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John Mark Ockerbloom: I’ve heard the lament in more than one library discussion over the years. “People aren’t coming to our library like they should,” librarians have told me. “We’ve got a rich collection, and we’ve expended lots of resources on an online presence, but lots of our patrons just go to Google and Wikipedia without checking to see what we have.” The pattern of quick online information-finding using search engines and Wikipedia is well-known enough that it has its own acronym: GWR, for Google -> Wikipedia -> References. (David White gives a good description of that pattern in the linked article.) [...] Essentially we need three things: First, we need ways to embed links in Wikipedia to the libraries that readers use. (We can’t reasonably add individual links from an article to each library out there, because there are too many of them– there has to be a way that each Wikipedia reader can get to their own favored libraries via the same links.) Second, we need ways to derive appropriate library concepts and local searches from the subjects of Wikipedia articles, so the links go somewhere useful. Finally, we need good summaries of the resources a reader’s library makes available on those concepts, so the links end up showing something useful.
"This article was taken from the November 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online. This infographic reveals the world's most influential people, born before 1950, using data from all language editions of Wikipedia. "It shows you how the world perceives your own national culture," says César Hidalgo, head of the Media Lab's Macro Connections group, who researched the data. "It's a socio-cultural mirror."
"A whole network of public libraries begins #Wikipedia collaboration in #Catalonia - http://t.co/PZY2wkjt " "The librarians now not only understand how to contribute to Wikipedia, but also how to use it as a tool for engaging their users and to reassess their collections and local funds. These newly-trained librarians will now return to their libraries and encourage users to expand their experience by contributing knowledge acquired through their research into Wikipedia.
One of the pioneering experiments within this collaboration has been at the local library of Palafrugell, a municipality on the Costa Brava. During July and August, a volunteer has been serving as a Wikipedian in Residence for the town. The Wikipedian in Residence is based at the local Library of Palafrugell, in collaboration with other local cultural centers. The Catalan Ministry of Culture wants to improve the role of local Wikipedians in Residence at libraries in order to improve local history and heritage presence in Wikipedia and its sister projects. This will also serve to offer a network of local Wiki-contact points across Catalonia."
American Libraries Magazine, the magazine of the American Library Association, delivers news and information about the library community.Wikipedia wants libraries to join the “crowdsource.” "The notion that the research efforts of a group of people with varying opinions, when aggregated, can result in better information than a specific expert could come up with—aka “crowdsourcing”—has been around for some time. It’s one of the ideas on which the 10-year-old Wikipedia is based. So it seemed only natural when one of the most-consulted websites in the world recently posted a ubiquitous banner stating WIKIPEDIA LOVES LIBRARIES. What has resulted is nationwide “editathons”—editing marathons organized by active Wikipedia users to expand and add depth to the website’s content on a wide range of cultural and historical topics."
As a librarian and frequent Wikipedia user, I think this sounds interesting: http://t.co/5y7pAxBf Wiki-meetups - "a wiki-coordinated program of distributed micro-conferences (editathons) to be held at libraries and archives in cities across North America around October 2011."
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Microsoft and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have partnered and begun work on software that takes 22 years of news archives to try to predict the future.
Using New York Times archives, Wikipedia, and 90 other web resources, they hope to prevent future diseases, riots, and death. This is one of a number of future-predicting initiatives, including “Recorded Future,” a site that analyzes news, blogs, and social media. Researchers are also trying to use Twitter and Google to track flu outbreaks. The researchers at Microsoft and Technion say that their software has the advantage over humans because of it’s ability to learn, research continuously, has no bias, and has a larger access to news.
Posted by Sarah Stierch: "Last year marked the start of Wikipedia Loves Libraries (WLL), and in 2012, WLL activities are in full swing, with many events planned in the coming month." [...] "The bottom line is that we share a common mission. We are dedicated to providing free access to information and knowledge. Wikipedians want to strengthen their articles by citing credible sources. If those sources are in print, or hidden behind paywalls, it undermines the important tenant of free access.
Libraries collect those same credible sources and make them freely available to patrons. Partnering with libraries helps keep sources free. Librarians value “information literacy,” which means teaching the general public to recognize, appreciate and rely on credible sources. Sound familiar? Teaching basic Wikipedia editing skills can be a great, practical way to re-enforce information literacy skills."
"Learners are doers, not recipients."—Walter J. "Learning" no longer means sitting passively in a lecture hall or on in front of a television or in a library and waiting to receive the "authoritative" version of what the experts think is up as if it were a Communion wafer. For nearly 20 years we have had the Internet, now grown into a medium of almost infinite paths, where "learning" means that you can Twitter directly to people in Egypt to ask them what they really think about ElBaradei (and get answers), ask an author or critic to address a point you feel he may have missed (ditto), or share your own insights in countless forums where they will be read and admired (and/or savaged.) Knowledge is growing more broadly and immediately participatory and collaborative by the moment."
"RT @CPL_NWYT: Photo: Wikipedia Loves Libraries. This is a great example of how libraries are important to the digital age. Wikipedians gathered at the library, and were given access to library resources in order to expand Wikipedia articles about miscellaneous topics."
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