GLAM/Newsletter/June 2015/Contents/Italy report

This Month in GLAM – Volume V, Issue VI, June 2015

Italy report

From Italian Parliament to libraries and Company Museums. And a Training Day too!

Italian Parliament BarCamp

On June 22nd, a group of Wikimedia Italia, Wikipedia Italian community and Wikimania Esino Lario Commitee representatives was receveid at Montecitorio Palace, seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. The BarCamp, organized by Innovation Intergroup and lasted for 4 hours of intense debate, was the occasion to present next Wikimania edition in Italy, and later focused on copyright and the absence of Freedom of Panorama in Italian law. Undersecretary of Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities Francesca Barracciu dimonstrated great interest and openness regarding to issued raised from Wiki Loves Monuments Italian edition and willingness to simplify bureaucratic procedures around it.

A complete video and a gallery of images of the event are available.

Wikimedia Italia and Company Museums Association Museimpresa

After ICOM Italia Agreement in March, Wikimedia Italia carries on its work to reach Italian museums. In this month, we've been invited to join the annual Museimpresa meeting in the prestigious Pirelli Foundation in Milan.

Museimpresa is the national association of company museums and archives, an important, but not so well known, part of Italian cultural heritage. Industrial and manufacturing history are documented in the rich collections held by these institutions, ranging from historical food brands (such as Barilla pasta and Peroni beer), to design (Alessi, Guzzini, Kartell), fashion (Ferragamo, Ermenegildo Zegna and Rossimoda Shoes Museum, wich hosted Europeana Fashion Editathon in 2013), automotive (Alfa Romeo, Ducati, Ferrari, Piaggio, Pirelli) and many others.

GLAM-wiki projects have been described with special attention to the particular situation of this kind of institutions, where copyright and brand image issues can overlap and not only cultural but economic strong interests too are at stake.

Wiki Loves Monuments and OpenStreetMap Training Day

On June 6th, in Bologna, Wikimedia Italia hosted a training day for photographers. The goal of the day was to inform about Wiki Loves Monuments and encourage professional photographers in participating, either with pictures or as jury members.

The room was full and the topics covered ranged from licenses, to legislation about (the absence of) freedom of panorama, up to more technical ones: what makes a good picture for a Wikimedia project? What makes it good for a photographer? Color versus black-and-white, HDR and perspective were quite popular topics in the discussions. The contribution of the Italian Federation of Photographic Associations (FIAF), partner with Wikimedia Italia in Wiki Loves Monuments, helped in bringing many photo enthusiasts to the event.

Besides the photo contest, there were a session on OpenStreetMap and one about the mapping of sites of interests in the Emilia-Romagna region by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage. That last project (Patrimonio culturale dell'Emilia-Romagna) was developed in the aftermath of the recent earthquake in the region, to help in preserving historical buildings damaged by the event. The attendees liked it very much, and the goal tof having pictures and geospatial data about historical buildings was much appreciated by both wikimedians and photographers.

After the sessions, there was a practical mapping session in the city center.

10 years of Wikimedia Italia
Wiki Loves Monuments Training Day
Workshops
Mappers in Bologna
Mobile mapping
Mobile mapping again!

WikiManuzio project with Venice libraries

WikiManuzio is the new Venice libraries project focused on 15th century printer and publisher Aldo Manuzio. After a first step with Venetian libraries working with Promovetro local Consortium on Murano glass (see, for instance, some historical images from the archive and the gallery dedicated to glass tecniques), the collaboration with Wikimedia Italia continues with this new project. It celebrates, 500 years after his birth, Manuzio's fundamental work in publishing, on the background of a major initiative undertaken by Venice local administration.

A firt result of the work is the complete list of Aldine editions on Italian Wikipedia, based on reliable and multiple reference works, coompiled by professionals working directly on this issue thanks to the collections they hold.

BEIC Digital Library

In June, after an entire year of work, the BEIC project reached the number of 5.500 usages of 800 images from BEIC collection, of which 400 uploaded this month; over 160 articles were created on the Italian Wikipedia. Details are available via GLAMorous tool and on the monthly report in Italian.

The project page is partially been rewritten in order to better communicate its general sense to Italian librarians and further stimulate their growing interest in participation in wiki projects. In fact, BEIC is going to be an extremely relevant case study for Italian libraries and cultural institutions.

AIB Campania project

A workshop on the project promoted by the Campania Region section of National Association of Libraries (AIB), in collaboration with Wikimedia Italia, was held on Friday June 26 at the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III in Naples, in the beautiful Sala Rari.

The morning session talks focused on projects involving Italian libraries, in particular BEIC and ICCU, and the first achievements of the Campania project. In addition, two case studies were presented. The first, on the experience of information literacy on wiki projects in collaboration with secondary schools of the Potenza province. The second case showed an experience of collaborative writing of Wikipedia articles at the University of Salerno and their practical application in the contest of library collection weeding. In the afternoon, participants experienced an edit-a-thon session.

Open Jerusalem project

Wikimedia Italia took part at the Open Jerusalem Project's International Conference "Archiving a City. The Future of Jerusalem Past", on June 25 and 26. Open Jerusalem is a project focused on research on archives and documents regarding all demographic segments of Jerusalem, with the objective of producing a connected history of Jerusalem and its citizens from 1840 to 1940. All documentation and findings is scheduled to be digitised and released in an open format.

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