September 2011 starts the second year of the ongoing partnership between The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (TCMI) and Wikipedia, which first began in August 2010.
This project aims to coordinate the sharing of resources between The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (TCMI) and the Wikimedia community. TCMI’s mission to educate children and families aligns closely with Wikipedia’s goal to provide “free access to the sum of all human knowledge.” TCMI houses a diverse collection encompassing subjects such as art, science, history, and more. The distribution of this broad range of information will impact topics throughout Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and WikiBooks.
Expected outcomes
New content
A research content donation, made available on the TCMI website for free use.
An image and multimedia donation from TCMI, to be uploaded to Commons and used throughout Wikimedia.
New TCMI images provided by local Wikipedians, to be uploaded to Commons and used throughout Wikimedia.
Improved articles
The improvement/creation of Wikipedia articles across a variety of TCMI-related subjects.
The improvement/creation of WikiBooks and WikiJunior Books of TCMI-related subjects.
Sustainable collaboration
An ongoing relationship with the local Wikipedia community and Campus Ambassador initiative through special museum events.
An ongoing relationship with the global Wikimedia community through continued content sharing & article improvements.
Improved understanding of TCMI-Wikipedia collaboration through museum staff Wikipedia workshops & lectures.
TCMI youth programming that promotes knowledge of Wikipedia and improved article content.
What this project is not
There will not be a push to add external links to articles.
I
will not personally make major edits to articles (I will instead be organizing the newly available content and coordinating the efforts of other Wikipedians.)
The Children’s Museum’s Wikipedia article will not be edited by in-house personnel (myself included).
Conflict of interest
statement
I
am first and foremost a museum studies graduate student interested in helping the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis share their collections information and multimedia resources with a wide audience. I am, secondly, an unaffiliated Wikipedia volunteer who is knowledgeable of the community and culture of Wikimedia. I will serve as Museum-Wikipedia collaborator, completing a paid student internship from September-November 2010 in which I will utilize the resources within TCMI and Wikipedia to share free culture while building a mutually beneficial relationship between the two.
