Advocacy, Education, and Action:

The Wikipedia Saves Public ArtCase Study

Museum Computer NetworkAustin, 2010

Richard McCoy& Lori Phillips

Photo: IMA Photo: IndyStar

Photo: IMA

Saver of the World’s Cultural Property

1992-1994•8,000 volunteers•Surveyed 32,000 sculptures

What do you think, you want to help?

No, not really

How about a bribe?

Richard, Christina Gentry, Jasmine Parsons, Aaron Renn, IMA Director Max Anderson

What do you think, you want to help?

What do you think, you want to help?

•IUPUI Public Art Collection Created & 100s of images of public art uploaded to Flickr

•Students trained to work in the “real world” to help solve a real problem

•Students learn basics of documentation: examination, description, measurement, photographic skillz

•Students gain experience researching with primary sources, writing, contextualizing, and publishing their work in one of the world’s most important websites, rather than just turn it in to some teacher

•Students understand Wikipedia and how information is created

Results

Dean of Herron School of Art & Design

Happy Graduate Student

Richard’s IMA blog post

•40 Articles created about public art at IUPUI

•2 of the articles made to the Main Page of Wikipedia in the “Did You Know Section”Kind of a big deal

•SOS! entries updated Kind of cool

•Project worked to advocate for the importance of the collection: campus more engaged about its artwork

•Many blog and local news stories about project, an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education

More Results

Put it in Wikipedia with GIS and Magic Happens

Facebook Magic

Where’s the information going next?

Wikipedia is so interoperable I don’t even understand it.

And More Results!•Wikipedia Saves Public Art Created; WSPA Resources transportable to other art projects

•Currently 3 different approaches to the project: Community, Educators, and Museum—development ongoing

•Members working in Milwaukee, D.C., Paris, and other cities to help document public art

•Currently being used by our IUPUI Museum Studies Collections Care and Maintenance course to document 42 public artworks at the Indiana Statehouse

•Truly could become the platform for documenting all of the public art in the world

What can WSPA do for your museum?

• Lori Byrd Phillips • IUPUI Museum Studies Graduate Student, teaching assistant for the Collections Care and Management course• Developing the IMA’s E-Volunteer Program• interning as the in-house Wikipedian at The Children’s Museum• Project leader for Wikipedia Saves Public Art.

Does your institution have a volunteer program?

Does it have an E-Volunteer program?

IMA E-Volunteer Page

Main E-Volunteer Page

WSPA Resources

And it all comes together…

(If you don’t have any, we’ve got some for you)

Richard McCoy rmccoy@imamuseum.orgLori Phillips

lorphill@iupui.edu

Questions?