0:00:15.457,0:00:17.160
I started MonmouthpediA because I think

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that knowledge can give us context and

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allow us to appreciate the things around us more.

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The project is a collaboration between Wikimedia UK,

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Monmouthshire County Council, the museums,

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the library, University of Wales, Cardiff Met,

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but most importantly individual contributors,

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local community groups and people

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not just from Monmouth but people all over

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the world that are creating the content and

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making this happen.

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A QR code is a kind of bar code

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that you can read through your phone or

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tablet computer and it can take you to a web page.

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The great thing about QRpedia is that

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whatever language your phone is in

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it will take you through to that language page

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on Wikipedia.

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If you have a Spanish phone

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it will take you though to the spanish article,

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German, German article.

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I think the real attraction of QR codes for us

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is it gives us the chance to let people see our

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information in their own language which

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is a great boon, especially in Monmouth.

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The Welsh language is a possibility

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but also all the other world languages.

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The other big advantage from a curatorial

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point of view is that we love to give people

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information until the "cows come home"

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and we can't do that in our ordinary labels

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because there's not enough space.

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What we have here is a Grade 1 star listed building

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with great stories to tell, lots of events and activities

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which have taken place in the building,

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and yet we got a very very small collection.

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So using the QRpedia codes, it gives people access

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to a wide range of information about the stories,

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as well as the artifacts.

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As a history student it's nice to pick and choose

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which information I can see and not having to be

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bombarded with information, which can be quite

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intimidating sometimes when you go into a museums.

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It's fantastic that Monmouth is one of the first town

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to offer the QR codes, and that is gonna become

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internationally renowned for the Wikipedia project

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is going on here. I think it's going to introduce

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a lot of people around the world to our

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quite fascinating history.

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The author William Gibson once famously said:

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"The future is already here, it's just unevenly distributed".

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With Monmouth embrassing QRpedia as technology

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and becoming a WiFi town, we now have a real

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practical example of the way in which we can have

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communities coming together both locally

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and globally, to share and create a new

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sense of place in Monmouth and enable

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new visitor experiences for the town.