Monmouth, which is famous for being the the place where King Henry V was born, is to become the world’s first “Wikipedia town.”
Based on our experience, a Wikipedia town would be run by a bunch of self appointed experts, with fake degrees, who make people they don’t like disappear.
However being a Wikipedia town does not mean that there will be an Everywhere Girl exclusion zone, and the mayor will deny ever going out with local newspaper editors, or beefing up their CVs.
From Saturday, they will be able to use smartphones to scan barcodes at points of interest in Monmouth. The phone will bring up a Wikipedia page about the landmark on their phones, in whatever language they are set to.
More than 1,000 different bar codes, plaques and stickers now adorn its schools, museums, historical sites and pubs.
It has taken six months to develop all the material. “Monmouthpedia” has been helped along by the local council’s installation of town-wide free Wi-Fi.
Local residents and businesses have created and edited articles about Monmouth that are linked to the barcodes, while other volunteers have been translating them.
Stevie Benton, Wikimedia UK’s communications organiser, said in a statement that more than 450 new articles about Monmouth have been added to Wikipedia and nearly 150 existing articles have been improved in the past six months.
In addition to being the birthplace of Henry V, the town also boasts a 13th-century bridge which is unique in that it has not fallen down.
Local businesses such as bakeries have also got involved, placing bar codes in their windows linked to articles about the history of baking. Local pubs have pages highlighting the history of their establishments and breweries.