YORK is becoming rather dominant as an internet hub. Only this week it was announced that the city is about to get Britain’s fastest broadband and that move prompted city council leader James Alexander to pronounce this the digital infrastructure capital of the UK.

Now we report how a rather unlikely organisation is spearheading the city’s drive to make best use of it –York Museums Trust which is pioneering the way its collections can be seen by digitising some 150,000 records for the web.

Best of all, and to ensure the items really do reach a global audience, the Trust has secured a remarkable coup by securing the rare services of a Wikimedian in Residence.

Pat Hadley now works with the Trust’s digital team, curators and volunteers to upload pictures of museum collections for people to download and use them free of charge from Wikipedia platforms.

It’s all part of a global project known as GLAMWiki (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) which was set up to help institutions get their content and knowledge online.

But Pat is not an editor. Wikipedia etiquette prevents that. Instead his job is to encourage the website’s volunteer editors to produce articles on the remarkable artefacts he is uploading.

Not surprisingly the Middleham Hoard has already attracted interest, but the trust would also like York residents to get involved in writing, which we would love to see happen.

Because we think this project is a fantastic way to promote York to a global audience. Well done to the museum’s trust for getting their Wikimedian in Residence.