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Opening up: The National Gallery of Art’s Wikimedia project
Journal of Digital Media Management,
10
(4),
358-367
(2022)
Abstract
In 2018, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, began a project with the Wikimedia Foundation with the goal of donating its 53,000 open access images of public domain artworks to the Wikimedia Commons media repository. The project grew to include a contribution of 120,000 art object collection records to the linked data platform Wikidata and was completed in February 2020. This paper details the process of the contribution. It recounts the various stages and workflow of the project, from image preparation and metadata management to uploading and organising the images and data on Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata. It outlines some of the major challenges faced during the contribution process and discusses some of the various tools used to complete the project. Finally, it describes some of the project’s results, such as audience reach and user engagement, and outlines possible future steps.
Keywords: museums; open access; Wikimedia Commons; Wikidata; art; digital humanities
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Benjamin Zweig is Digital Projects Coordinator in the Digital Experience and Imaging department at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. He was previously the Robert H. Smith Postdoctoral Research Associate for Digital Art History at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts. He earned his PhD in the history of art at Boston University, an MA from Tufts University and a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. A digital humanist, art historian (medievalist) and museum professional specialising in open cultural heritage, he has received awards from Boston University, the Kress Foundation, the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study and the Fulbright Program.
