Press
|
Press
|
| |||
|
wikimediadc.org
Congressional Cemetery becomes the world's largest outdoor encyclopedia of American history
WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 2, 2012: The 205-year-old Congressional Cemetery in Washington is now the world’s largest outdoor encyclopedia of American history. While touring the grounds, visitors may call up an article from Wikipedia on, for example, the life of John Philip Sousa by scanning a QR code (Quick Response code) with their smartphones. Sixty QR codes on the grounds link to articles on people ranging from Congressman Henry Clay, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, David Herold, who was convicted and hung for his part in Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, and Leonard Matlovich, America’s first openly gay serviceman.
“There’s never been anything like this before in America” says Peter Ekman, a Wikipedia volunteer who installed the codes as part of a larger Wikipedia project, known as Project GLAM, which reaches out to cultural institutions. GLAM stands for Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums.
The Congressional Cemetery is a privately owned National Historic Landmark that has been closely tied to Congress over its history, but is now supported mainly by individual donations. It is home to the distinctive Latrobe Cenotaphs, 165 stone memorials, erected for congressmen who died in office before 1876. It also served as one of the most fashionable cemeteries in Washington, housing burials of Washington mayors, socialites, entrepreneurs, visiting Native American diplomats, many cabinet members, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a Supreme Court Justice. Mary Ann Hall, who ran her brothel a few blocks from the Capitol, has one of the most lavish and beautiful monuments in the cemetery.
“Since its founding in 1807, Congressional Cemetery was always intended to be a place of recreation, learning, and imagination, not simply a burial ground for the dead,” says Rebecca Roberts, Program Director at Congressional Cemetery. “The QR codes project is the twenty-first century way to encourage a nineteenth century ideal of the cemetery as an appealing and interesting place to visit.”
QR codes are already used in Wikipedia projects, mainly inside museums, where they link to articles on individual objects or art works. The Derby Museum in England and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis pioneered these efforts using a form of QR code called QRpedia. If a Wikipedia article is available in the language to which the smartphone is set, the code will automatically direct to the article in that language. Otherwise, the code will direct to the list of available languages, from which the user can select.
"QRpedia provides access to deeper levels of information while you are standing right in front of a landmark, and has huge implications for multilingual accessibility to this information. There's really nothing else like it,” says Lori Byrd Phillips, US Cultural Partnerships Coordinator for the Wikimedia Foundation.
Outdoor use of the QRpedia technology has so far been limited. In Bulgaria, the Sophia Zoo has posted a few dozen QR codes. But the city of Monmouth, Wales, has turned itself into “Monmouthpedia” by posting over 1,000 QRpdeia codes, both indoors and out. Bridges, statues, a historic courtroom, and even pubs now sport the codes.
ABOUT WIKIMEDIA DC
Wikimedia District of Columbia is the official regional chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in the District, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware. A non-profit educational organization, Wikimedia DC is dedicated to the advancement of general knowledge and the collection, development, and dissemination of educational content under a free license or in the public domain.
CONTACT
Nicholas Michael Bashour, President
Phone: (313) 377-4589
Email: press@wikimediadc.org
Contact for Project GLAM: Peter Ekman
Phone: (484) 238-3489
Email: pdekman@gmail.com
Contact for Congressional Cemetery: Rebecca Roberts, Program Director
Email: rroberts@congressionalcemetery.org
Contact for Monmouthpedia: John Cummings
Email: mrjohncummings@gmail.com
Download a PDF version of this press release
Google joins Wikimania 2012 as a Diamond-Level Sponsor
WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 30, 2012: Wikimedia District of Columbia (Wikimedia DC) is pleased to announce that Google has joined Wikimania 2012 as a Diamond-Level sponsor. Google’s support of Wikimania helps bring hundreds of people around the world who support open source, open culture, and free access to global knowledge.
