Boing Boing, 20 December 2013 link
Wikimedia UK announcement: linkRichard writes, "I work for Wikimedia UK - the UK charity that supports Wikipedia - and we just managed to get the Royal Society to hire a Wikipedian! The job description is here and the person chosen is Johnbod - a rather long-term Wikipedian from the UK. Thought you might enjoy this. He'll be talking at Wikimania 2014, in London in August, with a bit of luck!"“I’ve already been planning an exciting programme with Royal Society staff, including plenty of events. Some of these will be aimed at Royal Society staff while others are intended to meet the needs of scientists and the general public. Following our very successful training and editathon on women scientists in, held at the Royal Society in October in conjunction with the Medical Research Council, we plan a similar event in early March, around International Women’s Day. “The Royal Society Library and archives have wonderful resources, with a good deal already online, and I’ll also be looking at what we can achieve with these.”
Royal Society announcement: linkWikimedia UK is pleased to announce that John Byrne (User:Johnbod) has been appointed Wikimedian in Residence at The Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science. The residency will begin in January 2014 and run for six months, on the basis of working one day per week. Wikimedia UK is providing the core funding for the project.
It is a pilot exercise, aiming to learn the best way for Wikimedia and the Royal Society to collaborate in future. The main intended outcomes are: improving access to information about scientists from underrepresented groups, opening up the Society’s historical collections, and improving the quality of scientific articles on the Wikimedia projects. John is an experienced Wikipedian who was named as Wikimedia UK’s first UK Wikimedian of the Year in 2012, and previously served as a trustee of the charity. He has extensive content experience, including many Featured Articles. [...]
[...] The Wikimedian-in-Residence will help to organise further events to improve information about women in science as well as information about scientists from other underrepresented groups - such as those who are black or minority ethnic, disabled or gay. [...] The Wikimedian-in-Residence will help to train library staff and users in editing Wikipedia and liaise with Wikimedians [...] The Wikimedian-in-Residence will run workshops with Fellows, grant recipients and conference delegates to help them to contribute to Wikipedia and use it more effectively. [...]
John Byrne, Wikimedian of the Year 2012