All 2013 projects | Key theme 3: Establishing free knowledge in society – Goal 4: Cooperations – Change 4.4: Continuing cooperations and identifying new projects

Project description: Wikidata meets archeology

Wikipedians meet with researchers at a symposium organized by the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (German Archeological Institute) (DAI) in partnership with Wikimedia Deutschland. (P21)

Contact / Project Manager: Barbara Fischer (Politics & Society)
Total budget: €10,500
Implementation period: November 2012 – May 2013

What is the project about?

What new opportunities will researchers have when they can access and use academic databases? This question is at the heart of the current academic discourse on the use of geo-referencing to structure databases.

Wikipedia authors and archeologists from universities and research institutes will be able to exchange views and explore the potential of collaboration between the Wikimedia projects and scientific institutions during our one-day symposium on the research topic of limes. A beta version of the limes map – the result of collaboration between Wikimedia Deutschland and the Germany Archeological Institute (DAI) – will be presented at this event.

The focus of the first half of the symposium will be on discussing georeferencing from the perspectives of the participants; following presentations on several projects, there will be a chaired discussion. We will present Wikidata and RENDER as effective partners in academic discourse.

How will this project help us meet our annual goals?

Our high-profile collaboration with the renowned DAI has already had a very positive impact on our reputation in academia. This role model project can encourage other institutions, and even individual researchers, to collaborate with the Wikimedia projects.

The idea is to present the tangible results of the collaboration between Wikimedia Deutschland and the DAI at the symposium. This result would be one of the best-practice models that Wikimedia Deutschland is aiming for (please see the “Excellent partnerships” project below).

What are the key milestones along the way and by when should we reach them?

No.	When	What
1.	November 2012 – March 2013	We will draw up the program and organize the symposium; the community and the RENDER project will produce the limes map as a concrete example of restructured community-based georeferenced data material for presentation at the event.
2.	March 16, 2013	We will hold the event, including PR activities, in order to improve the response to the collaborative project in academic discourse.
3.	March – April, 2013	We will document the symposium and follow up on its results. We will also contact the participants after the event to discuss the potential for new collaborative projects.