Grants:TPS/SarahStierch/NMLA Conference

This request was funded up to US$ 425. Please see the discussion page for details.

User name

User:SarahStierch

User location (country)

United States

Event name

New Mexico Library Association 2013 Annual Conference, Jemez outreach & Americorps lecture

Event Web site

http://nmla.org/annual-conference/

Event date(s)

April 19, April 22, April 23

Event location (city)

Albuquerque, New Mexico & Jemez Pueblo

Amount requested (remember to specify currency!)

US $829.64

Endorsements

• Mimi Roberts, Director of Media Projects, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. New Mexico museums and libraries are working on developing partnerships that will help them to serve their communities, many of which are rural, low-income, tribal, isolated, and/or underserved minority. Wikipedia projects can be used to improve and expend content about their collections and communities, create educational and community engagement activities, and increase volunteerism. But for the most part, people here are not familiar with these opportunities. The annual conferences of the New Mexico Library Association and New Mexico Association of Museums are our main opportunities to exchange information. Having the support of Wikimedia Foundation to bring Sarah to New Mexico to meet with librarians and offer advice and training our will be a huge benefit to us out of all proportion to the investment, and will help us move forward as members of the global GLAM/Wiki community.

• Melanie LaBorwit, Educator, New Mexico History Museum/New Mexico Museum of Art/New Mexico State Monuments. I am in a relatively new position at the state Cultural Affairs office, charged with developing collaborative programs and educational content shared among museums and monuments. We recognize that many people may not get to the Santa Fe museums and that libraries are another possible venue where we may effectively reach distant communities and share resources. This summer we are planning some initiatives where Jemez State Monument and the local libraries in Jemez Pueblo and Jemez Springs may work together to develop youth programs. We hope to replicate this model at some other monuments and their respective regional rural communities at other sites in the state. The GLAM partnerships are new to me, but Wikimedia looks like an important tool to use and I hope to learn more about how this platform can enhance educational programs.

Budget breakdown

• Travel:

• Round trip flight from SFO to ALQ - $298.70

Transportation to and from the airport in both cities provided by myself and the conference hosts. (Saving over $100)

• Accommodation

• Conference hotel - 4/18 & 4/19 - $213.64 ($94 a night + tax)

The conference is located in the hotel. There are not a lot of safe and decent options nearby, and anything farther out would require me to acquire transportation to get to the conference. Besides, for networking purposes it also makes perfect sense.

• Santa Fe hotel - 4/20 - $75 ($65 + tax)

One night and then in the morning I go to the Jemez Pueblo. I am already receiving a discount being associated with the GLAM industry. Regularly $84 a night.

• Albuquerque hotel - 4/21 - $84.30 (utilizing my AAA discount, too)

One night after Jemez and then meeting in the morning with AmeriCorps and then flying back to SF. Albuquerque has very few accommodations that are located in safe and reasonable areas that are within walking distance of anything. And the hostel is booked.

• Per diem

• $42 x 4 = $168 (75% of GSA rate of $56)

Any funds not utilized wil be returned to the organization. (If people buy me dinner, things like that)

Proposed Participation

I have been asked by the State of New Mexico and the New Mexico Library Association to participate in three Wikimedia related outreach opportunities over the course of a number of days. These three opportunities include:

• Participating in "Connecting to Global Communities through Partnerships and Collaborations," a panel session to be held at the New Mexico Library Association annual conference. This presentation, organized by Mimi Roberts, Head of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, and facilitated by Melanie LaBorwit, Educator at the New Mexico Museum of History, will focus specifically on GLAM-Wiki partnerships that have been developed via the GLAM-Wiki partnership program. My experience as Wikipedian in Residence at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution Archives, and World Digital Library, have given me vast experience in the benefits of partnerships. By sharing and discussing these opportunities with librarians from across New Mexico, I will have a chance to further our mission of inspiring those who "preserve and share" the knowledge of our world to do so through partnerships with Wikipedia. I will be giving a presentation, and then sitting on a panel. I will then field questions and participate in conference outreach (before and after).

