Attribution: John Cummings Wikimedia Commons

http://content.yudu.com/A1vk2u/WyeGuide2012/resources/7.htm

http://www.raglanundersiege1646.co.uk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/MonmouthpediA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrblN3f5sx0

MonmouthpediA is a World first project which attempted to use Wikipedia (the People’s Encyclopedia) to cover every notable place, person, artefact, plant, animal and other things in Monmouth in as many languages as possible.

Devised by John Cummings and supported by Wiki Media UK, Monmouthshire County Council and local and global content creating contributors.

Philosophical underpinning - Knowledge gives us context and it allows us to appreciate our surroundings more.

The Council for British Archaeology designated Monmouth as the seventh best town for archaeology in Britain.

MonmouthpediA uses QRpedia codes, a type of bar code a smartphone can read through its camera (using one of the many free QR readers available) that takes you to a Wikipedia article in your language.

http://qrpedia.org

QRpedia is the first language detecting QR code that can connect community curated notable digital content around the world to Wikipedia.

Developed by Roger Bamkin and Terence Eden in 2011 & originally deployed in a curatorial context in Museums across the world.

People scan a QR code and are taken directly to a mobile friendly Wikipedia page written in the user’s preferred language.

Wiki Media UK statement on MonmouthpediA:

We’re working to make the sum total of human knowledge available to everyone, everywhere, for free. For this aim to ever be achievable will require mass collaboration and mobilisation of communities = local communities, but on a global level.

MonmouthpediA is the first step in this process and shows a way for other communities to follow.

Or, as our co-founder Jimmy Wales puts it:

“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That’s what we’re doing.”

In January 2012 Wikipedia was the 6th most visited webspace in the world and Wicipedia Cymraeg is identified by Welsh Government as the most visited web space in the Welsh language.

QR codes are extremely useful, as physical signs have no way of displaying the same amount of information and in a potentially huge number of languages.

Over 1000 QRpedia codes have been deployed around the Monmouth to date:

• Ceramic plaques for places exposed to the elements for articles specific to Monmouth.

• Labels for use inside buildings, e.g. for objects in museums.

• Glass stickers in the windows of shops to give information on their professions .

Articles have coordinates (geotags) to also allow a virtual tour of the town using Wikipedia's mobile apps (or the Wikipedia layer on Google Streetview) and are available in augmented reality software including Layar.

In May 2012: 550 of the articles generated for the MonmouthpediA experience were available in over 30 different languages.

Currently there is no Mobile OS to deliver Welsh articles.

Over 1500 new images relating to Monmouth shared for creative commons use in Wiki Media Commons over a 5 month period.

Opportunities for Growing Tourism

Increased PR: Launch media led to 277 stories across 36 countries, including Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Times of India, Iran Today……

Opportunity to update & change perceptions.

New infrastructure – free to use town-wide wifi.

Development of enhanced and compelling digital visitor experience.

Opportunity to engage the community in the development of product & marketing.

Evaluation & improvement – monitoring of value & volume / visitor behaviour, visit motivation and satisfaction.

Research contexts

I. Welsh heritage capital in the global digital economy .

II. Community curation and content creation :

New methodology of enabling online participation with an emphasis on local knowledge and creating new sense of place.

III. Internet of things –

Practical example of local and global virtual communities linked by a physical space – Monmouth . QRpedia codes and plaques are portals between the physical and the digital world & to an embryonic extent community has been re-articulated through the web in a multi-lingual context.

IV. Wifi Town – new test bed for digital tourism experiences and mobile/ outdoor digital inclusion research activities.

Exploring the Literacy & Lifecycle of Digital Curation

Source: DCC Digital Curation Centrehttp://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/curation-lifecycle-model

Attribution: John Cummings Wikimedia Commons