intro to wikisource

AN INTRO TO WIKISOURCETHE FREE CONTENT LIBRARY

“Without libraries, we have no past and no future.”

Ray Bradbury.

FIRST, PLEASE CREATE AN ACCOUNT ON WIKISOURCE AS WE WILL HAVE A PRACTICAL DEMO SHORTLY.

HTTPS://EN.WIKISOURCE.ORG

WELCOME TO OUR WIKI SHOWCASE!

• 10:00am to 11:05am – WIKISOURCE SHOWCASE (Pentland West)

Ewan McAndrew, Wikimedian in Residence – University of Edinburgh.Martin Poulter, Wikimedian in Residence – Bodleian Library, Oxford

University.

• 11:30am to 12:45pm – WIKIDATA SHOWCASE (Pentland West).

Navino Evans, Wikidata Volunteer and Co-founder of Histropedia.Ewan McAndrew, Wikimedian at Edinburgh University.

• 2.15pm to 3pm – WIKIDATA – ADVANCED QUERY WORKSHOP (Holyrood).

Navino Evans, Wikidata Volunteer and Co-founder of Histropedia.Ewan McAndrew, Wikimedian at Edinburgh University.

WIKIMEDIA’S FAMILY OF OPEN KNOWLEDGE PROJECTS

• https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Our_projects

https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Our_projects

Wikimedia Tool Labs

WELCOME TO THE WIKISOURCE LIBRARY!

“[Libraries are] temples of learning.” Alan Moore, February 2011.

TIMELINE

• 1971 Project Gutenberg founded: the first digital library.• 2001 Wikipedia is founded.• 2003 "Old Wikisource" is founded at http://wikisource.org• 2005 Development of c.15 Wikisource language versions. • c.2008 Proofread Page extension adopted.• 2012 Wikidata founded, Wikisource data items created there.

WHAT IS WIKISOURCE?1. Wikisource is a free human-curated online digital library. It hosts

out-of-copyright & public domain texts (also CC-Zero, CC-BY and CC-BY-SA licensed texts).

2. Wikisource is a treasure trove of novels, short stories, plays, poems, songs, letters, travel writing, non-fiction texts, speeches, news articles, constitutional documents, court rulings, obituaries, eulogies and much more besides.

3. Pdf or Djvu page scans are uploaded first to Wikimedia Commons before being transcribed through Optical Character Recognition software (OCR) onto Wikisource in a searchable HTML format which is then proofread by 2 different Wikisource users for quality assurance.

4. The result is an online text library which is free to anyone to read with the added benefits that the text is quality assured, completely searchable AND downloadable (pdf, epub & mobi formats).

WHAT DOES IT DO?• “Libraries are about freedom. Freedom to read, freedom of

ideas, freedom of communication. They are about education (which is not a process that finishes the day we leave school or university), about entertainment, about making safe spaces, and about access to information.” (Neil Gaiman, 2013)

“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)

IT’S NOT WHAT YOU DO…IT’S WHAT IT DOES TO YOU

READING IS THE MAIN POINT OF WIKISOURCE.JOURNEYING DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

• If you have a library… you have a wide spread of knowledge which allows for randomness, original paths of learning you can forge for yourself into little trodden corners or odd, bright side paths.

• Side paths that so many who used libraries in their youth can tell you, turned into brilliant journeys, potentials, life changing moments, careers.”

• Caitlin Moran, 19th April 2016.

WIKISOURCE: THE HYPER LIBRARYOH THE PLACES YOU WILL GO!

John Duncombe(1622–1687) - English clergyman and writer

Mentions in his work The feminead: or, Female genius, 1751 the work of:

Martha Peckard(1729–1805) - Poet, born Martha Ferrar. • Ode to Cynthia (1758)

Transcribing these works allows for another level of engagement i.e. why did Duncombe choose to mention this particular poet and this particular poem?

In this way we can build an 18th century web; hyper-linking between as authors pay tribute to each other and cite each other.

WHAT LINKS HERE

WILLIAM HAZLITT AND THE WEB OF KNOWLEDGE

JOHN BROWN – AMERICAN MILITANT ABOLITIONIST.

PORTALS: USUALLY LIST TEXTS RELATED TO A SPECIFIC TOPIC (PROVIDING MORE INFO THAN CATEGORY SEARCHES)

A WIDE RANGE OF TEXTS TO CHOOSE FROM

CATEGORIES ARE ANOTHER WAY OF ORGANISING & SEARCHING FOR TEXTS ON WIKISOURCE. THESE HYPER-LINKED CATEGORIES APPEAR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE.

