Content Partnerships Hub/Needs assessment/Research results/Wikimedia Česká republika

Notes from meeting with Wikimedia Česká republika

Date: 2021-09-17

Participants:

eva.velewikimedia.cz

michal.josef.spacekwikimedia.cz

axel.petterssonwikimedia.se

tore.danielssonwikimedia.se

Do you work with content partnerships today?

Not many GLAM corporations (only two big/strategical started), some tech wikidata cooperations, creating properties based on culture department data. Need to solve license issues with partners to make sure cooperations can move on. Need to figure out the technical parts in managing batch uploads.

Cooperation example which we are beginning: Collection of The Museum of Eastern Bohemia in Hradec Králové (museum, commons)

Another one: Collection of the Regional Museum in Mikulov (museum, commons)

What is your normal work process in collaborations with partners?

Starting up the work, so no normal process is in place. Different (strong) opinions among GLAMs makes it hard to have only one way of working. Adapting the work to what the other part wants to do and what material they have and want/can release. Starting by explaining CC to some GLAM partners. Wikidata is new to GLAMS, so explanations are needed to make sure the use is understood and when it can be used.

What are your desired content partnerships in the future?

Started working with State Regional Archives in Prague, but more funds are needed to keep it going. Volunteers can be a way to move forward, but the benefits for them have to be shown. National gallery, need to make sure objects have correct licenses and metadata have to be cleaned up. Funding also needs to be in place. Looking for grants to work with different GLAMs. Some funding available but it would be good to be able to use for whole country and not only Prague. Laws in the country needs to be updated to allow for more work with open data.

Are you having a work plan for new partners and collaborations?

Initial plan in place, but might need to be updated and changed based on how long time it takes to release photos and data and get it uploaded. Building on this to find new collaborations and partners to work with. Doing outreach at conferences and events to find new partners. Usually talking about benefits for free knowledge side, but GLAMs need to hear about the benefits for the cultural heritage sector to be more positive. For Wikidata: Counting connections (triplets?) to show use for GLAM partners. Better workflows to showcase and present data are needed. Fairly easy to add connections for paintings, but harder for archeological items as there are no prior examples in Wikidata/Commons SDC. Lack of public open databases makes it hard to add items to Wikidata.

What are your needs for a successful work with partners?

Resources (people) and funding, benefits for volunteers Tools for data and media uploads. Information about licenses to help educate partners and have them release material/data under free licenses.

What does the best support look like for a successful partnership?

Improvement of tools to make it easier to use. Tools like pattypan need to be easy enough to use by any volunteer or GLAM employee. As laws are national it’s easier to do self. Info pages and flyers could be created to use to inform partners.

Other questions or suggestions for people who would be interested in discussing these issues?

Interviews/discussions with GLAMs would be useful to see what their needs are and what we can offer to them.