GLAM Contribute is a guide for helping start new GLAM projects or support those that need help. Many GLAM projects are already under way that need Wikimedians to assist online.
Cultural professionals: Learn how you can get started on a project.
Wikimedians: Learn how you can assist already-existing projects.
Consider content that has no copyright restrictions and can easily enrich Wikipedia articles:
Institutional research. Published research housed within institutions can be digitized or otherwise shared in order to improve articles.
Images. Collections images can be used to illustrate objects in Wikipedia articles across languages.
Artworks. The synthetic description and the images of artworks produced by or belonging to the institutions can enrich the biographies of their artists and become autonomous articles.
Biographies. Authors, directors, artists, intellectuals' biographies can be used to create short biographical articles or to enrich existing texts.
Video and audio. Video of processes, people, animals, or current and historic events can improve articles across topics and languages.
Archival holdings. Archival materials can be wholly uploaded on Wikisource and linked to corresponding Wikipedia entries.
Bibliographic references. Incorporate full inline citations to reliable sources, such as an institutional webpage or books published by the institution, being sure to add them to the body of the text, not just as external links.
Follow Wikipedia's guidelines on creative commons licenses.
Licenses are adopted in order to use contents safeguarded by copyright. Licenses clearly state which authorizations are allowed and which rights are reserved.
In some cases it is not necessary to specify the licenses because the contents are already free by law; however also in these cases the license indication is useful so that users easily and immediately know what to do.
The license has to be clearly readable by the user and easily acknowledged by search engines or content management systems.
See the listing of best practices to get a sense of the types of GLAM-Wiki projects.
Wikipedians in Residence are formal, on-site residencies that encourage the facilitation of shared content between the institution and the Wikipedia community.
GLAM events include reaching out to local Wikipedians through Edit-a-Thons, Backstage Passes, or other events.
QRpedia is a tool that facilitates translation efforts and article creation, allowing for linking to content from within exhibits.
See our case studies.
See the listing of case studies for examples of past and current GLAM-Wiki projects.
The Archives of American Art includes case studies on an image donation, Edit-a-Thon, institutional awareness, and use of E-Volunteers.
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis includes case studies on an image donation, QRpedia, student article creation, featured article creation, and institutional awareness.
ITESM-Ciudad de México describes a program to create and translate articles through a college course cooperation with a cultural institution.
View examples of GLAM WikiProjects.
Understand how GLAM-Wiki projects are organized within the WikiProject infrastructure by viewing these examples:
Decide on a username that is not your institution's name.
Note that sharing an account is not allowed in Wikipedia, so you should not create an account for your organization as a whole. Your account should be used by you, personally.
Click on the blue link "Create Account" in the top right corner.
Click on the blue link "Create One" in the sign in box.
Fill out the information on the page (email is not necessary) and click the "Create Account" button.
Your username will now appear in red in the top right corner.
Declare your interests on your user page.
The “Creating a userpage” document will walk you through the steps involved in setting up your userpage.
Use the WikiMarkup Cheat Sheet as you begin your edits.
Make sure you're signed in.
Click on your user name, which is a red link, in the top right corner.
Click the “Edit” tab (located between “Read” and “View History”) to make several edits to your userpage.
Include as little or as much information about yourself as you would like. It's a good idea to state what you'll be working on, including any declarations of possible conflicts of interest (for example, where you work.)
Coordinate. Outreach events only happen when people step forward to coordinate them. Events include GLAM-Wiki conferences directed at GLAM professionals, GLAMCamp workshops that bring together Wikipedians for coordination efforts, edit-a-thons, and Backstage Passes.
Link. GLAM resources can be augmented by linking to Wikipedia content. Wikipedians can work with GLAMs to improve articles related to an upcoming exhibition or establish a QRpedia with links to articles and translations.
Scan. GLAMs house millions of resources that are unavailable or insufficient online. We need users to advocate for and generate high-quality, freely-licensed images of GLAM holdings.
Teach. Wikpedians can inform and recruit others about contributing. You could brief GLAM staff, lead classes or open houses, or instruct your students.
Reside. A Wikipedian In Residence works with a specific GLAM to examine and execute ways to forge mutually beneficial ties between institutions and Wikipedia. A burgeoning number of GLAMs are interested in hosting—and funding—positions like this.
How can I contribute online?
Write. Wikipedia is never finished, and GLAM content is no exception. Institutions, artists, techniques, and individual objects can all have articles written about them. Some of these articles already exist, while other topics need to be created from scratch. Many of the articles that do exist need to be expanded or improved.
Translate. Many GLAM topics are only written about in a single language, often English. Ideally, readers should be able to access information on any topic in their own language—content related to the Musée d'Orsay, for example, should be available in Standard Chinese and Hindi, not just French and English. If you are fluent or familiar with multiple languages, why not try doing some translation work?
Upload. No GLAM article is truly complete without images. New objects and exhibits are created every day, and even some older works have never had high-quality, freely-licensed photographs created of them.
Distribute. Larger institutions often upload thousands of files at a time, but these efforts can go to waste unless the reader actually sees the content. Whenever files are uploaded, we need diligent users to find articles in which the new material can be used effectively.
Transcribe. When older documents are digitized, it is not always possible for their contents to be transcribed automatically. If you've got a good eye, try transcribing these documents to Wikisource. Maintaining an accurate and complete online record of digitized documents can greatly improve the availability and accessibility of information, particularly for researchers and content editors.
Looking for Basic Information?
Learn about current projects with the GLAM One-Pager.
