Grants:IEG/Masterworks of Art in Wikipedia

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project:

Masterworks of Art in Wikipedia

project contact:

nosek@artlib.cz

participants:

join this idea!

grantees:

• (NoJin) Jindřich Nosek
  

advisors:

• ArtLib expert team
  

summary:

A pilot program designed to engage qualified art historians as editors of Wikipedia.

engagement target:

English Wikipedia

strategic priority:

Increasing participation, Improving quality

total amount requested:

2800 USD

2014 round 1

Project idea

The project is aimed at newly qualified editors and seeks to bring secondary benefit in improving and scaling up the presentation of important and unique artworks on Wikipedia. Published articles will contribute to a general awareness of the common European heritage.

Project goals

There are two important goals:

The presentation of Artworks in Wikipedia

Individual works of art often represent milestones in the history of human civilization. Any monument of culture stands as principal witness of the times.

In general, outstanding individual masterpieces of art are not represented adequately on Wikipedia, despite the fact that there is no lack of information in scientific journals or other specialised printed media, where some artworks have been described in depth (history, reviews, references) and well documented in photographs. This holds also for numerous gems of art in collections of the National Gallery in Prague, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and collections of regional galleries located in larger towns of the Czech Republic.

Note 1

The Kingdom of Bohemia and its capital Prague were the center of the Holy Roman Empire under the reigns of Charles IV (1316-1378) and Rudolf II (1552-1612) and preserved some superb pieces of Gothic and late Renaissance art. Czech Baroque architecture and sculpture were also unique and so was some 19th- and 20th-century art. Collections of the National Gallery and Czech regional galleries host works of art that include Dürer, Titian, El Greco, Hals, Rembrandt, Rubens, Goya, Boudin, Picasso, Klimt, Kupka, Gutfreund and many others. Modern Czech art, highly praised by foreign art critics since the 1960s, has not been published in Wikipedia to a sufficient extent so far.

New editors of Wikipedia

I organized and launched the WikiProject Art Library (Knihovna umění) on Czech Wikipedia in October 2012, with the support of a small expert team of art historians as advisers and peer-reviewers. Our most pressing and persistent problem is lack of qualified editors contributing articles on arts and artists.

We need to attract educated and skilled new editors of Wikipedia. Art historians are, in general, skeptical towards Wikipedia, do not use it as a source and are reluctant to contribute for various reasons. They are paid for articles in printed media and either consider internet websites inferior or simply lack time for voluntary unpaid work. If they decide to contribute, they prefer to send a simple text, but are apprehensive about opening articles for editing, demanding the assistance of a Wikipedian with even the most simple operations.

Note 2

Our principal project Art Library aims to contribute articles on Czech artists, galleries, associations of artists, translations from other Wikipedias, etc.

In 2013 the project fulfilled eligibility criteria set by the grant committee of the Czech Ministry of Culture in the programme Cultural Heritage, Galleries, Museums, but did not receive funding due to the low budget of the Ministry of Culture. We succeeded with our grant proposition for the programme Profesional Culture – Visual Art at the Ministry of Culture for 2014 and will obtain a moderate sum for basic needs. Small sums obtained from two Funds in 2012 were offered as prize money for best articles (selected names listed in ArtLib project), but our effort to address students of art history and secondary art school students failed. Here I propose to adopt an alternative approach to overcome these obstacles.

The Project Plan

My solution to both problems is to start asking for articles on artworks instead of on artists. Art historians, employed in galleries as curators, have a good overview of prominent individual artworks in collections, have often been involved in basic research and have a good knowledge of the available sources of information.

This experiment works with the rational expectation that any head of institution would support publicity of art collections at his/her gallery on Wikipedia. Articles in English would serve as information for potential visitors to the gallery and also for the wider international expert public.

There are about 30 regional galleries along with the National Gallery and the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and the Moravian Gallery in Brno.

