Wikipedia & Museums: Community Curation

Authors

  • Liam Wyatt

Keywords:

wikipedia, museums

Abstract

This article describes how amateur Wikipedians and culture-sector professionals have significant benefits to gain from closer ties and how a shift in the understanding of the term "curator" away from either exclusivist or flattening tendencies will benefit this relationship. Wyatt argues that Wikipedia should not be referred to as merely User-Generated Content but rather as a Community Curated Work by investigating the key policies and practices that underpin its editorial standards. He discusses museum-Wikipedia relationships by means of diverse examples including a Surinamese plantation, a Roman spoon, and Bruce Springsteen!

Author Biography

Liam Wyatt

Wyatt.jpg Liam Wyatt is an Australian Wikipedian and an information access advocate. He is a graduate of the University of New South Wales where he received the university medal in history for his thesis ?The Academic Lineage of Wikipedia?. He is a leader in the effort to build collaborative relationships between cultural institutions and Wikimedia communities. Liam regularly promotes the importance of open access to information at museum events around the world. He convened the GLAM-WIKI outreach conferences in London and Canberra, convened the GLAMcamp workshop weekends in New York and Amsterdam, and was the inaugural "Wikipedian in Residence" at the British Museum. In 2011 the Wikimedia Foundation announced that he had been selected as a Cultural Partnerships Fellow.

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How to Cite

Wyatt, L. (2011). Wikipedia & Museums: Community Curation. Uncommon Culture, 2(1), 33–41. Retrieved from https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/UC/article/view/3851