Newsletter/2016-09 news

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Wikimedia Belgium Newsletter - September 2016

Please find the newsletter of September 2016 from Wikimedia Belgium below.

The newsletter covers the period of April to August 2016.

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Upcoming events

1-30 September 2016: photo contest Wiki Loves Monuments, which has as goal to describe and depict the cultural heritage better on Wikipedia. You are welcome to take photos of monuments from everywhere in Belgium and Luxembourg and upload them for use in Wikipedia. Read more >>>
During the month of the photo contest multiple photo tours are organised on location where you can participate. These tours are on:
- 10 September: Ghent
- 11 September: Mechelen
- 16 September: Antwerp
- 21 September: Liège

16-18 September 2016: WikiCon 2016 in Stuttgart, conference for the German speaking community on Wikipedia and her sister projects.

November 2016: prize giving ceremony for Wiki Loves Art and Wiki Loves Monuments. Exact date to be pricked.

19 November 2016: Wikimedia Conference Netherlands in Utrecht, conference for the Dutch speaking community on Wikipedia and her sister projects.

Short news

In the past period two editing Wikipedia workshops have been given to employees of telecom provider Proximus. Also other organisations who like to follow a workshop editing Wikipedia can invite us to give one.

On 18 June the 15th anniversary of the Dutch Wikipedia was celebrated in the Netherlands Open Air Museum in Arnhem. There a large part of the Dutch community came together, followed a guided tour, had a dinner, and much time to talk with the other volunteers on Wikipedia.

From 22 to 26 June the 12th edition of the annual conference of the Wikimedia movement, called Wikimania, took place in the Italian mountain village Esino Lario, north of Milan.

At the end of June an international conference took place in Amsterdam for cultural institutions with as subject the digitalisation of cultural heritage. There we were present, together with Wikimedia Nederland, to explain how Wikipedia and Wikimedia can play a role in this. With the start of the conference the Dutch minister for education, culture and science, Jet Bussemaker, opened the Wikipedia writing weeks about cultural heritage.

From 19 to 21 August in Paris the first WikiConvention for the French community was organised. Also from Wikimedia Belgium someone was present and gave two presentations. One about the under-representation of female users on Wikipedia, called the gender gap (article about the gendergap). The second was about the introduction of Freedom of Panorama in Belgium (read more about these elsewhere in this newsletter).

During 100 days 100 masterpieces from museums in Brussels were brought to the attention of the Belgian public. This is the project of the 100 masters that in the period 18 May to 27 August was organised by the Brussels Museums Council. Before the 100 days started, not all participating museums had an article on Wikipedia, but now all 44 museums have an article in both the French and Dutch language Wikipedia.

Association

On 6 July 2016 special general assembly of Wikimedia Belgium was held. There, the received complaints and noticed problems around one of our board members were discussed.

Further we have to make an annual report to give insight over the past year.

Read more >>>

Education

For several years a Wikipedia class is organized in Kortrijk, where students write articles on Wikipedia. Also in the autumn of 2016 a new Wikipedia class is launched. Read more >>>

Cultural institutions (GLAM)

Brussels writing weeks

From 4 to 17 April we organised in Brussels and on Wikipedia the Brussels writing weeks. We called existing and new editors to write about the Brussels Capital Region to get this region better described on Wikipedia. We also organised 11 writing sessions on location were interested people could work under guidance on Wikipedia articles and could ask questions to experienced Wikipedia editors. Read more >>>

Wiki Loves Art

Logo Wiki Loves Art

In July and August we organised the photo contest Wiki Loves Art, where we asked photographers and art lovers to take photos in the participating museums. Throughout Belgium, in these two months various museums and libraries opened their doors to get in this way better described and visible on Wikipedia and to make their managed heritage more accessible to the global audience. Read more >>>

Wiki Loves Monuments

Logo Wiki Loves Monuments

In September it is traditionally time for the photo contest around monuments in Belgium and Luxembourg. Since 2011 we hold this competition annually to get the cultural heritage of Belgium and Luxembourg better described and depicted on Wikipedia. Also in this edition, anyone can participate by example in his or her area by taking photos of monuments.

Also four photo tours are organised. Read more >>>

Other

Freedom of Panorama in Belgium

After many years of problems and asking attention for this problem for more than a year, Belgium got Freedom of Panorama in 15 July 2016. Freedom of Panorama means that you are free to publish photos of buildings and artworks in the public space, whose author is not deceased 70 or more years ago. For Wikipedia is not having a Freedom of Panorama a problem, because this results in that we can't illustrate articles about recent artworks and buildings with a photo.

On 15 July we celebrated the implementation with a launch event and the symbolic first photo was added to Wikipedia. Read more >>>

Just For The Record

Just For The Record is a project addressing how gender is represented in new media and writing/publishing tools like Wikipedia, and what influence this has on the way history is recorded. To address gender issues Just for the record organised again two events in Brussels.

During these events, observations were taken as the point of departure for lectures and discussions, followed by an intervention: a crash course in Wikipedia editing to improve gender neutrality on Wikipedia. Read more >>>

We need your help!

In the month September it is time to think about what Wikimedia Belgium should do in 2017. Do you have ideas or wishes in the area of free knowledge, Wikipedia, Wikimedia, education, etc ... Let us know! Read more >>>