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Monmouthpedia

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Collaborative project

Monmouthpedia
The project's logo, stylised to look like the Misplaced Pages wordmark
Available inMultilingual
Created by
  • John Cummings
  • Roger Bamkin
URLen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/MonmouthpediA
CommercialNo
Launched19 May 2012; 12 years ago (2012-05-19)
Content licenseCreative Commons Attribution/
Share-Alike 3.0
Introductory video to the project (in English, with French subtitles)

Monmouthpedia (styled as MonmouthpediA) is a collaborative project linking the online encyclopaedia Misplaced Pages and the town of Monmouth in Wales.

The project uses QRpedia QR codes to provide multilingual smart phone access to Misplaced Pages articles covering notable subjects in Monmouth, such as places, people, artefacts, flora and fauna. It was formally launched on 19 May 2012, and led to Monmouth being described as the "world's first Misplaced Pages town", "world's first Wikitown project". The project was awarded the "Excellence in Marketing" award at the Monmouthshire Business Awards.

Inception

The idea of Monmouthpedia was conceived in late 2011 by John Cummings, a resident of Monmouth. Cummings attended a TEDx event in Bristol which discussed the QRpedia project in use at Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Cummings founded the project with chair of Wikimedia UK, Roger Bamkin, who co-founded QRpedia. The project was subsequently supported by Monmouthshire County Council, and the council-owned Shire Hall later announced plans to instate a Wikipedian-in-Residence and introduce sessions to help visitors with contributions to the project.

Monmouthpedia's initial goal was to have 1,000 QR codes by April 2012, with each article having a corresponding ceramic plaque emblazoned with a code. By May, the project's home page reported 712 new and improved articles in 25 different languages. For non-English speakers, where available, articles in other languages are automatically displayed in the language of the user on the basis of the phone's language configuration. At project launch, some 500 articles in other languages were available thanks to the collaboration of editors abroad. In addition to this, the project covers over 250 pre-existing entries on Monmouth-related topics. In the same period, over 1,000 photographs were uploaded.

One of the issues that Monmouth faced in making the project a success was that there was poor 3G mobile coverage. To help with this, wireless (Wi-Fi) broadband was provided by local ISP Spectrum Internet in the high street and at most QR code plaque locations.

Monmouth Library has become the first library in the world to add QR codes to books. Users with smart phones can now instantly find Misplaced Pages articles on the book and its author. Priority has been given to local literature and Welsh titles but more recent acquisitions on the Queen's Jubilee and the Olympics have also been QR coded.

Reception

Glyn Moody, writing for Techdirt, questioned whether Monmouthpedia was the future of Misplaced Pages. He described the project as creating "a kind of fractal Misplaced Pages" likening it to the 2010 film Inception, potentially enabling " Misplaced Pages within a Misplaced Pages within a Misplaced Pages." Within days of the launch, the initiative had led to widespread interest. A spokesman for Wikimedia UK reported that the project page had been viewed 10,000 times. They also reported there had been inquiries from towns in Norway, England, France, Scotland, and the US state of Texas. One test of success will however be the project's ability to attract more tourists to the town. The initiative soon attracted interest from Gibraltar where the Gibraltarpedia project was launched on 13 July.

Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Misplaced Pages, was enthusiastic about the initiative: "Bringing a whole town to life on Misplaced Pages is something new and is a testament to the forward-thinking people of Monmouth, all of the volunteers and the Wikimedia UK team. I'm looking forward to seeing other towns and cities doing the same thing."

Monmouthshire County Council announced in July 2012 that it was planning to extend the initiative to other parts of the authority's area, starting with Chepstow and Raglan. A new post, with the aim of delivering Monmouthshirepedia (sic), was advertised by the council in November 2012.

Monmouthpedia was awarded the "Excellence in Marketing" award at the Monmouthshire Business Awards in October 2012. Wynndel Property Management, developers of new housing at "Severn Quay" in Chepstow and sponsor of the award, praised Monmouthpedia on their website, noting that "Advertising value for Monmouth alone has been estimated at £2.12 million", and predicting that "Chepstow property, together with new developments in Chepstow and new developments in Monmouthshire, will also benefit" when a similar project starts for Chepstow.

  • One of the Monmouthpedia plaques One of the Monmouthpedia plaques
  • World's first Misplaced Pages town World's first Misplaced Pages town
  • QR codes in library books QR codes in library books
  • Trialling the QR codes Trialling the QR codes

Wikimedia UK governance

On 7 February 2013, Monmouthpedia was cited as one of the conflicts of interest that prompted a governance review of Wikimedia UK (WMUK). The report found that WMUK was ineffective at handling such conflicts, and found that Roger Bamkin's acceptance of consultancy fees for Monmouthpedia provided an opportunity for WMUK's reputation to be damaged.

See also

References

  1. Sawyers, Paul (30 December 2011). "Monmouthpedia: Misplaced Pages's new project covering life in the Welsh town of Monmouth". The Next Web. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  2. "Misplaced Pages project to cover life in Monmouth". BBC. 30 December 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  3. Clayton, Nick (17 May 2012). "World's First Misplaced Pages Town Launches". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  4. "World's First Misplaced Pages Town to Go Live". ABC News. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  5. "MonmouthpediA – The World's First Misplaced Pages Town". Monmouthshire County Council. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  6. "Monmouth to be Wales' first WiFi town". monmouth-today.co.uk. 29 February 2012. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  7. "Welsh town of Monmouth gets Misplaced Pages treatment". Computer Active. 26 January 2012. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  8. "Monmouth to be first Wiki-town". cinderford-today.co.uk. 18 January 2012. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  9. ^ "Monmouth becomes the world's first Misplaced Pages town". Monmouthshire County Council. Archived from the original on 23 December 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  10. "Monmouthpedia: Misplaced Pages's very own QR-coated Welsh town (video)". Engadget. 17 May 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  11. Morris, Steven (26 January 2012). "Misplaced Pages puts Monmouth on frontier of a new kind of local history". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  12. Souppouris, Aaron (17 May 2012). "Monmouth in Wales becomes the world's first 'Misplaced Pages town'". The Verge. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  13. "Monmouthpedia : la ville Wikipédia", GNT, 18 May 2012. (in French) Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  14. "Monmouth to be world's first 'Misplaced Pages town'". The Telegraph. 18 May 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  15. "Public Wifi – Spectrum Internet". spectruminternet.com. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  16. "Monmouth Library First in the World", Monmouthshire Libraries, 21 May 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  17. ^ Moody, Glyn (5 January 2012). "Is Monmouthpedia The Future of Misplaced Pages?". Techdirt. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  18. Erika Morphy, "Tiny Welsh Burg Paints the Town Wiki", TechNewsWorld, 21 May 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  19. "Gibraltarpedia" Archived 10 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Vox. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  20. Timon Singh, "Monmouth: The World's First Misplaced Pages Town Launches In Wales" Archived 9 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Inhabitat, 22 May 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  21. Cassandra Vinograd (17 May 2012). "World's first Misplaced Pages town to launch in Wales". The Washington Times.
  22. Melissa Jones, "Monmouthpedia could bring Misplaced Pages effect to Chepstow", South Wales Argus, 23 July 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  23. Monmouthshire County Council, Digital Communities Coordinator job description. Retrieved 13 November 2012
  24. "'Brilliant' Monmouthshire businesses praised". Free Press. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  25. "Is Chepstow is next 'Misplaced Pages town'?". severnquay.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  26. "Business Award Categories". Monmouthshire Business Awards. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  27. Wikimedia UK review. Civilsociety.co.uk.

External links

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