Grants:TPS/Wittylama/Brisbane Library conferences/Report
 | This Wikimedia Participation Support report has been accepted by the Wikimedia Participation Support Committee.To see the original request, please visit Grants:TPS/Wittylama/Brisbane Library conferences. |
Event name: Brisbane Library conferences
Description of your participation:
- Assisted in (though certainly don't claim credit for arranging) Sue Gardner's activities in the country. Including:
- Introducing her and moderating Q&As for Keynote presentation.
- Helping to brief her for some media while in the country, including a radio interview and a newspaper interview - later reported in the WP Signpost.
- Gave post-keynote 40min presentation on the history of GLAM-WIKI (approx. 150 attendees).
- Operation (in conjunction with other Wikimedian attendees at the conf.) of the WM-Australia booth in the foyer of the conference.
- Met with many local librarians from the region and nationally who came to the stall. Many suggesting interest in having on-site WP training for their staff/customers. Some suggesting deeper collaboration (e.g. Wikipedians in residence).
- Significant interactions with Swedish Pirate Party representative (another keynote presenter) and Australia Digital Alliance representative (another speaker). Not "outreach" since they're already "friends of the family" but very good to deepen ties and relationships.
- Participated in formal meeting with senior executive of State Library of Queensland, State Archives, Wikimedia Australia and Historypin.com - significant progress in a plan for nationwide collaboration (interacting with European equivalent organisations) focusing on the centenary of WWI.
What lessons were learned that could help others in similar events?
- Due to delayed confirmation of keynote attendance this had the flow-on effect of late confirmation of attendance and decision on presentation. Early confirmation eases time pressure - though this isn't a particularly new idea! :-)
- As with many outreach events, if you're successful in presentations then the potential demand for training etc. is beyond the ability of the local community to service it. We need a plan in advance of who is available to support what, where. Not all chapters/groups have the capacity to do this of course...
What impact did your participation have on the Wikimedia Mission goals of Increased Reach, Increased Quality, Increased Credibility, Increased and Diversified Participation?
There were two conferences, both for library professionals, but different focus:
- The first was for "new librarians" - recent graduates and people beginning their career. Approximately 300 people attended Sue's keynote and approximately 150 attended my presentation following that. 90% were women, all were information-professionals and perfect (demongraphically speaking) Wikipedian potential editors. As the current generation of Australia's front-desk librarians, and next generation of managers, it was very important to be able to introduce "free culture" and our information practices to this audience.
- The second conference was for the current leaders in the library sector. Approximately 1k people saw Sue's keynote here. A more balanced gender ratio but still far more women than men. The people were, by definition, older and probably less likely to personally become editors due to other responsibilities. Attending and being available to speaks to many people in the breaks as well, greatly increased our visibility and credibility with the national (and some international) leaders in information management. This is particularly useful since our presence (and that of the Pirate Party, another keynote) was a counterpoint to the major sponsor - the local copyright collecting society.
Detail of expenditures:
- receipts matching the budgeted expenses already submitted to WMF, matching the amounts requested in the grant.