File:200908280929-Liam Wyatt-Wikimedia and Museums why we need each other and what we can do about it.ogv

Presentation by Liam Wyatt at Wikimania 2009, summary per wm2009:Proceedings:101:

"Our projects have fantastic coverage - both breadth and depth - in popular culture but the same cannot be said for "high" culture. This is for many reasons, but if we hope to produce "the sum of all human knowledge" then we need to address this gap. Where this information resides is in the world's museums, libraries, archives and galleries and we must begin to work with these institutions - for our mutual benefit.

"Based on practical experiences working with many cultural institutions this presentation outlines their perspective - legal, professional, political and practical - so that we can appreciate their POV. Then, it will list a series of practical measures - many suggested by these institutions themselves - that we could take in order to learn from their best-practice and lower our barrier to entry for them to work with us.

"Both the Wikimedian and professional cultural institution communities are aware that each other is important but there is a large gap between the expectations of both groups. This leads to misunderstanding, conflict and ultimately a poorer outcome for our readers and their visitors. Both groups must evolve to meet changing requirements but we should hold out our hand first and show our bona fides."