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Monmouthpedia

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Monmouthpedia
The project's logo, stylised to look like the Wikipedia wordmark.
Available inMultilingual[1]
Created by
  • John Cummings
  • Roger Bamkin
URLmonmouthpedia.org
CommercialNo
Introductory video to the project (in English, with French subtitles)

Monmouthpedia (stylised as MonmouthpediA) is a collaborative project linking the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia and the town of Monmouth in South Wales.[2]

The project uses QRpedia QR codes to provide multilingual smart phone access to Wikipedia articles covering notable subjects in Monmouth, such as places, people, artefacts, flora and fauna.[3] It was formally launched on 19 May 2012, and led to Monmouth being described as the "world's first Wikipedia town".[4][5][6]

Inception

The idea of Monmouthpedia was conceived in late 2011 by John Cummings, a resident of Monmouth. Cummings attended a TEDx event in Bristol which discussed the QRpedia project in use at Derby Museum and Art Gallery.[7] Cummings founded the project with chair of Wikimedia UK, Roger Bamkin, who co-founded QRpedia. The project was subsequently supported by Monmouthshire County Council, and the council-owned Shire Hall later announced plans to instate a Wikipedian-in-Residence and introduce sessions to help visitors with contributions to the project.[7]

Monmouthpedia's initial goal was to have 1,000 Wikipedia articles linked by April 2012, with each article having a corresponding ceramic plaque emblazoned with a QR code.[8] By May, the project's home page reported 712 new and improved articles in 25 different languages. For non-English speakers, where available, articles in other languages are automatically displayed in the language of the user on the basis of the phone's language configuration. At project launch, some 500 articles in other languages were available thanks to the collaboration of editors abroard.[9] In addition to this, the project covers over 250 pre-existing entries on Monmouth-related topics. In the same period, over 1,000 photographs were uploaded.[10]

Monmouth Library has become the first library in the world to add QR codes to books. Users with smart phones can now instantly find Wikipedia articles on the book and its author. Priority has been given to local literature and Welsh titles but recent acquistions on the Queen's Jubilee and the Olympics have also been QR coded.[11]

Reception

Glyn Moody, writing for Techdirt, questioned whether Monmouthpedia was the future of Wikipedia.[12] He described the project as creating "a kind of fractal Wikipedia" likening it to the 2010 film Inception, potentially enabling "[a] Wikipedia within a Wikipedia within a Wikipedia."[12] Within days of the launch, the initiative had led to widespread interest. Stevie Benton from UK-Wikipedia reported that the project page had been viewed 10,000 times. Benton also reported there had been inquiries from towns in Norway, Britain, France, Scotland and Texas. One test of success will however be the project's ability to attract more tourists to the town.[13]

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, was enthusiatic about the initiative. "I’m really excited by the Monmouthpedia project," he said. "Bringing a whole town to life on Wikipedia is something new and is a testament to the forward-thinking people of Monmouth, all of the volunteers and the Wikimedia UK team. I’m looking forward to seeing other towns and cities doing the same thing."[14]


  • One of the Monmouthpedia plaques
    One of the Monmouthpedia plaques
  • World's first Wikipedia town
    World's first Wikipedia town
  • QR codes in libary books
    QR codes in libary books
  • Trialling the QR codes
    Trialling the QR codes

See also

References

  1. ^ Sawyers, Paul. "Monmouthpedia: Wikipedia's new project covering life in the Welsh town of Monmouth". The Next Web. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Wikipedia project to cover life in Monmouth". BBC Online. 30 December 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  3. ^ "MonmouthpediA – The World's First Wikipedia Town". Monmouthshire County Council. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  4. ^ "Monmouth to be Wales' first WiFi town". Monmouth Today. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  5. ^ "Welsh town of Monmouth gets Wikipedia treatment". Computer Active. 26 January 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Monmouth to be first Wiki-town". Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Review. 18 January 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  7. ^ a b "Monmouth becomes the world's first Wikipedia town". Monmouthshire County Council. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  8. ^ Morris, Steven (26 January 2012). "Wikipedia puts Monmouth on frontier of a new kind of local history". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  9. ^ "Monmouthpedia : la ville Wikipédia", GNT, 18 May 2012. Template:Fr icon Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  10. ^ "Monmouthpedia Achievements". Monmouthpedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  11. ^ "Monmouth Library First in the World", Monmouthshire Libraries, 21 May 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  12. ^ a b Moody, Glyn (5 January 2012). "Is Monmouthpedia The Future Of Wikipedia?". Techdirt. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  13. ^ Erika Morphy, "Tiny Welsh Burg Paints the Town Wiki", TechNewsWorld, 21 May 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  14. ^ Timon Singh, "Monmouth: The World’s First Wikipedia Town Launches In Wales", Inhabitat, 22 May 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Monmouthpedia&oldid=494336967"