UT Linked Data Learning Group members began developing the workshop in April 2022, and delivered a 2 day virtual Wikidata Workshop on January 12 & 13, 2023.

Workshop promotion

Promotional emails announcing the workshop and inviting registration were sent before holidays in November and December 2022, to various staff list-servs and to targeted staff groups. (see Wikidata workshop outreach emails document for more details).

Lib-all and lib-gra lists at UTL
HRC staff
UT DigiPres group
MCMU group
Briscoe colleagues
Blanton colleagues
Insider list at iSchool

Registration, attendance & engagement

(numbers gleaned from Zoom reports)

Registration

41 unique names, including 5 workshop facilitators from UT LD Learning Group = 36.

Attendance

Session 1, January 12: 25 attendees (6 facilitators + 19 others). 53% of registrants (not including facilitators) attended.

Session 2, January 13: 21 attendees (6 facilitators + 15 others). 42% of registrants (not including facilitators) attended.

Attendee breakdown

14 attendees from UT Libraries
- From Content Management, Access Systems, Stewardship, Branch & Borrower Services, Architectural Collections/ Alexander Architectural Archives and Benson Latin American Collection
Attendees from Harry Ransom Center, Tarlton Law Library, Texas Digital Library, Briscoe Center for American History
1 current iSchool student

Outcomes

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Events/University_of_Texas_Austin/Wikidata_Workshop_January_2023#Learning_outcomes

Session 1 “Understanding and adding data”

Numbers from the workshop dashboard and dataset indicate successful learning outcomes.

21 editors
74 items edited; 31 items created
601 total edits
835 references added
80 entries claimed on dataset

Session 2 "Using data"

A few participants from UT Libraries reported that takeaways from this session were a helpful impetus to revisit SPARQL query as a viable method for retrieving information about Built Works in Texas, resulting ultimately in establishment of a new process that is now in production.

Feedback

Workshop participants had various opportunities to provide feedback and ask questions:

Contact information provided

Outreach emails included contact info for questions
Workshop event page included facilitator names and contact links

Zoom polls at top of the first session and end of the second session gauged participants’ levels of familiarity with Wikidata, Wikimedia projects, and Linked Data, as well as workshop expectations.
Breakout discussions in each session allowed participants to raise questions and discussion topics as they wanted
A post-workshop survey (Google Form) with 8 questions was sent via email on the Tuesday following the sessions.

Polls during Zoom sessions

Participants indicated their levels of familiarity with Wikidata, Wikimedia projects, and Linked Data went up from session 1 to session 2.

Breakout discussion highlights

Breakout time spent troubleshooting and working out questions about hands-on exercises
>> Need for more shepherding and troubleshooting for hands-on
Some intimidated to edit Wikidata for the first time
Value to learning about SPARQL concurrent to Wikidata editing
Sharing tips and tricks with each other
Relationship and connections between Wikidata and Wikipedia
Questions about best practice for editing on race/ethnicity/nationality
Questions about notability & reliable persistence of Wikidata (different from Wikipedia)

Post-workshop survey

Gauging satisfaction, expectations, learning outcomes, interest in learning more
Open questions about suggested improvements and any other feedback
Only 3 responses
Expectations: met/exceeded
Learned: editing Wikidata, aspects related to HoT, first-time SPARQL query
Improvements: less technical SPARQL info, more focus on demo and shepherding hands-on, more about other LD projects & how data is being used
Interest in learning more about Wikidata and LD topics: 100%, intro to LD, SPARQL and other query tools
Other feedback: gratitude, interest in Python workshop with breakout sessions like this one

Observations & reflections

Most attendance during first hour of each session; 5 people left before breakout segments
Professional vs. student approach to discussion prompts because of difference in perspectives & experience

Opportunities & next steps

Provide concise summary report to participants, leadership at our respective institutions
~~TCDL 2023 presentation, workshop, and/or feedback session~~
Follow-on events e.g. Wikidata edit-a-thon
Reach out to Handbook of Texas Online to pitch collaboration ideas