Speaker Series: Wikidata’s 10th Birthday

At the end of October, Wikidata, the-open-knowledge-base-that-could, turns ten! What better way to celebrate than by having a series of in-depth conversations all month long profiling Wikidata Initiatives and the impact that Wikidata has had on the world. Whether you’re a Wikidata newbie, a seasoned expert, or somewhere in between, join us as we reflect on kickstarting, growing, and sustaining Wikidata Initiatives. Just in time for Wikidata’s birthday!

  • The State of Wikidata and Cultural Heritage: 10 Years In
    • Tuesday October 4, 2022 — Watch the recording on Youtube or read our summary blog.
    • We’ll learn how Wikidata is (or is not) integrated into Wikipedia, how it helps an enormous cultural institution like the Smithsonian achieve its goals, and how Kelly Doyle, Andrew Lih, and their colleagues at the Smithsonian work to keep a Wikidata Initiative going. Lane Rasberry also joins us from the University of Virginia as the Wikimedian-in-Residence at the School of Data Science!
  • What You Need to Know to Kickstart a Wikidata Initiative
    • Thursday Oct 13, 2022 —Watch the recording on Youtube or read our summary blog.
    • We’ll hear from Wikidata’s biggest fans: librarians. Namely, Joe Cera from Berkeley Law Library, Kiley Jolicouer, a Metadata Strategies Librarian at Syracuse University Libraries, and Chris Long, the Director of the Resource Description Services Team at University of Colorado Boulder Libraries. They’ll each share how they got involved with Wikidata at their respective institutions, how Wikidata projects align with libraries’ missions, and how you can start a Wikidata Initiative at your institution, too!
  • Scaling and Sustaining a Wikidata Initiative
    • Thursday Oct 20, 2022 — Watch the recording on Youtube or read our summary blog.
    • You’ve got a vision for a Wikidata Initiative that will amplify your work and make Wikidata more equitable and more complete. You may know how to get started, but how will you keep it going? Or foster community around this work? What does your institution need to do in order to support your Wikidata work? Join Bettina Smith from Dumbarton Oaks, Stephanie Caruso from the Art Institute of Chicago, Anne Chen of Dura-Europos and Bard College, and Ian Gill from SFMOMA. Let’s dive into what makes their projects successful. Their experiences may spark ideas for you as you develop your own Wikidata Initiative.
  • The Future of Data: A Community that Grows Together Stays Together
    • Tuesday Oct 25, 2022 — Watch the recording on Youtube or read our summary blog.
    • For our final birthday celebration, we’re looking to the future. Speakers Julian Chambliss, Kate Topham, Justin Wigard, and Hilary Thorsen are out there building Wikidata community. We want to know where they envision this work going over the next few years. What kinds of insights do they want their communities to have from their Wikidata Initiatives five years from now, and how do they approach their projects to achieve this?

We hope these talks present a nice forum for connecting you not only with knowledge, but also with other attendees who can build community around an idea or project you may have. These free conversations will happen once a week over Zoom for one hour. We’ll also record and post the sessions online for you to view in the event of a scheduling conflict.

We hope you’ll be able to join us (virtually) and hear all of the insights these community members have to share about Wikidata and their projects. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Wikidata than to show what an impact its made in all of these fields. See you soon!

Reach out if you have any questions: will@wikiedu.org

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