Content Partnerships Hub/Helpdesk/WLM in Uganda
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Wikidata for WLM in Uganda
Background
[edit]In 2023, Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda reached out to the Helpdesk for advice and support regarding organizing the Wiki Loves Monuments competition.
Up to that time, the lists of monuments included in the competition were hosted on English Wikipedia. The community was interested in using Wikidata instead. The Helpdesk provided support in the different steps of the process.
Results
[edit]First of all, we provided information and advice based on our experience using Wikidata for cultural heritage data. The benefits of Wikidata over Wikipedia were highlighted, such as the possibility to query the data using SPARQL using different criteria, to identify items that are missing information (like coordinates or Wikipedia articles), as well as the multilingual power of Wikidata, which allows more people, not just users of English Wikipedia, to contribute.
Then, the Helpdesk processed the lists on Wikipedia and created Wikidata items for the cultural heritage objects.
Finally, the Helpdesk assisted the Wiki Loves Monuments organizers in collating Wikidata-based lists on the competition page. By using the template {{Wikidata list}}, we were able to structure the list to fulfill the specific wishes of the organizers, such as displaying specific information about each heritage site and including a link to the relevant English Wikipedia article. As the list is automatically generated, its contents get updated when the information on Wikidata changes. It is also easy to identify monuments which lack an article on English Wikipedia, which makes it easy for the community to know where their article-writing efforts should be directed.
The work the Helpdesk did for WLM in Uganda led to a collaboration between Wikimedia Sverige, Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda and the Let's Connect peer learning program. In the autumn of 2023, three learning clinics on the topic Wikidata for cultural heritage data were organized, where we shared our experiences. The aim was to empower the participants to start using and editing Wikidata, and we covered the necessary knowledge for WLM organizers: from how a Wikidata item is structured to how large monuments lists can be processed and uploaded to Wikidata using OpenRefine. The last clinic, which focused on data processing and upload with OpenRefine, had the largest number of participants, 86, indicating there's a significant interest in the community in improving their skills with advanced tools and workflows for structured data.
The learning clinics were recorded and uploaded to YouTube, where they continue benefiting anyone interested: