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Monmouth: World's First 'Wikipedia Town'

By Andy Sim - on 21 May 2012, 9:55am

Monmouth: World's First 'Wikipedia Town'

Image credit: Dilly Boase

In case you misjudge the news title, no, Wikipedia isn't planning a takeover of the Welsh town. But rather, visitors with smartphones or tablets to the town of Monmouth will be able to scan QR codes attached to the sides of buildings to find out more about the town's history and aspects of Monmouth life. The project was conceived by Wiki's editor, John Cummings, and it is co-funded by the Monmouthshire County Council and Wikimedia UK. This radical but innovative undertaking is also be backed by free Wi-Fi services installed across town, based on Telegraph's report.

From the Monmouthepedia page, it is stated that QR codes were chosen as a practical solution, since "physical signs have no way of displaying the same amount of information and in a potentially huge number of languages". And according to the head of Wikimedia UK, Mr Roger Bamkin, "the town is likely the only place where a visitor can tour in Hungarian, Hindi, Indonesian, Welsh, or numerous other Wikipedia languages using QR codes". Although this isn't the first time that Wikipedia has collaborated with museums on the deployment of QR codes, Monmouth is actually the first project to be conducted on such a large scale with more than 1,000 codes found in educational institutions, buildings, and shops. 

The six-month project was celebrated over the weekend, with banners draped across the Welsh county declaring Monmouth as the first Wikipedia Town in the world.

Source: The Telegraph and Monmouthpedia

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