Wikimedia Italia/Research

Wikimedia Italia implements research, to evaluate its impact and to support the planning and implementation of its projects. Research is not an objective of Wikimedia Italia; it is an activity implemented to support its objectives.

Highlights

https://data.wikilovesmonuments.it - Data about heritage, GLAMs and WLM
https://itwiki-scuola-italiana.toolforge.org - Evaluating Wikipedia articles

Research Activities

Wikimedia Italia supports the implementation of research by:

collaborating with universities and research agencies
commissioning research specifically relevant for its work (i.e. research on governance, sustainability, Wikimedia brand in Italy)
including research components into its main projects, such as Wiki Loves Monuments
co-financing researchers and Ph.D.s working on relevant topics
supporting small research projects which facilitate the planning and implementation of new strategies and initiatives - through microgrants or grant for volunteers ("bando volontari")
supporting a prize for research (i.e. Prize for Open Knowledge done in collaboration with ICOM Italia)
supporting research grants (1 year, 4 months) for individuals affiliated to a university implementing research
producing, supporting or commissioning publications which disseminate research
implementing surveys
organising and supporting the organisation of conferences

Collaborations with academia

Wikimedia Italia has a committee focussed on strengthening its activities involving universities and on providing advice about how to engage with academia.

Furthermore Wikimedia Italia collaborates with universities by:

supporting Open Science (Open Access, Open Data and citizen science...)
organising training specifically designed for Ph.D. students (i.e. Politecnico di Milano)
organising training for Bachelor and Master students in collaboration with university teachers
having formal partnerships with universities (i.e. Università di Padova)

Academic conferences

Wikidata and research, conference at the university of Florence, 5-6 June 2025.

Training for researchers

Course for Ph.D. students at Politecnico di Milano

Joint Ph.D. thesis

Collaboration with the University of Milan to support and co-manage the Ph.D. thesis of Alessia Minnella about Valorisation and sustainable use of cultural heritage in the age of ecological transition: Open data and citizen science (Valorizzazione e fruizione sostenibile dei beni culturali nell'epoca della transizione ecologica: Open data e citizen science) https://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Dottorato_in_collaborazione_con_UniMi.

Research Topics

Research supported by Wikimedia Italia has been focusing on the following topics:

Italian heritage on Wikipedia, the Wikimedia projects and OpenStreetMap, Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy, GLAMs digital strategies, existing datasets related to heritage
Wikimedia: governance, sustainability, brand
Italian school curriculum and the status of articles related to the Italian school curriculum on Wikipedia
Wikipedia, Wikimedia, OpenStreetMap and open licenses and open software in schoolbooks
Datasets Climate change
Community Health Metrics: presentation of the research extended to Wikipedia in Italian by the researchers (without financial support by Wikimedia Italia - thanks!)

Research Outputs

Publications

Expected 2025 - Preparation of the publication "The Italian Open Knowledge Barometer" (Barometro della conoscenza libera in Italia, Repubblica di San Marino e Città del Vaticano)
2022 Publication for the 10 years of Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy. Inside the book a short version of the study by Enrico Bertacchini and Chiara Filia about the impact of Wiki Loves Monuments

Data and Visualizations

Heritage and GLAMs

https://data.wikilovesmonuments.it
https://comuni-ita.synapta.io/ Analisi per comune
https://public.tableau.com/profile/synapta#!/vizhome/ElementiWikidata/Comuni Previous visualizations
https://public.tableau.com/profile/synapta#!/vizhome/WLM2012-2020/Dati Previous visualizations

School curriculum and evaluation of Wikipedia articles

https://itwiki-scuola-italiana.toolforge.org

Presentations of researches

2022 presentation of the extension of the research Community Health Metrics to Wikipedia in Italian thanks to Cristian Consonni, David Laniado, Marc Miquel-Ribé of Eurecat, Centre Tecnològic de Catalunya. Wikimedia Italia asked for the extension of the research project and the researchers made it without financial support (thanks!! - page of the research on the website of Wikimedia Italia)

Preliminary Research

2023 Evaluation of Wikimedia Italia governance.
2022-2024 Promoting Empowering Italian GLAMs, a project involving the University of Turin with a specific mandate in analysing the digital strategies of Italian GLAMs and evaluating the project; the project finances a researcher for one year affiliated at the University of Turin.
2022 Supporting a project producing a research on how Italian schoolbooks present and cite Wikipedia, open licenses and open software (financed through a microgrant) https://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Microgrant/2022/Wikipedia_nei_libri_di_testo_della_scuola_italiana
2021 Preparatory work for Wikimedia Italia sustainability strategy.
Supporting a project focusing on "The Italian cultural heritage on Wikipedia, the Wikimedia projects and OpenStreetMap" (Il patrimonio culturale italiano su Wikipedia, i progetti Wikimedia e OpenStreetMap). The project has produced a research on existing datasets related to Italian heritage and the development of a visualization tool which allows to aggregate data of monuments by territory.
2021 Commissioning a research on the impact of Wiki Loves Monuments "The experience of Wiki Loves Monuments. The challenges for the open access and reuse of Italian cultural heritage (L'esperienza di Wiki Loves Monuments. Le sfide per il libero accesso e riuso della conoscenza sul patrimonio culturale italiano 2021)
Data about Wiki Loves Monuments https://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/WLM/Statistiche

Surveys

2017-2018-2019-2020-2021-2022 Surveys to evaluate courses and training https://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Istruzione/Scuola/Valutazione_attivit%C3%A0_WMI
2023 Survey to donors https://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Associazione:Fundraising/Attivit%C3%A0/Sondaggio_donatori_2023
2022 Survey to prepare the annual plan 2023. It was sent to 330 active contributors of Wikipedia and other projects in Italian https://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Piano_annuale_2023/Sondaggio
2022 Survey to coordinators and organisers of Wiki Loves Monuments https://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Monuments/2022/Sondaggio_agli_organizzatori_locali_e_volontari_WLM
2020 Survey to OpenStreetMap contributors in Italy https://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/OpenStreetMap/Attivit%C3%A0/Sondaggio_OSM
2018 Survey related to Wikimedia Italia communication https://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Associazione:Sondaggio_comunicazione_2018
2016 Survey to evaluate Wikimedia Italia strategy https://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Associazione:Strategia_WMI_giugno_2016/Questionario
2019 Market research on awareness of Wikimedia projects and values in Italy

Support to researchers and Ph.D. candidates

2023-2026 Alessia Minnella, collaboration with the University of Milan for a PhD on Valorisation and sustainable use of cultural heritage in the age of ecological transition: Open data and citizen science / Valorizzazione e fruizione sostenibile dei beni culturali nell'epoca della transizione ecologica: Open data e citizen science (page in Italian on the website of Wikimedia Italia)
2024 Tommaso Messina, researcher affiliated at the University of Turin and financed by Wikimedia Italia within the project Empowering Italian GLAMs co-financed by Wikimedia Foundation.
2023-2024 Alice Fontana, researcher affiliated at the University of Turin and financed by Wikimedia Italia within the project Empowering Italian GLAMs co-financed by Wikimedia Foundation.

Wikimedia Italia contributes to a course for Ph.D. students at Politecnico di Milano.

In case of students interested in implementing a master research related to the Wikimedia projects, a volunteer from Wikimedia Italia Cristian Consonni - Ph.D. with specific experience in research on the Wikimedia projects and former board member of Wikimedia Italia - gave his availability to support them.

Support to Open Science

From 2023 Wikimedia Italia offers a room called Open Science for talks related to Open Science. The room has been used by the project Open Science for Arts, Design and Music