Presentation made to the Welsh Government's Visit Wales facilitated Digital Tourism Business Framework Programme's Steering Group on 5th July 2012 about the MonmouthpediA innovation project and its implications for the Welsh Tourism sector's use of digital technologies, opportunities for research into Heritage and Tourism in the Welsh Creative & Digital Economy and the manner in which Wales as a bilingual nation is a natural test bed for 'QRpedia' technology which offers international reach and multi-lingual delivery of co-created and local and global community curated content.

1. Attribution: John Cummings Wikimedia Commons

2. http://content.yudu.com/A1vk2u/WyeGuide2012/resources/7.htm

3. http://www.raglanundersiege1646.co.uk

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/MonmouthpediA

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrblN3f5sx0

6. MonmouthpediA is a World first project which attempted
to use Wikipedia (the People’s Encyclopedia) to cover
every notable place, person, artefact, plant, animal and
other things in Monmouth in as many languages as
possible.
Devised by John Cummings and supported by Wiki Media
UK, Monmouthshire County Council and local and global
content creating contributors.
Philosophical underpinning - Knowledge gives us context
and it allows us to appreciate our surroundings more.
The Council for British Archaeology designated
Monmouth as the seventh best town for archaeology in
Britain.
MonmouthpediA uses QRpedia codes, a type of bar code
a smartphone can read through its camera (using one of
the many free QR readers available) that takes you to a
Wikipedia article in your language.

7. http://qrpedia.org
QRpedia is the first language detecting QR code that can connect community
curated notable digital content around the world to Wikipedia.
Developed by Roger Bamkin and Terence Eden in 2011 & originally deployed in a
curatorial context in Museums across the world.
People scan a QR code and are taken directly to a mobile friendly Wikipedia page
written in the user’s preferred language.

8. Wiki Media UK statement on MonmouthpediA:
We’re working to make the sum total of human
knowledge available to everyone, everywhere, for free.
For this aim to ever be achievable will require mass
collaboration and mobilisation of communities = local
communities, but on a global level.
MonmouthpediA is the first step in this process and shows
a way for other communities to follow.
Or, as our co-founder Jimmy Wales puts it:
“Imagine a world in which every single person on the
planet is given free access to the sum of all human
knowledge. That’s what we’re doing.”
In January 2012 Wikipedia was the 6th most visited
webspace in the world and Wicipedia Cymraeg is
identified by Welsh Government as the most visited web
space in the Welsh language.

9. QR codes are extremely useful, as physical signs have no
way of displaying the same amount of information and in
a potentially huge number of languages.
Over 1000 QRpedia codes have been deployed around the
Monmouth to date:
• Ceramic plaques for places exposed to the elements
for articles specific to Monmouth.
• Labels for use inside buildings, e.g. for objects in
museums.
• Glass stickers in the windows of shops to give
information on their professions .
Articles have coordinates (geotags) to also allow a virtual
tour of the town using Wikipedia's mobile apps (or the
Wikipedia layer on Google Streetview) and are available in
augmented reality software including Layar.

10. In May 2012: 550 of the articles generated for
the MonmouthpediA experience were available
in over 30 different languages.
Currently there is no Mobile OS to deliver Welsh
articles.

11. Over 1500 new images relating to Monmouth shared for
creative commons use in Wiki Media Commons over a 5
month period.

12. Opportunities for Growing Tourism
Increased PR: Launch media led to 277 stories across 36
countries, including Wall Street Journal, New York
Times, Times of India, Iran Today……
Opportunity to update & change perceptions.
New infrastructure – free to use town-wide wifi.
Development of enhanced and compelling digital visitor
experience.
Opportunity to engage the community in the
development of product & marketing.
Evaluation & improvement – monitoring of value &
volume / visitor behaviour, visit motivation and
satisfaction.

13. Research contexts
I. Welsh heritage capital in the global digital economy .
II. Community curation and content creation :
New methodology of enabling online participation with
an emphasis on local knowledge and creating new sense
of place.
III. Internet of things –
Practical example of local and global virtual communities
linked by a physical space – Monmouth . QRpedia codes
and plaques are portals between the physical and the
digital world & to an embryonic extent community has
been re-articulated through the web in a multi-lingual
context.
IV. Wifi Town – new test bed for digital tourism
experiences and mobile/ outdoor digital inclusion
research activities.

14. Exploring the Literacy & Lifecycle of Digital Curation
Source: DCC Digital
Curation Centre
http://www.dcc.ac.uk
/resources/curation-
lifecycle-model

15. Attribution: John Cummings Wikimedia Commons