 as well. So first of all my name is Jon Andersson and I'm the Executive Director at Wikimedia Sweden and with me here on stage I have Alicia Fagerving, one of our developers and we are both working very actively in the project Finding Glamms. But first let me set the stage a little bit. It is 25th of April 2015. Nepal is hit by a massive earthquake. Around 9,000 people lose their lives and much of Nepal stopped working for a long period of time. This was a very terrible loss of lives but it was also a terrible loss of cultural heritage. At this moment in time suddenly 700 temples, palaces and museums, they were damaged and for many of them there was not much digital information available. In many cases it was completely non-existent. This all prevented a fast and efficient response which led to more damages, more risks and more problems rebuilding both the physical buildings and structures but also of the collections. This might come as a bit of a shock for you guys. I know it did for me but at this point in time we are lacking a global database of all of the world's libraries, archives and museums. We don't know where they are located and to change this this is why we've started the project Finding Glamms. But before going into the details about the project I would like to give and tell you about what we're going to do and what we're doing and what I hope to achieve with it. I would like to just give you a little bit of a background of Wikimedia Sweden's team and what we're doing and about Wikipedia and Wikidata, two of the platforms that we are contributing to in this project. Wikimedia Sweden we are a non-profit organization. We were founded in 2007 and we are working to promote and support free knowledge. We work with most of the cultural heritage sector organizations in Sweden and we have a tech team that is actively working on growing and supporting the technical support we can give to our partners as to help them share their content and Alissa is one of the developers that are working with that. One of the core platforms we are actively working with or working on is Wikipedia and with the more than 500 million people that go there every month to search for information reading 15 billion articles it is crucial that information there are up to date and well-sourced as possible and to give a thorough and correct representation of the history and culture of the world that is of course a central piece to provide all the knowledge of the world and this is something that needs a lot of work and knowing where the treasures of humanity are located is the first basic step. In support of Wikipedia we have started a database with facts called Wikidata and this currently holds around 59 million items it is growing very quickly with around 10 million new subjects added in the past year on this map here they are shown in pink but as you can see from this map not all areas are covered equally so Wikidata it contains a lot of information that is not shown on Wikipedia because it's also being used on other places so the information that we add to Wikidata doesn't necessarily have to be included on Wikipedia we hope that it will be in many cases will be but it doesn't have to. Wikipedias have already become the most red cultural heritage reference in the world but it's far from complete and this is something we hope to address for this project. Currently we have around 50,000 cultural heritage institutions on Wikidata this is not complete by any terms and as you can see from this map I will show you a bit better slide here we have this is the same map as you can see here it's very pretty well covered with institutions that's the blue dots here in Europe and Asia in North America some in Latin America but we know that this is not a read representation of where the institutions are located across the world it's not an accurate picture we know there are millions of libraries across the world that are not on this map for example we want to change this so what we're doing then is working to expand Wikidata with more information through the project finding labs and this is a project that we are working in together with both UNESCO where we want to work with them to find more official datasets so working with the teams at UNESCO to engage with the different stakeholders across the world have them provide us information about what datasets they have so we can add that information we're working with Wikimedia Foundation to develop software to be able to do this in an efficient way and we're the whole project is financed and supported with the generous grant from the Swedish Postcode Foundation GLAMS as in the finding GLAMS project is an acronym for cultural heritage institutions galleries libraries archives and museums what is cool with when we bring all this information onto Wikidata about these GLAM institutions we're doing Wikidata is a multilingual platform so if someone adds a fact about a museum in South Korean a museum in South Korea in Korean it will also become available that information will become available for me in Swedish as well so and or any of the 300 languages that Wikidata works with so not only will this database be unique in size but it will also be multilingual as default so the data we have that we know exists it's now currently spread out in many many sources and what we're doing we're talking to different governments and volunteers and other actors that might have collected these kind of datasets to try to encounter heritage professionals and trying to bring in this information collect the the metadata about what databases exist even because we don't even know that and we're also trying to engage the general public and this is what Alyssa will talk a little bit about into a campaign to even when there is no official datasets to collect data through the true crowdsourcing so but so I mentioned that we are starting now with an index so this is kind of basic research that needs to be done to figure out what is even out there what is even existing because no one can tell us that we've been in contact with with IFLA ICOM that's the international federation library association with the museum equivalent we have talked with european and we talked with you know a bunch of players that should know if the UNESCO of course should know if this exists no one knows about it so we figure we start with trying to compile all this data what is out there and utilize you know our great community to help us with this we put them in a kind of a master index that we have on on meta now and this the idea here is that we will have really an overview of what data exists and who owns it we investigate the size of the datasets and its scope and most importantly for us the copyright status because even if there is a dataset that exists somewhere in the world if it's not under a cc0 license that so they can be updated to wiki data we have a problem we cannot include in our you know so it's easily accessible to our platforms but even though even if we cannot update it now or upload it now and integrate it we can still use this basic information but knowing that it exists to engage with the owners of that dataset and start the discussion to see can we convince them of releasing under a cc0 