I intend to visit regional galleries, to assist with editing the core article on history and collections of the gallery (we have collaborated on similar articles before) and to instruct and support selected gallery staff on editing Wikipedia and uploading photos.

We hope to get new articles for the project, but the most important and expected outcome would be a high number of university-educated specialists in art history with editing skills. We have preliminary positive feedback on this idea from the members of The Association of Galleries of the Czech Republic (a professional union of Czech art museums and galleries) [1].

Scope and activities

1. Presentation of Wikipedia to expert staff employed in galleries and a focused local campaign to attract as many new editors as possible.
2. Personal contacts in galleries as a basis for long-term cooperation with art historians with editing skills, continued on-line assistance with editing of articles on Wikipedia.
3. Personal assistance and advice to professional photographers in galleries on uploading photos to Wikimedia Commons.
4. Articles will be published in English, with the assistance of a paid translator, when necessary, to maximize impact.

Note 3

We hope that this project will be adopted by other Wikimedia communities and may expand to include artworks in public space and develop gradually into a much broader initiative similar to Wiki Loves Monuments, as “Wiki Loves Artworks”.

Scope

Personal one- or two-day visits to regional galleries organized and scheduled in advance, with intensive tutorials on editing Wikipedia and on uploading files to Wikimedia Commons. My intention is to subsequently visit all member galleries of the Association of Galleries of the Czech Republic (27 locations). [2]

I will provide personal assistance with editing and uploading, convey information on links to useful pages in Wikipedia and information on Creative Commons licences, will assist with the selection of notable artworks, advise on encyclopaedic style and will stay in touch for any on-line assistance thereafter. At least one curator and a photographer in each gallery should master basic editing skills.
Additional benefits for Wikipedia: Articles on selected outstanding artworks in every single institution on the list.
Articles will be published in English and interlinked with relevant articles on artists in Wikipedia for the benefit of readers seeking the location of a particular artwork.

The National Gallery in Prague, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and the Moravian Gallery in Brno are not members of the Association and will be addressed separately later.

Tools, technologies, and techniques

I have initiated making of the videotutorial with detailed instructions on editing Wikipedia and uploading photos. Video will be made by students and teachers at the Michael art school in Prague, work on scenario is in progress. Video should be completed before summer 2014 and will be used to support our efforts.

Budget

Total amount requested

2 300 $

I have cut budget proposal. See discussion for details--NoJin (talk) 08:24, 24 May 2014 (UTC).

Budget breakdown

Item	Cost
Travelling costs including overnight stay at some places	1 500 $
Project management The grantee will work as the project manager, lecturer and mentor	800 $
Sum	2 300 $

Intended impact

The project is targeted at profesional art historians and photographers skilled in documentation of artworks and its prime goal is a substantial increase in the number of new editors. Expected outcome: a significant number of professional employees in galleries capable of contributing high-quality articles and photographs of art to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons

Target audience

Professional art historians, students and lay users of Wikipedia worldwide.

Fit with strategy

This project will increase participation by important institutions and has potential to spread information and facilitate its reach. Regional galleries are generally centers organizing a wide scope of cultural activities for local young people, children and for the public in general, including popular events like the annual Museums’ Night that is regularly attended by large numbers of visitors.

Sustainability

This project is aimed primarily at new editors with university degrees in art history and with great potential to produce articles on art and artists. The project is self-sustained and we shall continue collaborating with galleries after the evaluation of this IEG.

Galleries are considered an integral part of our long term WikiProject Art Library. We will claim support for the next phase of the project from the respective grant program of the Czech Ministry of Culture – Cultural Heritage, Museums and Galleries. Our main project (ArtLib) is already receiving support from the Czech Ministry of Culture and from foundations (the Czech literary fund, the Gallery Smečky Fund).
If the feedback from galleries on the proposed project Masterworks of Art is strong and positive, we will expand our effort to the National Gallery in Prague, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and the Moravian Gallery in Brno as well as other museums and private collections.

Measures of success

Need target-setting tips?

