusion, diversity and representation on projects such as Wikipedia.

11 and 18 August IMMA Summer School - this summer school usually takes place in-person on-site in IMMA, but this year was conducted remotely. This meant that the participants were more global than in previous years. Rebecca gave the group two presentations on editing Wikipedia and uploading images to Wikimedia Commons, and facilitated discussions around Wikipedia and the theme for the school in 2020, “statecraft”.

Pride in STEM - virtual editathon with a live streamed introduction to editing Wikipedia.

National Healthcare Wikipedian in Residence - this position was renewed in 2020, with Dr Conor Malone being hired as the new WiR. Rebecca and Conor have be in contact about the work that he has been undertaking in the position, and the ways in which WCI can support him in this work.

Celtic Knot 2020

The Celtic Knot conference 2020 was due to be held in Limerick, but due to the pandemic, it was held virtually on 5 and 6 July. The organisation was a partnership between Wikimedia Community Ireland, Wikimedia UK, and Wikimedia DE staff.

• The full documentation of Celtic Knot 2020 can be found here
• The full conference page here
• Blog post on the Celtic Knot 2020 From WMDE

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  Closing session of Celtic Knot 2020
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  Conference lunch in Dublin with Éinín
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  Getting the swag bags ready for posting
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  Slainte! The Celtic Knot face masks
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  Modelling the face mask

Contests

Wiki Loves Earth

WLE Ireland 2020 certificates

Ireland held Wiki Loves Earth for the first time in 2020, with 307 images uploaded by 35 participants.

Winning images:

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  Luggala Summit
  Photograph: Subhrambar
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  Old Head Wood Nature Reserve
  Photograph: MickReynolds
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  Blennerville windmill seen from Tralee Bay
  Photograph: CM Cogollo
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  Cliffs of Moher, County Clare
  Photograph: Dieglop
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  Bluebells and trees in Charleville Wood
  Photograph: Niall Kearney
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  Burren Way at the Cliffs of Moher
  Photograph: Dieglop
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  Kylemore Abbey in the Connemara National Park
  Photograph: Dieglop
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  Little Skellig
  Photograph: Notsmallworld
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  Cavan Burren Park
  Photograph: Oliver Gargan
• 
  Cross Lough
  Photograph: Karie Kuiper

Wiki Loves Monuments

Wiki Loves Monuments 2020 was Ireland's 7th edition of the competition, and saw 946 images uploaded by 46 participants.

Winning images:

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  Slane Bridge, County Meath
  Photographer: Rob Hurson
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  Garden of Rememberance
  Photographer: Oliver Gargan
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  Rattoo Church, Ounty Kerry
  Photographer: Mick Reynolds
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  Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin
  Photographer: Diego Lopez
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  highly commended: St Colman's Cathedral, County Cork
  Photographer: Diego Lopez
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  highly commended: Charles Fort, County Cork
  Photographer: Diego Lopez
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  highly commended: Wicklow Head Lighthouse (1779), County Wicklow
  Photographer: Jonjobaker
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  highly commended: 12th Lock (Ballymakaily), County Dublin
  Photographer: Royalcanalrunner
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  highly commended: Carrowmore Passage Tomb, County Sligo
  Photographer: Cliffoney
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  highly commended: Charles Fort, County Cork
  Photographer: Diego Lopez

Prizes awarded for the best and first image of a site from each province.

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  Leinster: Victoria Lock, County Offaly
  Photographer: Jonjobaker
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  Munster: Carrignavar Bridge, County Cork
  Photographer: Donal.hunt
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  Ulster: Kiltoy Church of Ireland, County Donegal
  Photographer: DAYVEHUSE
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  Connacht: Fenagh Graveyard, County Leitrim
  Photographer: Fifiheavey

Strategic plan

In November 2020, the core group of active members of WCI met four times to create a 3 year strategic plan for the group from 2021 to 2024. The resulting plan has been prepared, and will be circulated to the Irish community in early January with a plan to formally adopt it.