Introduction to Wikipedia’s sister project: Wikisource – the Free Digital Library

Safeguarding digital heritage and ‘the democracy of reading’ (Smith in Shaffi, 2015) has never been more important.

This session will introduce you to Wikisource: Wikimedia’s free library of openly-licensed source texts.

“Quotations or images from centuries ago can still touch or inspire, and as readers share this reaction online, the interested audience grows. The Wikimedia projects make it easy for people to enjoy and share out-of-copyright text, creating and satisfying a modern curiosity about past authors.”(Martin Poulter, 2015)

What will the session include?

• An introduction to what Wikisource is and how you can engage with it.
• A short practical activity where you will learn how to navigate Wikisource and proofread a page of text.
• An example of how an out-of-copyright/openly-licensed PhD thesis has been transcribed to Wikisource so the text is now 100% searchable, quality-checked and linked to from Wikipedia just 1 click away.

Pre-requisites

Basic knowledge of using the internet and some understanding of HTML markup would be beneficial to get involved in the practical activity, but there are no other pre-requisites.

What should I bring?

Desktop computers are provided but you are welcome to bring a laptop with you if you prefer. In addition, please have a think if there are copyright-free source texts you would like to see transcribed to Wikisource.

Please also create an account on Wikisource before arriving. If you have ever edited Wikipedia before, you can use the same login details.

Bookings via MyEd: http://edin.ac/2zFf00C

Header Image: Wikisource demonstration at OER16, by Stinglehammer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons