Wikimedia chapters/Reports/Wikimedia Nederland/201411

This is the chapter report for Wikimedia Nederland for November and December 2014

COMMUNITY: supporting and mobilising volunteers and editors

• Wikimedia Nederland Conference, Utrecht, November 1.
  

Finding & Connecting was the theme of the annual Wikimedia Conference Netherlands on Saturday, November 1st, 2014 in Utrecht. The day was opened by Hans de Zwart (Bits of Freedom) who spoke on freedom and commercialization of the web. In total 27 speakers gave presentations during the conference on the themes 'Find', 'Connect', 'Behind the Scenes' and 'in practice'. A specially designed 'gender gap' lounge area gave more background about the lack of female contributors within Wikimedia projects. With over 100 visitors, we consider it a successful conference.

:Lunchbreak at the conference

Plenary session at the conference

• Wiki-Saturdays

There were four Wiki-Saturdays in November and December. On November 8, volunteers presented a prototype of Wikiportret 2.0, which will make it much easier to contribute portraits to Commons. The final product will be available in February 2015. The last WikiSaturday of the year on December 20 attracted 18 members of the community, two of whom visited the WMNL offices for the first time.

• Seminar on online communication

WMNL supported a group of community members, many of them moderators, in organizing a seminar on online communication and the challenges of communicating with people with a disorder in the autism spectrum. On December 13, two experts gave presentations for a group of 15 Wikipedians. This event ended with constructive discussions on options to improve the working climate on Nl Wikipedia and avoid unnecessary conflicts. In 2015, WMNL will make available resources for further activities in this area.

WORK: content, collaboration and activity development

• GLAM Hackathon, Amsterdam, November 14 - 16.

Thirty developers and programmers came together in Amsterdam to work three days on new and existing tools. The theme of the meeting was workingwith data from libraries, archives and museums. Some examples of the impressive amount of development work during those three days: - A tool that measures how long a visitor has looked at a picture in Media Viewer. - An interface for Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata and Wikipedia that can be extended with your own commands. Also you can easily run queries by using this interface to different wiki platforms. - A website where you can see the paintings have already been added to Wikidata. In addition 250 files without content were sanitized and 30,000 images of paintings added to Wikidata. In the run-up to the Hackathon we organised a workshop Wikidata for GLAMs.

• Writing event on World War II at NIOD, Amsterdam, November 29.
  

On Saturday, November 29th the research institute NIOD opened its doors for Wikipedians. One of NIOD's researchers gave a presentation on his work and how it related to Wikipedia. Attendees were then able to work in the NIOD library. They wrote and improved articles, added information to Wikidata and made a start on improving the information on the illegal press. There was also a tour of the beautiful building where NIOD is housed.

Wikipedians listening to a presentation by NIOD researcher

Guided tour through NIOD's monumental offices

• Project Nature: content donations and a Wikipedian in Residence

We received two content donations: as a pilot project for our cooperation with NGOs gathering data on wildlife, we are going to upload the data-collection on Dutch damsels and dragonflies. This is donated by Libellennet. The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library) donated the illustrations from 'De Nederlandsche Vogelen', a magnificent 18th century book on Dutch Birds. In 2015, we are going to organize events to ensure that these content donations are used in Wikipedia and other projects. The museum for natural history Naturalis has decided to appoint a Wikipedian in Residence for at least 6 months in 2015.

• Wikipedia course for beginners and 'intermediates'. In cooperation with the Zeeuwse Bibliotheek (library of Zeeland, which operates both as a public and an academic library) we organised two training courses on editing Wikipedia in November 11 and 25.

WMNL

• Staff

Jesse de Vos joined WMNL for three months to work on content donations. He normally works for our partner Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid. Frank Meijer joined as a contractor to work on the education programme.

Money

• FDC recommendation

The FDC commented positively on WMNL's plan for 2015 and recommended a grant of €304.000. Although this is slightly less than we requested, we are confident that we will be able to implement our plans. We are going to look for external funding, both in cash and inkind, and be extremely cost-conscious when planning our activities.

• Donations

The holiday season inspired people to give substantial donations to WMNL. In total we received €15.000 over November and December. We thank all our donors for their generosity over 2014.

GLOBAL

• European lobby group

WMNL donated €4000 to support the work of the European Free Knowledge Advocacy group over 2015. Other chapters also contributed, making it possible to continue the advocacy work in 2015. WMNL will contractually 'host' Dimitar Dimitrov, our man in Brussels, in 2015. Previously, both funding and hosting were done by WMDE.

• Official launch Wikimedia Belgium

WMNL chairman Frans Grijzenhout, secretary André Engels and Executive Director Sandra Rientjes attended the official launch of Wikimedia Belgium in Brussels on November 19. WMNL and WMBE will be cooperating closely, both in development of activities and in providing support to the communities.

GOVERNANCE

• Board meeting

The Board met on November 5.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• WMNL New Years Reception

The annual WMNL New Years event will take place on January 17. This year, it is hosted by the Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (Institute for Vision and Sound)

• GLAM WIKI 2015

The international GLAM Wiki 2015 is on April 10-12.

OTHER EVENTS

Wikipedian in Residence Sandra Fauconnier organised a writing event on intercultural meetings in the framework of The Great Wikipedia Expedition on December 12.