Wikipedia:GLAM/Natural History Museum and Science Museum

Welcome

Wikimedian in Residence

John Cummings was based at the museums from April 2013 until January 2014 and has worked to engage both members of staff and the public on topics relating to Wikimedia and open knowledge. John’s role included running workshops and outreach events to create a sustainable engagement with museum staff, volunteers and visitors. The aim was to help to build a long term relationship between the museums and the Wikimedia community. He worked with the museums to release content on their important and unique collections and develop methods for understanding Wikipedia’s impact on the public understanding of science.

• The end of project report is available here

The Science Museum have released 50 images under an open license, click here to view

Images released by the Science Museum, London under and open license 14-wire cable damaged by fusion at Manchester University 60-inch cyclotron, c 1930s Artificial limbs for a thalidomide child, 1961-1965 Artificial nose, 17th-18th century Babbage's Analytical Engine, 1834-1871 Babbage's Difference Engine No 1, 1824-1832 Baby Blue - a prototype polymerase chain reaction (PCR), c 1986 Stephen Hawking's computer and speech synthesiser housing Demonstration model of Babbage’s Difference Engine No 1 Early Geiger counter, made by Hans Geiger, 1932 EMG Mark Xb handmade gramophone, c 1934 Gearwheel cut-outs for Babbages Difference Engine No 1, 1824-1832 Glass flask used by Louis Pasteur Glass flask used by Marie Curie Glass prism, mounted at end of a brass tube, used by Sir William Herschel Henry Wood’s printing press, 1934 Hughes printing telegraph, 1860 Ionisation chamber made by Pierre Curie Iron artificial arm, 1560-1600 Items belonging to Florence Nightingale, Nelson and Livingstone J J Thomson's cathode ray tube with magnet coils, 1897 James Lovelocks Electron capture detector for a gas chromatograph Laennec's stethoscope, c 1820 Medicine chest used by Captain Scott, 1910-1912 Michael Faraday's chemical chest, 19th century Molecular model of Penicillin by Dorothy Hodgkin Napoleon’s toothbrush Nobel prize medal awarded to Alexander Fleming, 1945 One sample of shape-memory polymer foam, as researched for use in shape-changing aeroplanes Original cavity magnetron, 1940 Prototype photon counting system, c 1980 Punch cards in tray for Pilot ACE computer built at the National Physical Laboratory c. 1950 Quadrant electrometer built by Pierre Curie, 1880-1890 SABRE engine designed for Skylon spaceplane, 1990s Sample of Edward Jenners hair, 1823 Sample of penicillin mould presented by Alexander Fleming to Douglas Macleod, 1935 Sample radio telescope receiver, 1986 Scanning Tunnelling Microscope, 1986 Set of 16 prototype electrodes for applied potential tomography (APT), 1987 Silica Space Shuttle thermal protection (TPS) tile, c 1980 Sir Ernest Rutherford's laboratory, early 20th century Skeletal arm showing diamond coated steel pins stabilising broken bones by connecting them to steel splints Smyth's revised ozonometer, 1865 Stainless steel and ultra high molecular weight polythene hip replacement Telstar solar cells, c 1980 Template from Crick and Watson’s DNA molecular model, 1953 The physicists Paul Dirac, Wolfgang Pauli and Rudolf Peierls, c 1953 Thomson's mirror galvanometer, 1858 Trematode cyst-infected Pacific Treefrog (Hyla regilla) with supernumerary limbs Two experimental models for Babbage's Analytical Engine, c 1870 Wax anatomical model of female human head showing internal structure of skull Williamson home constructed amplifier, c 1949 X-ray spectrometer, 1912

How to get involved

Multilingual virtual museum

We want to make it easier for people to access information in museums in their own language

We want to create the world’s first truly multilingual virtual museum to allow anyone with access to Wikipedia (including those people using Wikipedia Zero) to 'visit' the museum online and provide information for the 50% of Natural History Museum visitors speak languages other than English in their own language.

