Submissions:2018/Archival finding aids in Wikidata? A GLAM discussion

This submission has been noted and is pending review for WikiConference North America 2018.

Title

Archival finding aids in Wikidata? A GLAM discussion

Theme (optional)

Relationship Building & Support + Inclusion & Diversity

Academic Peer Review option

No

Type of submission

Workshop

Author

Rachel Trent

E-mail address

racheltrentgwu.edu

Wikimedia username

Retrent

Affiliation(s) (optional)

George Washington University

Abstract

What would it look like to put archival resource description (aka, finding aids) into Wikidata? Is Wikidata positioned to revolutionize the way GLAM institutions' "messiest" collections are described and cataloged--and expand the capacity for GLAMs to incorporate researcher/community knowledge? Or . . . not? Join this workshop for a quick presentation followed by group discussion.

For those outside of archives, the finding aid can be a mystifying tool. Born in a pre-computing era, finding aids were originally developed as printed and bound documents to help researchers understand what might be found within boxes of heterogeneous, hierarchically-organized materials, and also to convey historical/biographical information about entities most closely related to collections. Although finding aids have been re-imagined numerous times as the nature of collections and technology has evolved, they continue to be a niche mode of description, which feel at times like fitting a square peg into a round hole--especially when it comes to born-digital archives.

Join us to think about how finding aids might be translated into Wikidata, or how archival description at large might be re-considered in Wikidata context. Come if you have ideas, come if you don't have ideas, come if you're curious, come if you know Wikidata but don't know finding aids (or vice versa), come to find potential partners for projects.

Length of presentation

45 minute workshop

Special requests

presentation screen + computer hookup

Preferred room size

25

Have you presented on this topic previously? If yes, where/when?

No

If you will be incorporating a slidedeck during your presentation, do you agree to upload it to Commons before your session, with a CC-BY-SA 4.0 license, including suitable attribution in the slidedeck for any images used?

Yes

Will you attend WikiConference North America if your submission is not accepted?

Maybe, depends on institutional funding

Interested attendees

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