• New, highly qualified, skilled and professional editors of Wikipedia.
• New articles on individual artworks created by art historians.
• High-quality photographs of art for Wikimedia Commons (publishing must be negotiated case-by-case with respect to Creative Commons licence CC BY-SA 3.0, which often represents an obstacle to any agreement with the owner of the artwork).
• The project may easily be adopted by other Wikimedia communities.
• The project may expand to a large-scale international initiative similar to WLM in the future (proposed name:Wiki Loves Artworks)

Participants

NoJin, author and manager of the WikiProject Art Library on Czech Wikipedia. The project has run since October 2012 and was successful in a grant application to the Czech Ministry of Culture in 2014.

I can expect support from members of my expert team (Ivan Neumann - former director of the Czech Museum of Fine Arts, two directors of Prague galleries, the chief editor of the art magazine Revue Art, specialist curators, an assistant professor at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts, photographers). Regional art historians have already contributed to the Art Library project in the past, as have several Wikipedians of the Czech Wikipedia community.

Community Discussion

Discussion

• I have two caveats about this project. The first is that is is moving in the direction of being original research, which has to absolutely be avoided. The second is that moving to one article per artwork may meet with some resistance when translating the content for en.wiki; to overcome this I suggest structuring the articles in a way that would allow them to be readily included as sections in the artists article if necessary. Stuartyeates (talk) 20:54, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for your comment. First - articles will not be much different from those already existing, like en:Apollo and Daphne (Bernini). Second - there are already categories like en:Category:Works of art by period, so putting artworks from different countries into the historical context might help readers interested in comparative studies. Third - important artworks should have separate articles in Wikipedia (wiki-linked to artists, places, galleries, etc.), similar to articles on individual buildings, archaeological sites, national emblems, public statues, etc. However, the prime goal of this project is to attract new editors, who, hopefully, would contribute on different subjects of art subsequently (including artists, galleries, history of arts, etc.).--NoJin (talk) 10:26, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

There will be tons of sources, although it sounds as if ones in the Czech language will be most often used. Why resistance? We have thousands of articles on individual works, admittedly mostly paintings and sculptures, and in the medieval and earlier periods the artists' names are normally unknown. See Category:Collection_of_the_British_Museum for a couple of hundred very varied articles, including a number of FAs. Johnbod (talk) 10:24, 15 April 2014 (UTC)

• I would love it if the project found a way to incorporate multiple editing sessions with the same set of people: there's pretty good evidence that one-off editathons have relatively low retention rates, whereas multiple sessions with the same set of people have much higher retention rates - and obviously, the more retained editors the better. That said, given the low cost and potentially large benefit (and in an underserved area, too) of the project, I think this should easily be approved. Kevin (talk) 23:41, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

We shall not have enough tutors for multiple editing sessions, I am afraid. I intend to create some foothold in each gallery, foster contacts and be prepared to assist on line, when necessary.--NoJin (talk) 15:10, 16 April 2014 (UTC)

• I like the focus on articles on Artworks rather than artists, as long as we remember that not every artwork is going to be sufficiently notable to merit an article. I note that this involves paid editing, both to create the articles and to translate them into English, but I will leave discussion of that aspect to others. I'm not convinced about the emphasis on training professionals in institutions, we've had enough experience of trying to recruit institution staff to edit to establish that this doesn't seem to work, if we are trying to recruit new editors then we should be looking at groups of people who are altruists with spare time. So if we want to use this for editor recruitment I would suggest offering training to the galleries lists of friends and volunteers. But better in my view to use this as a retention program, run weekend, or in big cities weekday evening events at interesting venues with a backstage pass, maybe a talk from a curator, access to archives, an opportunity to edit alongside other Wikimedians. We are beginning to get evidence that this is good for editor retention (three years later all 10 of the existing Wikimedians who took part in the 2010 British Museum event are still with us). Anecdotally it is also good both for community building and for cross training Wikimedians in editing skills. Another tack would be to simply ask institutions if they are willing to release their writeups of artworks they display under an open license compatible with Wikipedia, I would avoid their writeups of their own exhibitions and institutions as they are invariably overly promotional for our purposes, even with biographies of artists you risk having them overemphasising the work that they happen to have in their collection, but the work on individual notable exhibits is usually mush more encyclopaedic, the product of curators rather than marketers. Jonathan Cardy (WMUK) (talk) 06:21, 15 April 2014 (UTC)

