Aim 3

During 2021-22, we were active in liaising and responding across 17 potential policy areas, including the Online Safety Bill and copyright policy consultation conducted by UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO). The long-term outcome for this aim is that Wikimedia UK’s work significantly increases free, online access to knowledge and information.

The first half of 2021 was marked with several significant wins for Wikimedia UK in terms of engaging with external organisations and shifting them towards open knowledge. After much negotiation and advocacy, we were able to launch a new Wikimedian in Residence project at the British Library. This is the second time that the Library has hosted a Residency, with the first taking place from 2012 to 2013. We hope that returning will give us rich arguments for the long-term benefits of engaging with open knowledge, as well as insights into how the Library’s approach has changed over the past decade.

A new partnership with the Science Museum was also launched in 2020, with Programme Coordinator Stuart Prior being seconded to the museum for one day a week. Early this year we secured an extension of that arrangement; a sign of the ongoing value the organisation sees in our work. Related to this secondment, but a separate appointment, is a Residency project launched in 2021. The purpose of the Wikimedian in Residence at the Science Museum is multilayered: to design and deliver training to allow staff and volunteers to contribute their knowledge and expertise to Wikimedia, to work with curatorial colleagues on underrepresented subject areas in Wikipedia where the Museum has significant institutional knowledge, and to encourage the Science Museum Group’s research community to engage with Wikimedia as part of their public engagement work.

At the University of Edinburgh, the Library agreed to fund and host a 12-week internship, with the aim of writing a high-level report on best practice from galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM institutions) engaging with Wikimedia to open up their collections. This internship represents the first time during the five-year Residency that the Library and University Collections have agreed to conduct a prolonged body of work exploring collaboration with the Wikimedia projects. The report explored past good practice and documented workflows across Wikimedia projects, culminating in a detailed report designed to assist the Library and University collections in engaging in open practices as part of the strategy going forward.