GLAM/Newsletter/December 2016/Contents/USA report

This Month in GLAM – Volume VI, Issue XII, December 2016

USA report

USA edit-a-thons

Washington DC edit-a-thon activities

US Holocaust Memorial and Museum Edit-a-thon

Andrew Lih led an edit-a-thon and training for staff and volunteers at the US Holocaust Memorial and Museum, in Washington, D.C. He also talked about tools to analyze article quality, and article views in a wikiproject. He also discussed how to incorporate material in the Museum collections in wikipedia. Articles were improved.

BBC 100 Women Edit-a-thon

Wikimedia District of Columbia participated in the global BBC 100 Women event in two locations. Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight led an edit-a-thon at the BBC offices in Washington, D.C. She trained staff and volunteers in editing, and Women in Red work lists. Robert Fernandez facilitated the event at the BBC offices in Miami. There was a hashtag #100womenwiki. There was news coverage by the BBC - As it happened: Wikipedia edit-a-thon; We are hosting a Wikipedia edit-a-thon. BBC World News

Wikimedia DC Annual Membership Meeting

Wikimedia DC held its annual meeting on 12 December 2016. Past and future activities were discussed. Also cake.

New York City activities

Wikimedia New York City wrapped up its busiest year ever with 52 events. We look forward to more great events in 2017!

On Thursday, December 1, 2016, WM NYC facilitated a Grey Literature Edit-a-thon @ New York Academy of Medicine. Grey literature are materials and research produced by organizations outside of the traditional commercial or academic publishing and distribution channels. The event followed the Eighteenth International Conference on Grey Literature scheduled for November 28-29 also held at the New York Academy of Medicine.
On Saturday, December 3, 2016, as part of part of Wikipedia Asian Month, WM NYC facilitated a Contemporary Chinese Art Edit-a-thon @ Guggenheim, where editors were given complimentary tickets to tour the exhibition Tales of Our Time after the editing session. A great, fruitful event that is part of the long-term efforts of the Guggenheim to partner with Wikipedia!
In what might be a first, on Sunday, December 11, 2016, WM NYC participated in what is believed to be its first ever edit-a-thon in a record store, Wild Facts: Women In Avant-Garde Music @ CommendNYC. CommendNYC is an electronica music store. The day long event included a performance by musician Christina Vantzou.
And, as a nice way to end the year's events on Wednesday, December 21, 2016, WM NYC held its last event of 2016, WikiWednesday (December) @ Babycastles. This is the last event at the 14th Street location of Babycastles, with info as to its new location to come. We have been very happy with the partnership with Babycastles, a co-working space and gallery. This WikiWednesday had a full house with many sweet and savory pies from Stolle. Thanks to all who came and participated in the event!

Other noteworthy news

Wikimedia New York City would like to welcome our first paid support, Joelle Fleurantin, who will work 10 hours per week. We are very excited and happy to start this new partnership! Welcome, Joelle!
At the December WikiWednesday, Yurik demoed his structured data project where interactive data would come from Tabular Data uploaded to Commons with a CC0 license. This project, as well as the Map Data project, would enable Wikipedia entries to have more responsive and data visualization design. The other benefit of this work is that they are very suited to many language Wikipedias, as the data is meant to be language-inclusive. Very exciting work that energized the attendees at WikiWednesday NYC. Thanks, Yuri!
As a year ends and WM NYC looks to the future, we plan on implementing the wonderful Outreach Dashboard as a way to capture metrics and reduce the administrative burden on managing user data for events. Pharos and Lane Rasberry have been providing steady support to the project, and BrillLyle aka Erika will be working to initiate the campaign feature for upcoming events in 2017. The chapter is very hopeful and excited about the Outreach Dashboard and is happy to work with Sage Ross from WikiEdu on this project. If you are interested in further upcoming development plans Sage is working on to support this work, please see this AgileVentures grant!

AfroCROWD activities and outreach

On Sunday, December 18, 2016, AfroCROWD held its end of year celebration, AfroCROWD Elected Officials of the African Diaspora @ Brooklyn Public Library. Contact was made via Google Hangout with the Wikimedia Ghana User Group!

Black Lunch Table outreach activities

The Black Lunch Table (BLT) is an ongoing collaboration between artists Jina Valentine and Heather Hart which intends to fill holes in the documentation of contemporary art history.

Black Lunch Table/BRIC House Stoop was held on December 10, 2016, at BRIC House Stoop, Brooklyn. There was extensive coverage in Bloomberg news: Is Wikipedia Woke?

Black Lunch Table also participated in the Forward Union Fair on Saturday, December 17, 2016. The Forward Union Fair is a political and community action information fair, blended with art and performance, that was held in a space near NYU in the Village.
The final event of Black Lunch Table's 2016 was the Black Lunch Table 2016 Living Room Salon, held in Brooklyn on Friday, December 23, 2016.