"Google has been a strong advocate of open source, and we welcome their support of Wikimania 2012,” says Nicholas Michael Bashour, President of Wikimedia DC. “Through their Open Source Programs Office, Google has supported open source organizations and developers through such programs as Google Summer of Code and Google Code-in. Their support of Wikimania 2012, an international conference attended by hundreds of open source developers and advocates, shows a continued commitment to help expand and maintain an active, vibrant, and global open source community.”
ABOUT WIKIMANIA
Wikimania has been, since 2005, the premier annual international gathering of experts, academics, and enthusiasts whose vision is to empower people around the
world through free access to global knowledge. It has been previously held in Frankfurt, Germany; Boston, Mass.; Taipei, Taiwan; Alexandria, Egypt; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Gdansk, Poland; and Haifa, Israel. Additional information on the conference can be found at www.wikimania2012.org.
ABOUT WIKIMEDIA DC
Wikimedia District of Columbia is the official regional chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in the District, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware. A non-profit educational organization, Wikimedia DC is dedicated to the advancement of general knowledge and the collection, development, and dissemination of educational content under a free license or in the public domain.
CONTACT
Nicholas Michael Bashour, Wikimania 2012 General Manager
Phone: (313) 377-4589
Email: press@wikidc.org
Download a PDF version of this announcement
WikiHow joins Wikimania 2012 as a Bronze-Level Sponsor
WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 30, 2012: Wikimedia District of Columbia (Wikimedia DC) is pleased to announce that WikiHow has joined Wikimania 2012 as a Bronze-Level sponsor.
“Wikimania is the preeminent gathering of the world's knowledge philanthropists,” says Jack Herrick, founder of WikiHow. “Every year, people from all over the world convene to share ideas on how to accelerate the spread of free knowledge around the world. wikiHow.com has sent attendees to Wikimania since 2005. We are proud to support it again.”
"The support of the great donors, sponsors, and volunteers, is what makes it possible for us to bring people from all over the globe to Washington, DC in support of global knowledge” says James Hare, coordinator of Wikimania 2012. “WikiHow has been a consistent supporter of Wikimania and of global collaboration, and we welcome their participation in Wikimania 2012.
ABOUT WIKIHOW
WikiHow is a collaborative effort to build and share the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Like Wikipedia, wikiHow is a wiki, in that anyone can write or edit a page on the site. Thousands of people from all over the world have collaboratively written 135,446 how-to articles. Over 35 million people a month read wikiHow according to Google Analytics and Quantcast ranks WikiHow as the 150th most popular website. For more information, please visit www.wikihow.com.
ABOUT WIKIMANIA
Wikimania has been, since 2005, the premier annual international gathering of experts, academics, and enthusiasts whose vision is to empower people around the
world through free access to global knowledge. It has been previously held in Frankfurt, Germany; Boston, Mass.; Taipei, Taiwan; Alexandria, Egypt; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Gdansk, Poland; and Haifa, Israel. Additional information on the conference can be found at www.wikimania2012.org.
ABOUT WIKIMEDIA DC
Wikimedia District of Columbia is the official regional chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in the District, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware. A non-profit educational organization, Wikimedia DC is dedicated to the advancement of general knowledge and the collection, development, and dissemination of educational content under a free license or in the public domain.
CONTACT
Nicholas Michael Bashour, Wikimania 2012 General Manager
Phone: (313) 377-4589
Email: press@wikidc.org
Download a PDF version of this announcement
Encyclopedia of Life joins Wikimania 2012 as a Copper-Level Sponsor
WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 30, 2012: Wikimedia District of Columbia (Wikimedia DC) is pleased to announce that the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) has joined Wikimania 2012 as a Copper-Level sponsor.
"The success of Wikimania depends on the kind support of donors, sponsors, and volunteers, and we're extremely grateful for Encyclopedia of Life’s support,” says Nicholas Michael Bashour, Wikimedia DC President and General Manager of Wikimania 2012. “EOL is an invaluable resource that contributors across Wikimedia Projects can use to expand and enhance content on Wikimedia Projects that are accessible to millions of users around the globe. We are certain that the global Wikimedia community will benefit from EOL’s presence at Wikimania and we invite attendees to connect with EOL’s staff during the conference to learn more about this wonderful resource.”