Including: novels, biographies, non-fiction books, news articles, plays, poems, short stories, songs, letters, court judgments, constitutional documents, speeches, obituaries, suicide notes etc. Also includes different editions of text and different translations of texts.

BUILDING A CORPUS OF CITATIONS TO OTHER WORKS WHICH CAN BE LINKED TO & TRACKED USING CATEGORIES.

THE CHILCOT REPORT (2016)

LINKS FROM WIKIPEDIA DIRECT TO WIKISOURCE

Spouse: Fanny StevensonPlace of birth: EdinburghPlace of death: Vailima, Samoa.Father: Thomas StevensonEducated at: University of Edinburgh

ONE MORE LOVELY THING IS THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS ON WIKICOMMONS.

OPENING UP OUT OF COPYRIGHT COLLECTIONS’ MATERIAL TO A WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE OF MILLIONS

1.6 million pageviews in a 4 week period.

Largest spike of 490,000 views coincided with England’s shock loss to Iceland on 27th June 2016.

ADDING VALUE TO LIBRARY COLLECTIONSAdding an out-of-copyright text to Wikisource makes it more:

• Visible• Discoverable• Accessible• Searchable

• Proof-reading of texts by 2 users ensures that the text is 100% quality-checked.

• Wikisource is also a collaborative space where anyone can come join in & collaborate on the transcribing of texts.

ETHEL MOIR’S WW1 DIARY AT EDINBURGH CENTRAL LIBRARIES.

• “The diaries were kept by Ethel Moir during her time with The Scottish Womens Hospital (SWH) during World War One…..

• Ethel records in very precise, neat handwriting her “adventures” serving with the hospital in Roumania (Romania) and Russia.

• Inside the pages are her own drawings, postcards collected and photographs taken, all documenting the time she spent with the SWH unit.”

Edinburgh Central Library (above)

(left) The Scottish Women’s Hospital at Abbaye de Royaumont

Source: https://talesofonecity.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/theres-a-long-long-trail-a-winding-part-1/

MAIN PAGE

THE FEATURED TEXT• Works that have recently

been added to Wikisource can be seen on the main page in the "New Texts" box.

• Works are added to this box manually by users, so it will not list all of the latest additions, only those a user has chosen to add.

EVERY BOOK ON WIKISOURCE IS AVAILABLE IN ELECTRONIC FORMAT

Most Wikisource books originate as scans of published works which are then converted to HTML by our volunteers.

What separates Wikisource from the rest of the electronic library world is that our works represent electronic version of the books as they were produced originally (typos and all).

Our proofreading & validation process's goal is to accurately recreate the original work. There will be some difference in the layout of the book during conversion to from the restrictions of paper page of a finite size, to a electronic format that can take any shape. We also have several works that just are not available any place else.

PROOFREAD OF THE MONTH

THE RELIABILITY OF WIKISOURCE PROOFREAD WORKS

• Proofread works are those that are backed by scans available through Wikisource. The reliability of these pages is indicated by the "Proofreading status indicator" (or ribbon) under the title of the page. This is colour coded.

SEARCHING THE WIKISOURCELIBRARY

• Searching can be done with special pages, mostly the Special:Search page, or by an external search engine like Google.

• The search box available at the top right of every page uses Special:Search.

SUBPAGESMany works on Wikisource are split into several pages to make reading easier.

Usually this will be one page per chapter (or other sections if chapters are not used). These pages will usually be "subpages" of the main page, as the will be within or under the main page.

This is reflected in the page title; for example: "Mainpage/subpage".

Some works may have several layers of subpages. For example: "The Title/Part 1/Chapter 1".

Subpages will have a link up to the main page under the title.

THE RELIABILITY OF WIKISOURCE – PROOFREAD WORKS

• The original scans are available for each page for confirmation that the text you are reading matches the original printed version.

• A tab marked "Source" will be added at the top of the page, following the "Page" and "Discussion" tabs. Clicking on this will take you to the Index page for the work, from where you can access each page to view the text.

THE INDEX PAGEPage numbers are visible along the left of the text, beside the text from that particular page. Hovering over these page numbers will highlight the matching text. Clicking on these page numbers will take you to the page in the Page namespace from which the text comes.

If you do find an error, you can correct this by editing the text in the Page namespace. Please note that any mistakes in the original should be kept in the Wikisource version, although they can be noted with templates like {{SIC}}.

OTHER WORKSFor works that are not proofread from scans on Wikisource, the template {{textinfo}} on the talk page should contain all the information you need about the source of the text.