license so that we can then integrate it into this massive wiki data database so to say so and this for us is this is a service also not just for wikimedia sweden to go out and talk with all of these different database owners but by providing this kind of index we hope that we can engage also other wikimedia failures across the world so that they can take ownership and see okay well here in Guatemala there is a dataset it's under the the licensing is unclear we don't or it's unfree who owns it what is the who should i reach out to to convince them about changing it this is something we think can be a good way of crowdsourcing this work to be able to do that of course as everything we do we have it open accessible this index is not hidden away somewhere but it's not a spreadsheet that we you know keep for ourselves it is on meta but we really like this is a major part from us we have worked on this now like just to get the baseline up but now we really need to start engaging all of the wikimedia communities across the world to help them to add more information and we have you know already now sent out the first email to asking them for help but we kind of continue that conversation with many many players and a lot of volunteers now currently we have around 29 countries covered where we have where we know that there are data sets free or unfree but we really don't know how many we're missing we know that a lot of countries do not have any data sets for example working with the research team in seattle they are in their research project they are trying to for the first time collect information about the libraries in 28 different african states because they know that they don't have it they've already done their research that i'm talking about they've gone out and asked all the governments and they said no we don't have anything so they are collecting that data now and that data set is under CCR license because we had a conversation with them in the beginning of their project and they we we will be able to upload that so we're trying to you know work around in some areas but so with these 29 data sets that might be the 29 or the 29 countries that might be the 29 countries that actually have data sets or it might be a fraction of it we don't really know at this point um we have an interesting approach now we're gonna hopefully have an event with UNESCO uh and the national representations as UNESCO to see if we can have the basically ask the question to them what kind of data sets do you have in your countries and see if they can send that question home and bring us back that knowledge so basically what we're trying to do is creating a like this first kind of map or a mapping of the what kind of glam information even exists in the world and you know this is of course when we have done that kind of mapping we need to make that information available to viki data that means batch upload and information that is a lot of work with every individual data sets it needs a lot of cleaning and it needs a lot of you know hands handy work on it and that's you know at least it's working on a lot of that kind of stuff um very specialized expertise so we think this you know if we do this right if we get up good information on to viki data we can actively use that to you know improve vikipedia as well because we do see that there is a pretty strong consensus on vikipedia uh among the editors that most glam institutions or all glam institutions should have an article um so just knowing that they exist and where they are that kind of creates the baseline um you know at least what is missing so you know if it's if we have 100 articles about museums in russia and we know there's a thousand we know 900 are missing suddenly so they can help us you know organize targeted events uh and activities you know writing articles um taking photos of them uh something you know viki labs monument but with a glam focus for example this we think by doing that kind of activities we can create an interest among the general population for the glam is to glam institutions so that they feel that they you know are getting engaged with institutions themselves um and we can also use the data to automatically generate articles um and create them in different languages for example if if there is a language version that have a very small user base um they might want to have it automatically created we we have done similar things on switch vikipedia where there's been bot created articles millions of them actually uh we didn't do it vikmina sweden did not do that project but we know what it's it's possible to do and it's something that could be replicated quite easily so we you know we really think that this even with a limited you know effort from our side uh we can make that that content quite easily accessible for thousands of readers 10 thousand readers um to creating you know hundreds of thousands or even millions of articles if there is a an interest from the community to have that done we will not do it with without a specific request from a community i should say but it's possible we also think that it's very interesting that you know this kind of comprehensive worldwide database um it would be valuable and important for many reasons i mean we we're aiming as the vikimina organizations to or vikipedia's mission is providing the sum of all human knowledge just not the knowledge about the global north which is kind of currently as you saw on the map that's what we're providing right now this is a huge problem right um we also think that you know by providing this kind of resource doing this kind of basic work this really infrastructure that i would have thought would have been tasked to some un agency 10 years ago um it hasn't happened but you know if we have this created we have a database of public resource that can be used for education for citizens for tourists um and it should be available across the web so in many forms and and you know including for commercial and websites and apps and these kind of things and viki data kind of already provides that infrastructure so we don't need to really need to recreate it we just need to get it up there uh truly like worldwide database there could be an important research tool for academic academics because suddenly the information is structured in the same way so it's more easily handled by them um they can do you know advanced searches finding about specific type of glam from glam institutions across the world compare it much more easily um so it will be a very very useful thing to have um um kind of you know the kind of big data approach to science that is more and more recent working with um we also know that one of the main issues um as i mentioned started with my presentation with nepal the earthquakes and the natural catastrophes or you know the wars and problems that can physically threaten the institutions knowing that what they that exist and where they exist means that help can get there faster um and vikipedia and the vik media brand is is well known it's we believe that that can be an entry point also to when we have that information we can it will open up doors we can provide that information in the when there is the actual need if there is another um earthquake