Wikipedia Sydney Seminar was held at the State Library of NSW on Wednesday 12th September.
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The keynote speaker was Andy Mabbett with supporting talks from Dr Heather Ford from UNSW, Jessica Coates from Australian Digital Alliance, Dr Frances Di Lauro from University of Sydney and Dr Toby Hudson also from University of Sydney.

The recurring theme of the day was Wikimedia Foundation’s vision:

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That’s our commitment.

and how well that integrates with the philosophy of the GLAM sector.

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Andy Mabbett shared with us the breadth of Wikimedia Foundations projects: Wikipedia, Wikidata, Scholia, Wikisource and Mix n Match, to name a few.  Mabbett explained the power of Wikidata to answer questions that Google cannot. He gave the example “list all the cities in the world with a female mayor, ranked by population size” – Wikidata can answer this in under a minute.  Later on in the day, Toby Hudson showed us some graphs produced using Wikidata, such as the average age of an author published in a journal, differentiated by gender.

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Another project that crossed boundaries between Andy Mabbett and Toby Hudson’s talks was the project Q-label.  Q-label takes the label codes given to items in Wikidata, and links them to items in a menu.  This means that the menu can be translated into a different language without the need for translation.  Toby Hudson showed us Q-label in practice with university coursework being translated into different languages, meeting the needs of the nearly 50% of students at the University of Sydney who have English as a second (or subsequent) language.

There are numerous projects that need volunteers, especially from the GLAM sector. One such is example is Wikidata’s current discussion regarding the best way to enter the data of published books into Wikicite, and they are keen for GLAM professionals to weigh into this debate.

Jessica Coates talked about the upcoming changes to Australia’s Copyright laws, bringing millions of unpublished documents and orphan works into the public domain.  This influx of new material brings many opportunities for open data projects, so if you have any ideas on some fun projects to get this data out to the public, please let her know!

Other exciting news includes the upcoming launch of the Wikijournal of Humanities, which will be an open access, free to read and free to publish journal.  It’s currently waiting on an ISSN before going live, so keen an eye out for it.

Finally, if you want to keep abreast of what is going on in the Wiki world, which is relevant to the GLAM Sector, sign up for the This Month in GLAM Newsletter.

You can now view the Draft Program for ALIA Information Online 2025 – Transformation & Disruption.

Interested in attending? Register via this the ALIA Information Online Event link.

RSVP Date: 17th March

Cost:

Members $400 | Non-Members $500| Institution  5 attendees $1800 | Institution 10 attendees $3500 | Unlimited $6000

 

One Day ALIA Member Price (includes ALIA personal members and institutional staff members): $150

One Day Non-Member Price: $200

Two Day ALIA Member Price (includes personal members and institutional staff members): $275

Two Day Non-Member Price: $375

 

 

When  is this on?

Tuesday 18th March – 20th March

Location: Online via Zoom 

Time Zoom begins: 9am AEDT

 

Program Summary:

Day 1: Tuesday, 18th March – Indigenous Knowledges (Program highlights Dialogue Session: Libraries and their Intersection with Indigenous Knowledges held on 13th October 2024).

Day 2: Wednesday, 19th March – Greening GLAMR

Day 3: Thursday, 20th March – AI

Download the Draft Program for more info.

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Poster reads draft program for Alia information online is available.

The Truck Cat Simultaneous StoryTime

Now is the time to find yourself a copy of The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel from your local book shop, library or department store.

Save the date for #librarystorytime on May 21st from 12pm – 1pm (AEST).

A man pats a cat on the head. A truck is behind him.

ALIA CPD Scheme Skills Audit Focus Group EOI

Are you an ALIA Student or Graduate Member?

Add to your ALIA CPD Scheme hours by joining the ALIA CPD Scheme Skills Audit Focus Group.

ALIA are in the process of reviewing the ALIA CPD Scheme to meet the ALIA Skills, Knowledge and ethics Framework.

As a member of the ALIA CPD Scheme focus group you can provide feedback on gaps in library skills in the Library and Information Service Workforce.

The Focus Group will begin in March. You can add the 2-3 hours contributing to the Focus Group as ALIA CPD Scheme hours.

Interested?

Email education@alia.org.au with the subject line ‘Skills Audits Focus Group’ to let the team know your interest in participating.

The front of the Ngutungka Henley library. South Australia's newest library.

RSVP by 12 February to join ALIA SA on their library tour of Ngutungka Henley Library.

When: Thursday, 13 February 2025

Location: 

Ngutungka Henley
378 Seaview Road
Henley Beach, SA 5022

Time: 6pm – 7pm (ACDT)

Cost: ALIA Members & Non – Members: FREE

Stay updated on ALIA SNGG, ALIA Special Interest Group (SIG) & ALIA News by bookmarking our ALIA SNGG Newsletter WordPress page.

Help promote ALIA SNGG by following  us on Facebook, Instagram, X and Linkedin.

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