Restaurants and Wikidata: A recipe for success
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | WIKIMEDIA SVERIGE |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 50 000 |
| Project duration | April 2015 - August 2015 |
| Status | Completed |
Purpose and goal
Our aim was to participate at the food fair Smaka på Stockholm and demonstrate what is possible to do through open data and crowdsourcing. We wanted to show that there is a value for all parts of society, even the ones you might not think of in the first place, such as the catering industry. The technical development went well and our engaging of volunteers was a tremendous success. Based on a contest we developed a method to engage the volunteers to develop a certain data set. Interest at the fair was large and we reached a lot of people, many whom never thought about open data before.
Results and expected effects
We participated on 4 days and showcased the menus. The translation contest spurred a massive effort in the area and the menus were completely or partially available in 351 languages! We now have a new method to engage volunteers to improve a data set on Wikidata. Many ingredients had also pronunciation and images added. We had 220+ good conversations about open data, a topic that the general public usually isn´t that interested in. 2 guest blog post were written for the Wikimedia Foundation´s popular blog. However, unfortunately media did not pick up our press release.
Approach and implementation
The translation contest was a great success and also the technological development was successful. As the budget was very small we were dependent on volunteer involvement and this made it possible to design the menus and make them look nicer and be more user-friendly. To maximize the outreach it would have been great to have big signs with information to put up around the tent. That way those who walked by could pick up some new ideas, get inspired and come back later after eating.