in nepal and we have this data you know if if we contact the red cross and provide this information or at an organization that might need it it's a way forward we can we can we can easily as a as the vik media movement we can reach places where a lot of other organizations can have done um because of the partnerships that we do have um and we can also use this kind of to understand for the vik media movement internally i mean we do a lot of glam partnerships we do a lot of work together with these institutions and we wanted to do more but it's really hard for us currently to figure out which one are we not working with uh if we want to work with the uploading information about fashion onto our platforms and do a cool project the eu scale for example we do not know what fashion museums are out there at this point in time it takes a lot of effort just to figure if you don't know them personally and then it will just continue going back to the same institutions if you want to find a newer smaller ones for example it's really really tough um having this database i think will be a resource also for the vik media community just to find new partners and form new better projects um at this point we are focusing mainly on the description of institutions that's the red box on the top um just you know figuring out where are they located um what what is the phone number for what is the website this kind of basic contact details um you can find a lot of it on google maps but far from all of it you know and again it's not really accessible then it's a commercial product that tracks you this is something else um but it is this is what we see it is as this is kind of the description of institution that the starting point there's a number of different other kind of types of information that you can add to make a fuller more rich picture of what what is in an institution and of course the aim is to continue building on this but first we know okay national museum of Stockholm of sweden is located here in Stockholm okay what kind of collections do they have that's the next step and that is something we can work with we still need to kind of figure out how to best structure that that is not a consensus current on wiki data on how to do that and all type of collections but it's an interesting next step however in parallel already now we are working on the the three bottom ones the item level metadata the item level content and the searchable content as part of this product we are investigating how we can how we can add that kind of information in a structured way and how we can connect that to wiki data so the one thing we're currently not really covering in this product is the the collection level but we you know we see that as a kind of a natural continuation for the community to discuss around and we will be happy to support that work of course but this yeah so it's mainly the red thing so far but also the in parallel a bit of the blue box as well when it comes to the state and the development goals the theme of the conference as I said one of the major things is continuing to scientific research when the data is accessible and available that is that is the development goal 9.5 we also think that this product in its current form and how we are doing and how we're organizing together with with our partners that is itself will create a lot of partnerships happening I mean if we provide this information to wiki media communities for them to actively reach out to glam institutions that is across different type of organizations and different type of actors I also think I hope that this will be a such a valuable resource that glam institutions themselves will be using this you know if you have a collection at a museum and you you feel like you're missing some pieces for your exhibition if you can figure out where that who to contact about that that could be a very valuable tool I mean of course it's a lot of this knowledge is existing in the specific glam institutions but maybe only if you worked for a long time or if you happen to find the notes that someone scribbled down somewhere if you're new to it or if you have you know have a new idea for the institution this might be the way forward for you to kind of access those partners I also hope that this can help to reduce inequality and access to free knowledge because of the multitude of languages that wiki data provides so even if there is a data set in swedish for swedish libraries that is really as accessible for a swedish speaking person or someone that's willing to use you know translation tools or you know go learn learn the language by providing it for wiki data all people can access it I just want to mention there is a parallel product that is quite similar in both in name and scope that have a presentation today in alexiwish 1215 just coming here after we're working with them of course alicia will take part in that presentation of that panel sorry presentation and workshop but that is the sum of all glams it is focusing on ingesting and focusing on ingesting and complimenting information about her institution on wiki data and putting it on to wikipedia by integrating into the info boxes that are wikipedia so they kind of take into the next step when there when there is on wiki data how can we you know get it to where people who actually read it the general user of wikipedia so to say there's not really been a scope of for us we have tried to get more larger quantities of data and just to have it available through the platforms so we have mainly focusing on adding new ones and we have to kind of target especially we have an interest for areas that are the vertiglamist user might be threatened for different reasons but well they've had a different scoping of of geographical areas they're focusing on which i think is very very complementary and as i said we we are also looking a little bit about the how the items level the the blue box that i showed before which the sum of all glams is not focusing on they're only focusing on the the first red area so to say where the institutes are located and information there so yeah so we made some progress in this we built infrastructure for the project we kind of know how the index looks now we we know what you ask for the from the community we have started batch uploading some data sets but we really do have a lot of work to do and one of the things that we realized as i said before we know there are data sets in some countries but we also know there are completely missing other countries or we know that for example in sweden there is a data set for libraries but we also know that it's not updated so how can we make that better and that is something alice will be talking about because we have a new tool for that this is okay let's change i think it's off yours oh thank you john the tool is called monumental and it's a tool for both exploring and editing data about glam institutions on wiki data in a more user friendly way the main idea behind monumental is that in order to encourage more people to make their first edits we should make it as easy as possible for them to know what data or is already out there and what should and can be added and if you've ever edited wiki data then you know that's