• The virtual museum
• Guide to making the virtual museum with a list of work to do

Transcription

There are several letters that have been released from the Natural History Museum's collection and are available to transcribe on Wikisource:

• James Dykes
• George K Cherrie collection 1
• George K Cherrie collection 2
• George K Cherrie collection 3
• Mdlle Paula, the famous reptile conqueror

A beginners guide to contributing to Wikisource

Events

Saturday 19th October 2013 Trowel Blazers: Celebrate women in archaeology, palaeontology and geology – by creating and improving Wikipedia articles!

Join TrowelBlazers in a one-day Wikipedia editathon dedicated to improving the Wikipedia pages of key women in archaeology, palaeotology and geology. There will be practical training in how to edit a wikipedia page, support and resources on-hand to make editing easier, and we’ve even lined up a team of experts (biographers and historians) to give talks about trowelblazing women and to lend their expertise. This event is open to those new to Wikipedia and to experienced contributors. Female editors are especially encouraged to attend. Help us improve the visibility of a host of forgotten women in science! We can think of no better way to celebrate International Archaeology Day, Earth Science Week AND Ada Lovelace Day.

Improve articles relating to the history of science or the natural world

1. Add images that the Science Museum has added to Wikimedia Commons to suitable articles
2. Editing any article if you would like an image of something in either of the museum's collections it may be possible.

• 

  Welcome to Wikipedia booklet, how Wikipedia works, what it aims to do, how to get started.

• 

  Wikipedia Education Program Case Studies, How universities are teaching with Wikipedia.

• 

  Cheat sheet explaining basic Wikipedia editing code.

• 

  Creative Commons postcard explaining various CC licences.

• 

  What Wikimedia UK is, and what we have done over the past year.

Natural History Museum

People related to the museums

• Mary Anning
• Dorothea Bate
• Charles Darwin
• David Attenborough
• Andrew Carnegie
• Hans Sloane
• Richard Owen
• Bennet Woodcroft
• Henry Wellcome

Natural History Museum treasures exhibition objects

• Alfred Russel Wallace’s insects
• Archaeopteryx fossil
• Barbary lion skull
• The Birds of America book
• Blaschka glass models
• Broken Hill skull (rotates with Neanderthal skull)
• Charles Darwin’s pigeons
• Dodo skeleton
• Dwarf elephant tooth
• Emperor penguin egg
• George Clifford’s herbarium sheet
• Great auk
• Guy the gorilla
• Hans Sloane’s nautilus shell
• Iguanodon teeth
• Joseph Banks’ herbarium sheet
• Moa bone fragment
• Moon rock
• On the Origin of Species book
• Richard Owen painting
• William Smith’s ammonites
• Wold Cottage meteorite

Science Museum, London

Wikiprojects

• WikiProject History of Science
• WikiProject Telecommunications
• Women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics editathon list of articles

Information Age Exhibition

General themes relating to the upcoming Information Age exhibition at the Science Museum.

• Electric telegraph
• Broadcasting
• Telephone exchange
• Satellite
• Cell phone
• Cellular network
• World Wide Web
• Information
• Communication
• List of British Inventions
• Internet
• Internet Censorship
• Information technology
• Communication technology
• Women in science
• Alan Turing
• Nikola Tesla
• Science
• Technology
• History of science
• History of science and technology

