Wikidata/Wikibase: A Green Platform Solution for Coworking

Abstract

Public libraries are a gateway to the citizens’ most disparate information needs. Consequently, contents, methods and tools require to upskill or reskill daily expertises. Services are only partly measurable, they evade the institutions they are part of. This paper summarizes an innovative activity carried out by the newborn work group within the Italian Library Association (A.I.B.) on “coworking in libraries”. Thanks to the involvement in a follow-up action as requested by the National Observatory “Libraries and sustainable development”, the group has been experiencing the virtual lab results on digital ecosystems and the potential of open linked data offered by Wikidata and wikibase.cloud. The paper deals with this innovative venture that, in a short time, has led to cooperative and constructivist learning on digital tools. In Italy libraries are often considered as treasures of manuscripts, annexes for University students, lively places for the children’s reading: nothing or almost nothing is provided for freelancers and smartworkers. Not even they are places where workers turn to ask for sources and suitable tools. Still, the first article of the Italian Constitution states the “work” as the first right for all. At the same time, we wonder how libraries can influence the cultural basket of the gross domestic product. It is taken into consideration the opportunity offered by Wikibase.cloud to support libraries to face “crowds” and “neocollectives”. The coworking environment can be a shaping space where individuals meet and thrive expert communities. It may be an environment in which to integrate green platforms for digital repositories and directories of information predigested. Sync linkable data could be very useful for people working in libraries. Indeed, the physical workspace could be expanded. Information literacy could be experienced within the workers’ digital practices and help them develop new information skills. On one side, coworking can help the library rethink lifelong learning. On the other, controlled data in ecological networks can allow: 1) the library to be socially interactive: a digital library cannot be limited to being a point of access to digital resources on the network; 2) the librarian to be an active agent through the socialization of work knowledge; 3) the users to access the platform experience through a wider community collecting data and upload them with the supervision of librarians themselves. This is a two-way communication sustainable ecosystem for open culture. Grassroot actions and the of wikibase.cloud can both take advantage of their mutual characteristics, developing a gloCal tool for workers inside the lights and shadows of the semantic web.