I do not consider any paid editing at the moment. Most people with University degree should be able to write in English, but some proof-reading by native English speaker will be helpful. I still hope to find volunteers and spare the reserve of 500 $ in the budget.--NoJin (talk) 15:10, 16 April 2014 (UTC)

• I tend to agree with Jonathan (but am not at all concerned by Stuartyeates's issues), although I doubt notability will be much of an issue, as the art-historical literature is huge, and pros will know where to get it. Experience has shown both that art historians are more reluctant to edit WP than many similar groups, and that works of art which are not already very well-known attract rather low views, if that is an issue. But individual works of art, and even better movements and groupings within are very proper encyclopedic subjects, and our coverage of Bohemian/Czech art is poor. Don't forget Prehistoric art, where there are many important pieces in the Czech Republic. Modern art will have copyright problems on images, and imageless articles on art are rather hamstrung. Is it an issue that other less well-represented countries will want to follow - just wait till the Bulgarians hear about it? Could be good, could cause friction. Johnbod (talk) 10:24, 15 April 2014 (UTC)
• More: 1) what does "Translations, reviews, printed matters 500 $" represent? Who is being paid for what here? 2) The proposal does not address images, which are effectively necessary in articles on art. On a quick look round Commons, the existing images of objects in the collections concerned seem relatively few and variable in quality (the National Gallery in Prague is much the strongest, as one would expect). This is one area where the local community should be able to help, if the musums themselves are reluctant, as may be the case. Johnbod (talk) 12:04, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

I suppose, that University-educated professionals should be able to write in English, but I have not found much articles on Czech art published in English and would be unhappy if the project failed for this reason. This sum is a financial reserve for translations, proof-readings, peer-reviews of articles and for technical matters like scanning (digitalization) and copying of catalogues or books. I will strive for efficiency and for saving and returning this part of the budget. Photographs should be available in the gallery and instruction on the upload of photos will be part of my mission. Czech regional galleries have a common catalogue of artworks (with photographs) called ProMus, which serves to art historians. The National Gallery and Moravian Gallery did not join in and their digital catalogues of collections are not accessible at this moment. I will make digital photographs by myself, when necessary.

I'd like to reaffirm that non-English language sources are perfectly acceptable; I do recommend including a longer format version of reference to help non-Czech editors who may work on the article down the line. If you have difficulty getting non-English language sources accepted by editors on en.wiki, feel free to ping my talk page on en.wiki for advice / help. Stuartyeates (talk) 21:11, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

Community Notification:

Please paste a link below to where the relevant communities have been notified of this proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions. Need notification tips?

• Wikimedia.cz
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Czech Republic/Members
• Czech Association of Art Historians
• The association of galleries of the Czech Republic

Endorsements:

• Community member: add your name and rationale here.

• Vojtěch Veselý – I think it is very important to make personal contacts in galleries etc. because Czech institutions are not very progressive. Hence this approach should help.

• As the WM Czech Republic board member, I have discussed this project with NoJin and very much like the idea of outreaching to professional art historians. I hope to see some measurable results in near future when this project kicks off --Vojtech.dostal (talk) 07:25, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

• The project gives a good opportunity to disseminate information about the Czech cultural heritage and art not only within the frame of Wikipedia , and it will certainly serve as a source of inspiration for Czech curators and art historians.

• See my comment above, but I endorse funding the proposal either way. Kevin (talk) 23:44, 14 April 2014 (UTC)