(Former) library of Bishop Massillon (Clermont-Ferrand). Photo: Local History and Art Museum (Clermont-Ferrand) / Wikimedia Commons / CC by-sa
A year ago, in July 2021, the Wikimedia France association, which promotes and supports Wikipedia and associated projects (Wikimedia Commons media library, texts in Wikisource, Wikidata database, etc.) signed a partnership with Clermont Auvergne Métropole and the University of Clermont-Auvergne, for the dissemination and enhancement of Auvergne heritage through Wikimedia projects. A first for a local authority and a university, underlined the association.
“Projects that can take a long time”
The details of this partnership, which involves establishing a Wikimedian-in-Residence, are presented here. The objective is “to highlight the funds and collections of the libraries, archives and museums of the Metropolis and the University, to make available to Wikimedians the digitized resources of the institutions and to contribute to the enrichment of the articles of Wikipedia (and its sister projects) concerning, directly or indirectly, Clermont Auvergne.”
I interviewed Nicolas Vigneron, Auvergnat by adoption for almost a year with this mission.
How do you become a “wikimedian in residence”, with what course?
I am 37 years old, and I have been contributing to Wikimedia projects for 18 years, where I have made several million contributions to Wikipedia in French, Wikisource, Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata… I know the entire Wikimedia ecosystem well, an experience which partly led me to propose my candidacy for this position of wikimedian in residence. The other reason that explains why it was chosen is that I know the world of libraries well, and that for several years I was self-employed, in digital training in general and wikis of course in particular. Setting up projects with cultural institutions was already the kind of thing I knew.
What is the role of the Wikimedian in Residence?
It is an exchange, as much of the Wikimedian in the institution as of the institution in Wikipedia: improving the articles on the institution, around it, but also training its agents, helping them to better understand Wikipedia, and for more willing and interested, encourage them to become Wikimedians themselves, improve articles, upload photos to Wikimedia Commons, etc. This is exactly what I do in Clermont-Ferrand, with one particularity, it is a double residency: I am both on the territorial side at the Auvergne-Métropole heritage library and on the academic side in the libraries of the University of Clermont-Auvergne, with six months on each side.
I arrived in August 2021 and I finish next August. It allows you to carry out projects that can take a lot of time, typically like everything related to content release. You have to work with legal and digital services, explain the free licenses etc. This is also the case with everything related to Wikidata, because it is very technical. It already takes time to find the people who have the skills and appetite to contribute to Wikidata, and then to train them.
What is the history of these residency assignments?
In France, the first ten years ago was at the Palace of Versailles, then there were not many others: a residence at the National Archives for a fairly short time, two at the University of Lyon around the Wiktionary. In the rest of the world, on the other hand, there are a great many cultural institutions that have them: in the United Kingdom alone, there have been more than forty residencies in ten years. The National Library of Wales has had a Wikimedian-in-Residence since 2014. Since 2017 their role has become permanent and has been continued as the “National Wikimedia”. In the United States and throughout the English-speaking world, it is a position that is increasingly common.
What is the profile of the people you have met?
There are two levels of training: the basic one, a presentation that touched a lot of people – especially on the university side, with the students, that represents a lot of people. Sometimes with little basic knowledge of Wikipedia, such as those who did not know that contributors are volunteers, that there are more than 320 languages, etc. It can create ideas, for example a person who works at the university on the perception of risks according to the language was very interested in the possibility of comparing the terms on such a danger according to the languages.
The next step is the one that must lead to contributing independently. It is rather professional librarians, who are already used to sorting information and bibliography, but who must adapt to the context and to Wikipedian habits.
The first level, it can be two hours in an amphitheater of 50 people, while in the second it is more like twenty hours, and it can go as far as individual training. People used to making transcriptions, I trained them at Wikisource, others more specialized in iconography at Wikimedia Commons, other cataloging pros at Wikidata… Among students, doctoral students are the most interested, who see Wikipedia as a means of popularization. The echoes are good, particularly from the side of the human sciences.
What lessons do you draw from this experience? What discoveries?
The first lesson, I already knew it but it confirmed it, it’s the time needed to set up projects, which can be important. Some take six months to become concrete. For several months, the bulk upload tool in Commons was broken, which delayed some projects. A good surprise was the enthusiasm for Wikisource, librarians really caught on, especially at the heritage library where a dozen people contribute diligently.
Read also
At the National Education, the project of a “Wikipedia of educational resources” – May 31, 2022
Wikipedia’s audience is growing, infox are circulating: what if we learned to contribute? – April 2, 2020
A Wikipedian in residence at the Palace of Versailles – February 15, 2011
Free circulation of culture: a forum and a report to follow – September 16, 2009