#GLAM are to be supported by Wikimedia chapters is the word. And I agree. The USA chapter is in the best position to provide the structural cohesion that is very much wanted and needed by all the chapters
As part of his gipsy GLAM live style, Liam is about to work his magic on the Europeana conference he asked on his blog for suggestions how Europeana and the Wikimedia community and projects can work together. The question raised should be bigger then just Europe, I would prefer to consider how we can improve the way we deal with GLAM related pictures, illustrations and information.
Working together with many a GLAM, we already know much of what is important to them. They are the custodians of our collective cultural history and their role is to secure it for future generations and to make it accessible to this generation.
What we can do for every and all GLAM is change some of our practices. We should ALWAYS indicate where the original material can be found. We already do this when facts are asserted and this is as meaningful for the provenance of our images. For our GLAM relations we use templates and categories that create a basis for reporting and promotion of that GLAM.
Liam was a good fellow at the British Museum, why not have a GLAM fellow at the American chapter. One or more such fellows should enrich Commons with missing meta data. They could design some reports that can be localised that inform a GLAM where there images are used and how often they have been seen. This type of information helps GLAMs justify their open practices.
When our best practices identify where originals are found, when this information is coupled with organisations like Europeana, we can get to the stage where we even know when a particular object is at a different location for an exhibition.
Thanks,
GerardM
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