The work itself may have the parameter edition yes added in its header, which will provide an additional link to the talk page.

This is an example of a {{textinfo}} template.

This shows you from where the work came, who contributed it, who proofread the contribution and how complete it is. You can use this information to judge how reliable you feel the text to be.

LICENCING ON WIKISOURCE.All pages should have a licence at the bottom to indicate the legality of hosting and distributing the work. This template will also provide some further information about the reliability of the work. The licence templates usually describe the legal situation of the work, based on the date of publication and the date of the author's death.

There are many licence templates but most situations are covered by the following four. To create dynamic copyright messaging that will update as time passes and stay accurate when the author's death year (ADY) is known. Direction for including ADY is in each template document.

• Published prior to 1923, ADY 100+ years ago {{PD-old}}• Published prior to 1923, ADY anything less than 100 years ago {{Pd/1923}}• Published after 1922 and before 1964, Non-renewal confirmed {{PD-US-no-renewal}}• Published between 1923 and 1996 {{Pd/1996}}

EDITING WIKISOURCEEditing creates the Wikisource library.

•Adding texts Overview of the steps involved in adding texts.

•Sources How to add a book to Wikisource for proofreading.

•Copyright How to check if a book is out of copyright.

•Index pages How Index pages work.

•Proofreading

How to proofread a book for Wikisource.•Typography

How to format a page.•Validation

How to check and finish the proofreading.•Transclusion

How to add books to the main namespace.•Finishing touches

The finals tasks needed to finish a work.

A VINDICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

PROOFREADING DEMO - A VINDICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

• 1. You will each be given a page number. There are 60 pages to proofread.• 2 To do this, you will need to have an account on Wikisource and be logged in. If you

already have a Wikipedia account, you can use the same login details and login here. If not, please click Create Account to set one up now.

• 3. Click on the Vindication of the University of Edinburgh link to access the Index page.• 4. Click on the red-linked page number you have been issued with.• 5. Using the scan on the right hand side of the screen, edit the text in the ‘Page body’

section of the left hand panel so they match. For paragraph breaks, press the return key twice.

• 6. When you have completed the proofreading of the page, type ‘Checked text’ in the Summary box at the bottom of the page, and move the page status from red to yellow.

• 7. Click Save.

VALIDATING DEMO - A VINDICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

• 1. You will each be given a proofread page to validate. There are up to 60 pages to validate.• 2 As before, you will need to have an account on Wikisource and be logged in. If you already

have a Wikipedia account, you can use the same login details and login here. If not, please click Create Account to set one up now.

• 3. Click on the Vindication of the University of Edinburgh link to access the Index page.• 4. Click on the yellow page number you have been issued with.• 5. Using the scan on the right hand side of the screen, edit the text in the ‘Page body’ section of

the left hand panel so they match. For paragraph breaks, press the return key twice.• 6. When you have completed the validating/double checking of the page, type ‘Checked text’ in

the Summary box at the bottom of the page, and move the page status from to yellow to green.• 7. Click Save.

YOU ARE NOW WIKI-SOURCERORS!• “The future of the public library system is usually

understood as a consequence of technology and economics leading to the collapse of old fashioned literacy….

• Libraries are as well equipped as anyone to distribute digital media and some have done this the right way. The excellent work being done by the Bodleian Library, the British Library and the Wellcome Trust to digitise their collections and make them available is

only a tiny fraction of what needs doing, but shows it can be done.”

• The Guardian Editorial 25th August 2014.

WIKIDATA – AUTHORITY CONTROL

• ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON – {{authority control}}

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1512

THE END

THANKS FOR COMINGWIKIDATA SHOWCASE COMING UP NEXT AT 11.30AM

Email: ewan.mcandrew@ed.ac.ukTwitter: @emcandre

THE END(And they all lived happily ever after)

FURTHER INFORMATION• Join the Wikisource mailing list:

https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikisource-l• Watch a 50 second guide to Wikisource:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upn62S67Je0• Watch Italian Wikisource’s Andrea Zanni discuss Wikisource at Wikimania 2016 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdXrBLVFZMw• Watch Martin Poulter present Wikisource & Wikibooks at OER16 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsLgBDul518• Read Martin Poulter’s article on Wikisource for CILIP, ‘Shiver-inducing

• contacts with the past’, from November 2015 - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/CILIP_Update_November_2015_Poulter_article_pp42-43.pdf

• Have a go at the latest Proofread of the Month here.

“WHEN A LIBRARY IS OPEN, NO MATTER ITS SIZE OR SHAPE, DEMOCRACY IS OPEN, TOO.”