• The panel will take place April 19. I am asking for accommodations for the day before and day after at this conference. I am being given free conference admission for this one day ($80). My accommodations will allow me to maximize my networking and outreach.

• Outreach and meetings with the Jemez Pueblo and Jemez Pueblo Community Library. I will be meeting with the head librarian of the Jemez Pueblo Community Library, and meeting with community members. This meeting, facilitated by Mimi Roberts, will constitute the first Native American outreach that the GLAM-Wiki community has done. I have spoken about opportunities for Indigenous peoples utilizing Wikipedia as a cultural heritage and skill learning tool, and this will be my first chance to finally present these ideas to a Native community. (I have presented at Wikimania 2011 and the Indigenous Peoples and Museums conference about this). I also see this as being a door opener for projects like Wikipedia Zero being utilized with impoverished communities in the United States - WMF, being a US based non-profit tends to leave out those who cannot afford easy access to it's services, and Native American reservations are a perfect opportunity to provide free knowledge access to those who cannot afford smart phones and laptops in every home and hand.

• I have requested accommodation funding to support me in staying the night in Santa Fe for this trip. Mimi Roberts will be providing me transportation.

• Lecturing to AmeriCorps students about volunteerism and Wikipedia. I have been asked to present to AmeriCorps students about opportunities and the importance of volunteering for Wikipedia and related projects. This will primarily be focused on museum and GLAM volunteers, which will naturally also most likely be a female dominated group. This will allow me to not only share the merits and importance of contributing to Wikipedia (and related projects), as volunteers and as cultural heritage professionals, but the impact that their contributions can have.

• I have requested accommodations to provide me with a night in Albuquerque. The following morning I will speak to students and then fly back to San Francisco.

Goal and Expected Impact

• NMLA conference

• By participating on this panel I'll be able to not only inform a group of people we have yet to reach out too - no GLAM-Wiki events have been hosted in New Mexico - but, we'll also be able to reach out to a demographic of GLAM professionals (library sciences) known for being "easy" to excite about Wikimedia partnerships. I'll be able to share the work myself, and other community members around the world have done and be able to promote and discuss the importance of working to improve the world's 5th most popular website and its sister sites.

• Jemez Pueblo

• I will be the first US Wikipedian to do direct outreach to a Native American community. As presented in my past talk, "Indigenous Communities and Wikimedia", I have touched on the importance and Native peoples utilizing Wikipedia as a cultural heritage tool, and the opportunities to teach and educate community members about the skillsets of editing. This meeting will allow me to connect with library professionals on the Pueblo to the merits of Wikipedia partnerships, and discuss the concept of "Wikipedia on Reservation." I also hope it'll give me perhaps greater insight into what Wikimedia has failed to provide communities within it's own nonprofit borders, allowing me to have further information about how programs like the education and Wikipedia Zero projects can benefit Native communities.

• AmeriCorps talk

• This morning meeting with volunteers at AmeriCorps, mainly students who volunteer in GLAMs, will allow me to connect with "prime" tech savvy aged students and volunteers who work directly with cultural institutions. My goal at this meeting is to promote the importance of volunteering to contribute to Wikipedia and related projects, and to also promote the general mission and concepts of Wikimedia projects. The majority could be women, as women outnumber men in volunteerism and GLAM work, so this will possibly allow me to inspire and engage a New Mexico community of volunteer women to contribute to Wikipedia and help change the ratio gender gap wise on Wikipedia.

• General goal and expected impact

• I believe this will make me the first Wikipedian to do direct outreach in New Mexico. Your participation support will allow me to engage a new communities (Indigenous and New Mexican) and inspire others to get involved in our global movement. All of these events will also allow me networking opportunities - in regards to future event and activities, by meeting and greeting with GLAM and educational professionals from across the state.