Reports

1st Month Report

Science Museum and Natural History Museum Wikimedian Residence 1st month report During my first month of residency I have mainly focussed on researching the possible areas of collaboration, introductory meeting with staff members relevant to the project. Also carrying out presentations and informal meetings on Wikimedia projects and how to contribute to them and setting up small test projects to show effectiveness of contributing to and using Wikimedia and other open knowledge projects. Completed tasks: Set up Wikipedia pages for the project http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/NHMandSM Trial release of Natural History Museum archive content under a Wikimedia compatible open license http://www.flickr.com/photos/94013650@N07/sets/72157633348739594/ Set out possibilities for projects with Blythe House, +100 images taken. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Blythe_House,_Science_Museum_small_objects_storage John +3 volunteers took images on the Natural History Museum spirit collection tour, +200 images This month in GLAM post http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/March_2013/Contents/UK_report Met with Wikipedia volunteers from Imperial College and planned future events Blythe House tour for GLAMwiki around 500 images taken (5 existing Wikipedians). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Blythe_House,_Science_Museum_small_objects_storage_tour,_GLAMwiki_2013 Presentation and training for NHM Biodiversity Informatics group, presentation https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nYvp0PWCTvsANr9vdXsqWSek9aUKIAEz4_B9ALcenqc/edit?usp=sharing GLAMwiki presentation https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MAiSbnDiVBlQpC9X_pHdUuT5UMOYFAYeB4Qi6aIe0z4/edit?usp=sharing Improved documentation on Commons of video downloads to include process for bulk downloads http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:YouTube_files#Download Presentation to Science Museum staff 50+ people https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18HJIfQsnOrkiLJZLfDNjDUVjRrdwvy8kThhuBGR5zvE/edit?usp=sharing Natural History Museum video ported to commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Pasque_flower_-_an_Easter_rarity,_Natural_History_Museum.webm Wikihow guide to changing licenses on Youtube videos to Creative Commons Attribution http://www.wikihow.com/Change-the-License-of-a-YouTube-Video-to-Creative-Commons-Attribution Created prototype for visual multilingual crowdsourced museum guide using multilingual Wikipedia links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/NHMandSM/NHM_Galleries Created text for leaflet for donating images to commons, flickr and picasa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/NHMandSM/Image_donation Created text for leaflet for content holders at the museums http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/NHMandSM/releasing_content Point cloud and 3d model of the statue of Charles Darwin by Sir Joseph Boehm in the main hall of the Natural History Museum as tests http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=256b4a6b-a137-4917-af31-f91bdb131b94&

2nd Month Report

Science Museum and Natural History Museum Wikimedian Residence 1st month report The second month of my residency has focused on research for an advisory report for the museums on the value of openly licensing its resources and setting up training. A full list of activities as follows: Transferred 400 photos from the National Media Museum (part of the Science Museum Group to Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_the_National_Media_Museum_collection Arranged training for around 70 people, to be carried out in the next 2 weeks Talk to Science Museum staff about Wikimedia Developing the first crowdsourced multilingual museum guide using Wikipedia, including running a photography event in conjunction with Imperial College Wikipedia Society Research for reports to the museums titled: The value of open licensing content Worked with the Science Museum to release 3 videos under an open license http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:No_pain._Science_Museum_Painless_Exhibition_Series.webm http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Painfully_unaware._Science_Museum_Painless_Exhibition_Series.webm http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Virtually_Painless._Science_Museum_Painless_Exhibition_Series.webm Attended Lyme Regis Fossil Festival to talk to people about Wikimedia and open knowledge projects and created educational video with Lyme Regis Museum staff http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paddy_Howe,_Geologist_at_Lyme_Regis_Museum_gives_a_short_description_of_ammonites.webm

3rd Month Report

Due to time off and attending a workshop, time in the museum working at the residency was reduced to 2 weeks. Projects delivered within the past month A presentation to a United Nations International Seabed Authority workshop on Wikipedia, open licensing images and my work at the museums. The workshop was attended by 23 people made up of taxonomists, government contractors and an ISA representative. Chart showing breakdown of participants of Imperial College Wikipedia presentation A presentation of Wikimedia projects at Imperial College with two Imperial lecturers and one student given to a mix of 31 university students and staff. A joint presentation to Science Museum Medical team with Lane Rasberry, the Wikipedian in Residence with Consumer Reports using Skype. A brief outline of how the projects delivered link with the general objectives of the residency, and the Wikimedia UK’s mission As far as I am aware this is the first time Wikimedia projects have been presented to a representative of the United Nations. Making people aware of the work of Wikimedia and the benefits of releasing content under an open license. Giving people the tools and knowledge to be able to contribute to Wikimedia projects through training and presentations. Projects in development Reports on the value of open licensing of images for the Natural History Museum and Science Museum, working with people from different departments. Releasing 50 images from the Science Museum collection under an open license, currently in the process of surveying the Wikimedia community to guage which would be most useful and impactful. Continuing to develop a multilingual museum guide using Wikipedia. Working with the Natural History Museum video team to release videos under an open license. Planned projects Working with researchers in the Natural History Museum to set up a citizen science transcription project for scans of specimens. Working with the Natural History Museum video team to create educational content to be released under a Wikimedia compatible open license. Presentation to be used in conjunction with the value of open licensing report