ABOUT THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE
The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) aggregates data on living organisms stored in databases around the world into an open, freely-accessible and trusted resource. On EOL species pages - one for every form of life known to science - users will find text, maps, videos, sound and literature references, as well as active communities of volunteer scientists, educators, students and nature enthusiasts who work together to review, organize and extend EOL content. Organized as a consortium of leading research institutions and museums from across the world, EOL is pleased to collaborate with the Wikipedia community to provide global access to knowledge about life on Earth. To learn more and get involved, please visit eol.org.
ABOUT WIKIMANIA
Wikimania has been, since 2005, the premier annual international gathering of experts, academics, and enthusiasts whose vision is to empower people around the
world through free access to global knowledge. It has been previously held in Frankfurt, Germany; Boston, Mass.; Taipei, Taiwan; Alexandria, Egypt; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Gdansk, Poland; and Haifa, Israel. Additional information on the conference can be found at www.wikimania2012.org.
ABOUT WIKIMEDIA DC
Wikimedia District of Columbia is the official regional chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in the District, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware. A non-profit educational organization, Wikimedia DC is dedicated to the advancement of general knowledge and the collection, development, and dissemination of educational content under a free license or in the public domain.
CONTACT
Nicholas Michael Bashour, Wikimania 2012 General Manager
Phone: (313) 377-4589
Email: press@wikidc.org
Download a PDF version of this announcement
Mary Gardiner, co-founder & Director of Operations and Research at the Ada Initiative, to keynote Wikimania 2012
WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 23, 2011: Wikimedia District of Columbia (Wikimedia DC) is pleased to announce Mary Gardiner as the keynote speaker for Wikimania 2012, the international Wikimedia conference. Mary will be speaking at the opening session of the conference on Thursday, July 12, 2012.
"We're very excited to have Mary Gardiner open the conference this year," says James Hare, coordinator of Wikimania 2012. "Mary has been a strong advocate for open source and has worked extensively to elevate the role of women and increase their participation in open source and open culture. Her work fits perfectly within our vision of empowering individuals around the world through free and open access to the sum of human knowledge. We look forward to welcoming her to Washington, DC."
ABOUT MARY GARDINER
Mary Gardiner is co-founder and Director of Operations and Research at the Ada Initiative and founder of the first and largest women in open source organization
in Australia, AussieChix, which she subsequently expanded into Oceania as Oceania Women of Open Technology. Mary has served as a council member for Linux Australia, the largest non-profit funder of open source projects in Australia and as program chair for linux.conf.au, the largest Linux conference in the southern hemisphere.
ABOUT THE ADA INITIATIVE
The Ada Initiative is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing participation of women in open technology and culture, which includes open source
software, Wikipedia and other open data, and open social media. Co-founders Mary Gardiner and Valerie Aurora each have ten years of experience in open source software, open culture communities, and women in computing activism. The Ada Initiative is named for Countess Ada Lovelace, widely acknowledged as the world's first computer programmer. She is also the world's first open source programmer. For more information, visit adainitiative.org.
ABOUT WIKIMANIA
Wikimania has been, since 2005, the premier annual international gathering of experts, academics, and enthusiasts whose vision is to empower people around the
world through free access to global knowledge. It has been previously held in Frankfurt, Germany; Boston, Mass.; Taipei, Taiwan; Alexandria, Egypt; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Gdansk, Poland; and Haifa, Israel. Additional information on the conference can be found at www.wikimania2012.org.
ABOUT WIKIMEDIA DC
Wikimedia District of Columbia is the official regional chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in the District, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware. A non-profit educational organization, Wikimedia DC is dedicated to the advancement of general knowledge and the collection, development, and dissemination of educational content under a free license or in the public domain.
CONTACT
Nicholas Michael Bashour, Vice-President
Phone: (313) 377-4589
Email: press@wikidc.org
Contact for the Ada Initiative: press@adainitiative.org
Download a PDF version of this press release
