Proposal:WLM 2013

This page is a proposal being developed by our members.  The proposal was moved by Tony1 and seconded by russavia. If you are not a member of the organisation, you may request an account on this wiki using special:RequestAccount, and discuss this proposal on the discussion page.

This is a proposal for Wikimedia Australia to support meta:Wiki Loves Monuments 2013, and flesh out the implementation details.

Should we participate?

Advantages and disadvantages?

What logistics are involved?

A disadvantage as I see it is the expectation that a large list of monuments will be compiled; this is lot of work. If it is acceptable to provide a set of links to existing online lists of monuments (see below), then the workload becomes much more feasible. I'd be happy to offer to compile a list of the online Queensland local govt heritage registers. Online heritage registers are sometimes presented as a list and sometimes as a searchable database; generally an address, geo-coords or a map are provided for each entry -- often there will be a photo (but usually not CC-licensed), so for WLM it should be pretty easy for people to know where to go and what they are supposed to be photographing when they get there. Kerry Raymond 08:45, 6 December 2012 (EST)

National Heritage Register (list) http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/index.html

Queensland Heritage Register (database) https://www.derm.qld.gov.au/chimsi/basicSearch.html

In Queensland all local authorities are supposed to maintain a heritage register:

Brisbane Heritage Register (database) http://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage_register/

Gold Coast Heritage Register (list) http://heritage.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/gold-coast-local-heritage-register

I've put a bit more discussion of this point on the talkpage. Lankiveil 21:45, 6 December 2012 (EST).

Timeline

If we do participate, what needs to be done, and what is a reasonable sequence and timetable for preps?

I've had a go at a timeline below - edit away! Kerry Raymond 09:03, 6 December 2012 (EST)

February 2013: WMAU commits to participate (this has to be tied into our budget and FDC request timeline)

March/April 2013: approach possible partner organisations for prizes, publicity, events. Partner orgs might include those with interests in heritage (natural environment, built environment, military, social history) and photography.

May 2013: organise volunteers to compile lists (or lists of lists) of monuments, I believe each has to be assigned a unique ID for the competition so that has to be worked out. But generally I assume ListName-ID where the ID is either assigned by us for our lists or taken from the IDs already present (I hope) in lists of lists. For example, the ID for the Anzac memorial at Coolangatta would be GoldCoastHR-LHR0051 (GoldCoastHR being our name for the list, and LHR0051 being the ID in the Gold Coast Heritage Register).

June 2013: Set up categories in Commons (I am guessing we need to do this)

July 2013: list of monument, list of prizes, rules are released - launch events

September 2013: the month where the photos must be uploaded (can be taken earlier?)

October 2013: judging, award of prizes, "slide nights" and prize events

Budget

What is the prize(s) for winning?

If we want to attract widespread participation, then we need to encourage people by having an array of prizes, some for quality, some for quantity (of adequate quality of course) and some for just participating ("lucky door prizes"). Gift vouchers at some national chain of camera stores (or an online camera store) would seem an appropriate prize. Kerry Raymond 08:44, 6 December 2012 (EST)

What else needs to be funded?

Only a small number of folk can win prizes, but we can reward participation in other ways. For example, we could hold a "slide night" in some locations where all participants are invited to come along and view the photos for that region. Note, we would need to make sure it is easy (automated) to display the photos (or it's too much hard work). Perhaps we could try to partner with the various organisations who maintain the heritage registers to hold the event (i.e. hoping they might sponsor it through provision of a venue and some catering, and perhaps contribute to the prizes). Kerry Raymond 08:44, 6 December 2012 (EST)

Kerry, I suppose there's reward per se in being chosen by our chapter as one of the top ten entries, which are then judged by the international jury to select the ultimate winners. But I've asked someone who knows the chapter scene well, and in response they sent me quite a few links, with accompanying comments. Apparently not much beyond 400 euros, which equals the second prize internationally for WLM. For example:
  • this link, on the Europeana comp ... "Nearly 2400 submissions competed for the GLAM prize hosted by Europeana, the meta-aggregator and display space for European digitised works, funded by the European Commission."
  • The German chapter "sponsored one prize for the national stuff this round; others were sponsored by companies and other organisation, for high-quality entries in various themes related to their missions."
  • The Swiss and Austrian chapters each gave a prize, I think, but query whether that might have included non-WLM photos and other cultural work, too (and Canon in Austria sponsored a new camera prize worth 1000 euros).
  • France had this.
  • The Americans handed out cash for the first three prizes internally, of $700, $500, and $300.
On a side note, I sifted through some of the raw uploads when first covering this year's WLM for the Signpost. I felt a bit critical about the quality of many uploads across the board from participating countries, and that included the lack of documentation and categorisation. While we certainly don't want to scare people off, I wonder whether this is one way in which WMAU might take the lead: (i) a set of guidelines to participants (even simple ones would have avoided a lot of the frustrating pities I saw, like avoiding parked cars where possible when photographing heritage buildings), and (ii) a team of us willing to help on the documentation and possibly article creation during the comp? I think I could possibly interest some of the regular reviewers/nominators at en.WP's featured picture candidates forum in providing feedback on any how-to guide we developed. Tony1 21:14, 10 December 2012 (EST)

Members who are interested in being involved

Possible sponsorship areas

  • Australian branch of a camera manufacturer or retailer


See also

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