GLAM/Newsletter/December 2021/Contents/Australia report

This Month in GLAM – Volume XI, Issue XII, December 2021

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Australia report

Writing The Record: the Australian Music Wikipedia project launches

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By Tenniscourtisland

A new Australian Wikipedia project has launched to increase discoverability of Australian artists online.

Right now, if you search for Beat magazine, National Indigenous Music Award nominee Stuart Joel Nuggett or composer Robin Fox, none of these currently have Wikipedia entries.

Wikimedia Australia and the Australia Council for the Arts have partnered to present The Record - Australian Music on Wikipedia, a series of four edit-a-thon events in partnership with GLAM organisations across Australia, to grow the low number of Wikipedia articles about Australian musicians, organisations and publications.

Launched on Saturday 11 December 2021 with podcaster and writer Sosefina Fuamoli, in partnership with the Australian Music Vault, the first edit-a-thon at Collingwood Yards saw the creation of ten new pages from a target of 50.

“We have identified a long-list of artists and organisations who need new or improved Wikipedia articles, but we want to hear from music fans too about who they want to see represented”, project coordinator James Gaunt said.

“We’d like to make it easier for people to find great Aussie artists. And we want to equip people with the skills to get started with editing content for Wikipedia so that they can continue to apply these skills well beyond this project.”

Australia Council Head of Music Kirsty Rivers said the partnership connects with its strategic aims to champion and digitally enable the creative sector.

“The Australia Council is committed to ensuring Australian creative and cultural content is accessible and easily discoverable, as part of the broader aims of our Digital Culture Strategy. And we are pleased to partner with Wikimedia on this project that aims to connect more audiences with Australian music.”

Three more edit-a-thon events are planned for January, February, and March in partnership with APRA AMCOS, the Australian Music Centre, the Country Music Association of Australia and more.