4th Month Report

Due to time off and attending a workshop, time in the museum working at the residency was reduced to 2 weeks. Projects delivered within the past month Training sessions for teams at the Science Museum at Science Museum and Science Museum Library and Archives Met with Collections Trust and uploaded 70 images to Wikimedia Commons Completed report on the value of open licensing images for the Natural History Museum Blog post for the Science Museum (also available on the Wikimedia UK blog) A brief outline of how the projects delivered link with the general objectives of the residency, and the Wikimedia UK’s mission Making people aware of the work of Wikimedia and the benefits of releasing content under an open license. Giving people the tools and knowledge to be able to contribute to Wikimedia projects through training and presentations. Projects in development The Science Museum will shortly release 50 Images from the Science and Society Picture Library, I'm currently surveying staff and Wikipedia community to compile a list of images. Continuing to develop a multilingual museum guide using Wikipedia. Working with the Natural History Museum video team to release videos under an open license. Presentation to the Office of National Statistics (around 70 people to attend) Staff training for Collections Trust, uploading images to Wikimedia Commons Report on the value of open licensing images for the Science Museum Planned projects Working with researchers in the Natural History Museum to set up a citizen science transcription project for scans of specimens. Working with the Natural History Museum video team to create educational content to be released under a Wikimedia compatible open license. Presentation to be used in conjunction with the value of open licensing reports

5th Month Report

Due to time off and attending a workshop, time in the museum working at the residency was reduced to 6 weeks. The residency is now done on a part time basis (20 hours per week). Projects delivered within the past month Staff training for Science Museum teams Presentation to the Office of National Statistics with 70 attendees Presentation on the value of open licensing at Informatics Horizons conference http://scratchpads.eu/nhminformaticsday Monmouth Wikipedia training Created short term plan for releasing content under an open license for images and video Staff training for Collections Trust, uploading images to Wikimedia Commons A brief outline of how the projects delivered link with the general objectives of the residency, and the Wikimedia UK’s mission Understanding of museum staff at all levels of the value of open licensing of content. Giving people the tools and knowledge to be able to contribute to Wikimedia projects through training and presentations. Projects in development The Science Museum will shortly release 50 Images from the Science and Society Picture Library, I'm currently surveying staff and Wikipedia community to compile a list of images. Continuing to develop a multilingual museum guide using Wikipedia. Working with the Natural History Museum video team to release videos under an open license. Report on the value of open licensing images for the Science Museum Guide on the value of open licensing images for educational organisations Working with researchers in the Natural History Museum to set up a citizen science transcription project for scans of specimens. Working with the Natural History Museum video team to create educational content to be released under a Wikimedia compatible open license. Planned projects Presentation to be used in conjunction with the value of open licensing reports Implementation of virtual museum, making it more visible to visitors

6th Month Report

The residency is now done on a part time basis (20 hours per week). Projects delivered within the past month 50 images released from the collection of the Science Museum (currently viewed around 20,000 times per day on Wikipedia over 10 languages) Selection os images from the Science Museum collection added to Wikimedia Commons with their page views per day Page views of images from the Science Museum collection added to Wikimedia Commons 4000 - Glass flask used by Marie Curie, late 19th-early 20th century 3765 - Sample of penicillin mould presented by Alexander Fleming to Douglas Macleod, 1935 2575 - Artificial limbs for a thalidomide child, 1961-1965 2370 - Baby Blue - a prototype polymerase chain reaction (PCR), c 1986 1560 - Stephen Hawking's Computer and speech synthesiser housing 1310 - Artificial nose, 17th-18th century 1140 - Iron artificial arm, 1560-1600 1042 - Sir Ernest Rutherfords laboratory, early 20th century 770 - Glass flask used by Louis Pasteur, 1860s 620 - Napoleon’s toothbrush, c 1795 A small number of ct scan 3d models to be released under an open license (more information soon) Presentation at FOSS4G (20 people) Presentation to Science Museum senior curation team (all senior curators, 15 people) on the value of open licensing (link to presentation) Presentation and planning with Science Museum education department (link to presentation) Presentation and planning with senior public engagement staff member at the Natural History Museum Submitted report on open licensing to the digital team at the Science Museum Created simple guide to open licensing for educational organisations A brief outline of how the projects delivered link with the general objectives of the residency, and the Wikimedia UK’s mission Understanding of Wikimedia The contributions that institutions can make to open licensing and mechanics of doing so Projects in development More work on multilingual virtual museum Wikipedia training for the Office of National Statistics in Newport Presentation to the Office of National Statistics in London Trowel Blazers: Women in archaeology, palaeontology and geology Planned projects Photograph the Museum event (date TBA) Edit the Museum event, contributing the the virtual museum (date TBA)

