QRpedia in Valletta
Contents
What is QRpedia?
QRpedia is a technique involving the use of QR codes to direct users to Wikimedia-related online content. This may include using a QR code to direct the user to an item’s respective Wikipedia page, as well as other material related to the subject which may be stored other Wiki platforms. Examples of this include audio-visual material stored on Wikimedia Commons and metadata stored on Wikidata.
QRpedia is becoming an increasingly popular method through which to share knowledge related to subjects in an open and multilingual manner. It does not require any proprietary software or setup and uses the standard camera on any smartphone to direct the user to the respective Wikipedia page pertaining to the subject, in the language in which the user’s phone is set. Therefore, if the user’s phone is set to Maltese, it will direct them to the Wikipedia page in Maltese, if it is set to English it will direct them to the English language page, and so forth.
QRpedia has become increasingly popular in a number of museums and heritage sites around the world.Using QR codes enables the museum or heritage sites to make information about its display items accessible to a far broader range of people. QRpedia has been used across multiple museums, heritage sites and places of interest across the world including, amongst others the Fundació Joan Miró, The National Archives in the UK, and the Welsh town of Monmouth.
What will this project do?
This QRpedia project will apply this method of sharing information through QR codes to sites within Valletta. The project aims to:
- Improve online (written and audio-visual) content related to Valletta and its landmarks.
- Entice the community to actively participate in the documentation of the city’s landmarks and, by extension, the narration of the city.
- Contribute to the preservation of the Maltese language, by increasing the presence of Maltese language on digital platforms, in line with positions adopted by various representatives across Malta’s political sphere.
- Improve online content on landmarks in Valletta in foreign languages (i.e. neither Maltese nor English) by encouraging international partners to engage in translations to their respective languages.
- Provide greater access to information about Valletta, its history, landmarks and notable citizens to both locals and visitors to the city.
Target sites
The project will focus on some of the following sites or figures:
Activities
A series of activities, including training workshops and editathons will be held throughout this the lifespan of this project. Training workshops will be aimed at teaching new editors basic Wikipedia editing techniques. During editathons we will be adding and creating new content related to sites in Valletta.
Past Training Workshops
- Thursday 12 December 2019: 17.00-19.00 at Spazju Kreattiv
- Tuesday 21 January 2020: 17.00-19.00
- Tuesday 28 January 2020: 17.00-19.00
- Tuesday 11 February 2020: 17.00-19.00
Past Editathons
- 21 & 22 February 2020
- 20 & 21 March 2020
Upcoming activities
- 4 + 8 March 2021: Art+Feminism - 18:00-19:00 - link
Dashboard
Contributions to this programme can be tracked at the QRpedia in Valletta dashboard.
