Edit 2019/Open Access at the Cleveland Museum of Art: Submissions:2019/“Wikipedians are born, not made” – applying the learnings from a 10-year-old research paper after all

This submission has been accepted for WikiConference North America 2019.

On January 23, 2019, the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) announced its conversion into an Open Access institution. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication was assigned for the CMA's images and data. Consulted by Neal Stimler, and with the technical help of Multichill, Fuzheado, and Madreiling, thousands of materials and and metadata items were transferred to the Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata.

In August 2019, the Ohio Wikimedians User Group, working with the CMA and Neal Stimler, launched WikiProject Cleveland Museum of Art on the English Wikipedia. Inspired by the WikiProject Metropolitan Museum of Art from years prior, the WikiProject will work to improve the content on Wikipedia related to the CMA, including articles related to the Museum's history and collection. The collaboration between the WikiProject and the CMA to improve Wikipedia content will continue, including support with resources and future events such as edit-a-thons and content drives.

This session will provide an overview of the Cleveland Museum's of Art's transformation into an Open Access institution; the technical process used to transfer works from the CMA to Wikidata and the Wikimedia Commons; the development of the WikiProject Cleveland Museum and Art; and the development of partnerships. Anyone in attendance of this session should be able to walk away with knowledge on how these partnerships can develop, and the technical needs to make transferring content to Wikimedia possible.