not exactly easy to do in the wiki data interface for example to find all museums in your city you have to write a sparkle query and the thing is there are a lot of people out there who are really passionate about glam institutions who are interested in databases and who have the knowledge the data that is needed to fill in those gaps in knowledge on wiki data so our question was how can we make it easier for those people to contribute how can we gain and retain new editors and help them cross that technical threshold and the power of wiki data is that the data can be displayed and handled in many different ways you do not necessarily have to use the wiki data interface maybe you could you could edit it without ever going to wiki data and with monumental you can with just one click find for example museums in your location or in another place for example here we can see cultural heritage institutions in paris there are quite a lot of them the red markers indicate that that item on wiki data lacks a photo so a user knows that this is something they can contribute to but if you look for example at Hanoi Vietnam the situation is quite different and that's not because there are no cultural heritage institutions there it's simply because not enough people have contributed to wiki data in this area and that is a fundamental problem that we are trying to solve if you look at a specific institution on monumental you can see that it combines information and resources from the different wiki media projects you can see that this museum has a lot of pictures on wiki media commands and wikipedia articles in 2025 languages it gives a more complete picture very quickly than just reading a wikipedia article in one language and since it highlights all the images from wikipedia commands not only those that are used in wikipedia articles then the user can discover new resources and maybe use them in wikipedia articles the biggest advantage however for new contributors is that monumental makes it very easy to start editing the thing with wiki data is that in order to start adding information you need to be familiar with the different properties and how a specific type of item normally is modeled new users have to research that they have to look at a lot of example items search for documentation before they can start contributing and monumental removes that barrier by showing what's missing and makes the gaps in the information visible for example here we can see that this item does not have an instagram username and the collection size of the museum is also missing even if the reader doesn't know that information of the top of their head then they know that this is something they can help it this is something they can research and add and when you edit in monumental those edits are saved in wiki data immediately and become part of the global knowledge database and the user gives the satisfaction of seeing not provided turn into new information so that is the ambition behind monumental to help and nudge people to make that very first edit and as john mentioned we will be organizing a global crowdsourcing campaign in in october to engage people to add information about glam institutions around the world and we will be targeting glam stuff because that's the people who have both the interest and the up-to-date relevant information and we hope that this very simple first step adding a piece of data with monumental will encourage them to learn more about the wiki media project and keep contributing but of course we cannot run a global campaign alone this is something that we need your help with and we would like to work with the global wiki media community to share data about cultural institutions in your countries on wiki data what we do have is the worldwide audience through the wiki media project and the possibility to educate people about cultural heritage we have the tools and volunteers but we have many issues collecting the data the information can be spread around the wide range of sources in many languages we don't have the connections or understanding of cultural heritage institutions around the world in many instances the data is difficult to access even if you know exactly what you're looking for well so why should you participate in this initiative you will be able to make contacts with global with glam around the world and with government ministries this is something that our partner UNESCO it can help you with as we have connections with the UNESCO country delegations you can get technical support help in uploading data about glams in your country to wiki data we can either assist you in your own projects or we can upload the data ourselves and you will be able to reuse that data for other projects like wiki loves monuments improve improving wikipedia articles and so on you will get valuable experience and skills in using and improving wiki data you can get funding from us as we have a small amount of funding for running events associated with the campaign especially for user groups in the global south because that's an area that we really would like to support and get more data from and most importantly you can be part of our international global crowdsourcing campaign and engage your local community in something really really big and well you can work with us in a number of ways the easiest way right now since we're already here you can catch us and talk to us after the presentation you can you see the address on mita for the project where you can learn more about it and get in contact with us and apart from glams we are also interested in other subjects including other kinds of heritage we aim to have collected the majority of the data this year we have all the tools in place all we need is your help and your data thank you so much for coming here and being interested in this project so i think we are kind of running out of time but is there a couple of questions here at the end some clarification or something you want to know more about perfect thank you i really hope that you will then join us and try to help us both communicate about this campaign and if you know about specific databases in your countries share them with us so we can add them and we can start working with them to if they are under free licensing we will be willing and able to technically help you to batch upload them so please talk to us thank you thank you okay oh sorry i see a waving hand after all martin please so i mean for the if i understand the question correctly if we know how to label both images and and the data well at this point please add it from but at this point we have the index is uh is a table where we add information about the the links to the data sets and you know what kind of corporate status that data set has if we are if we know about it if it's unknown we add the information about that and we reach out to them and see if they can provide kind of any information around it um i don't know if that asks you a question sorry no it does not we will it's correct yeah but that is part of it to to add you know when we do batch uploading of the data sets that is part of the process also to model what information about the data set as well of course so that was it yeah in about 10 minutes