7th Month Report

Projects delivered within the past month Presentations Chart showing page views per day of Science Museum images released under a Creative Commons license on Wikipedia ONS presentation at the Department for Education: Wikipedia’s role in education and how statistics work on Wikipedia, a copy of the presentation is linked to from this page. Science Museum All staff briefing: presentation on the impact of open licensing, the presentation given can be viewed here. Training events British Computer Society Women Wikipedia editathon at BCS London British Computer Society women training events in London and Southampton, link to event page Office for National Statistics training event: Wikipedia editing, link to event page Helped at the Medical Research Council Women in Science Wikipedia edit-a-thon event at the Royal Society, link to event page TrowelBlazers Talk about female paleontologists in the earth sciences library, Natural History Museum as part of the Trowelblazers event. TrowelBlazers: a one-day Wikipedia editathon dedicated to improving the Wikipedia pages of key women in archaeology, palaeotology and geology, link to the event page. A brief outline of how the projects delivered link with the general objectives of the residency, and the Wikimedia UK’s mission Understanding of Wikimedia The contributions that institutions can make to open licensing and mechanics of doing so Teaching people to edit Wikipedia Projects in development Planning at ways the Science Museum can contribute text and media to Wikipedia as part of exhibition development Planned projects Working with staff at Imperial College to look at the possibility of making Wikipedia as part of courses

8th Month Report

Projects delivered within the past month Worked with the Office for National Statistics to add 41 infographics to Wikimedia Commons with more existing graphics and future content to be added. Avoidable mortality in England and Wales, 2001-2011 Effects of tax and benefits on household income in the UK 2011 - 2012 English language proficiency in England and Wales Civil servants employed in the UK in 2013 Profile of Wales Completed the mammals gallery of the multilingual virtual museum for the Natural History Museum. Met with the Royal Society of Chemistry to organise a Women in Chemistry editathon Organised a Women in Natural History editathon at London Zoo A brief outline of how the projects delivered link with the general objectives of the residency, and the Wikimedia UK’s mission Understanding of Wikimedia The contributions that institutions can make to open licensing and mechanics of doing so Teaching people to edit Wikipedia Projects in development Presentation and training event at the Ctrl Alt Change conference. Editathon with Imperial students at the Natural History Museum Training for Office for National Statistics staff to work with Wikimedia community and to add content to Wikimedia Commons. Women in Natural History editathon at London Zoo Planned projects A study on the effect of open licensing at the museum

9th Month Report

Projects delivered in the last month Attended Tech4Open at Google HQ, run by Commons Machinery looking at the problem of attribution and credit being separated from images Attended Developing an information system for UK natural science collections Project development workshop at the Linnean Society to discuss open licensing with natural science museums Ran training with Office for National Statistics staff on making infographics available and usable for Wikipedia Business use of social media in the UK Childlessness at the age of 30 in the UK Repeat victimisation in property crimes in the UK Social variations in disability prevalence in England and Wales The health gap measured by the range in England and Wales by Gender, 2011 Wikipedia editathon at the Natural History Museum with Imperial College Wikipedia Society and ONS staff on the 27th of November 2013 Ran an editathon with Imperial College students, outcomes included the writing of a Python script to find species names on Flickr image names and checks this against existing Wikipedia articles A brief outline of how the projects delivered link with the general objectives of the residency, and the Wikimedia UK’s mission Understanding of Wikimedia The contributions that institutions can make to open licensing and mechanics of doing so Teaching people to edit Wikipedia Projects in development Women in Natural History editathon at London Zoo, Wonder Women of Natural History (click to sign up on Eventbrite) Training and editathon for university students at the Office for National Statistics Working with DCMS and Cabinet Office on a study on open licensing Planned projects A guide for museum staff on using open license content on different platforms

Final case study report - [1]