This project proposes to investigate how GLAM institutions and humanities researchers can help to address knowledge gaps by contributing their local collections, metadata, and records to Wikidata. Many GLAM institutions and projects from humanities scholars (e.g. the Womenʼs Print History Project, a bibliographical database) hold valuable information andhistorical artifacts that have the potential to fill critical knowledge gaps on Wikidata; however, these contributors often lack visibility into what knowledge gaps their local databases are well positioned to address. This limits their ability to effectively organize their efforts and fulfill their mission of sharing human knowledge and mitigating epistemic injustice.
The goal is to develop an assessment tool that can highlight what past contributions are particularly valuable for addressing knowledge gaps and providing unique coverage relative to other knowledge technologies (search engines and LLMs). This tool will help GLAM and humanities contributors to better understand the unique value of their various contributions and make informed decisions about their future focus. The successful completion of the project will help GLAM institutions and humanities scholars optimize their efforts to mitigate the most critical gaps in the knowledge ecosystem.
The award is $49,450 over the project period.