Internal:Activity report (Q3 2017–2018)

April

 * April's Wikimedia Conference in Berlin

The Bureau of Land Management, a US government agency and our partner for this event, shared news of a research tool that provides access to scans of original land titles used by the Federal Government to grant land to individuals. Available records date back to 1788. Staff from the agency demonstrated the tool by locating an 1839 document that granted land to Abraham Lincoln.
 * National Rivers and Trails Wikipedia Editing Workshop

Our partner for the event was the Agriculture Research Service, the US Department of Agriculture's in-house scientific research agency. Held in the National Agricultural Library, one of the United States' five national libraries, the event had a large turnout from both USDA staff and the general public. One of the latter began working on the Wikipedia article for the ARS when she noticed that there was no Wikipedia article for current head of the ARS, Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young. "As I read more about her," she said, "I was inspired by her story as the first African-American to earn a PhD in paper science and her career in agricultural research." She created a well-cited three-paragraph article about Dr. Jacobs-Young during the event.
 * Farm-to-Fork Sustainability Edit-a-thon

May

 * Wikipedia Photo Project at the Gaithersburg Book Festival

Volunteer Wikimedia photographers attended the Gathersburg Book Festival, a popular annual gathering of authors and book enthusiasts. The festival provided VIP credentials and workspace for Wikimedians who aimed to take photographs of all the authors in attendance, with the aim of providing high quality photos for Wikimedia Commons and for existing and future Wikipedia articles. We hope to replicate the success of the Wikipedia Photo Project at the upcoming National Book Festival.


 * Labor History Edit-a-thon

This was the fourth in a series of editing events held annual around International Labor Day. This year's event was held at the headquarters of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the United States, located a few blocks from the White House.

June

 * Capital Area Biospace Edit-a-thon

The Capital Area Biospace Edit-a-thon was held at the Rockville Memorial Library, part of the Montgomery County Library System in Maryland. The event, in the library's STUDIOi Makerspace, was well-attended by community members and experts in biological research who edited articles on synthetic biology, nanotechnology and robotics. WMDC board member John Sadowski, PhD, spoke about his own are of research, nanotechnology.
 * Wikimedia Leadership Bootcamp
 * Vietnam US Coast Guard Records Editing Workshop

Our partner for this event, the National Archives and Records Administration, is working to scan all available Vietnam Era Coast Guard logbooks into their digital collection. We worked with new and experienced editors, including NARA staff and retired members of the Coast Guard, to write articles concerning Coast Guard pariticpation in Vietnam and upload images to Wikimedia Commons.

Communications
[Mailing list metrics]

Wikimedia DC's primary method of social media outreach is Twitter, with all tweets automatically re-posted on Facebook. The platform is used for general and institutional outreach and event promotion.

Metrics generally decreased this quarter, with fewer tweets and attention-getting events and announcements to drive those metrics. However, overall engagement with social media increased despite the drop in content and traffic. Tweets accounting for significant engagement this quarter include tweets from April's Wikimedia Conference in Berlin, the Wikipedia Photo Project at the Gaithersburg Book Festival in May, and our Wikimedia Leadership Bootcamp at the National Archives in June.