hello here in case someone interested in the 2023 project outcome -- we have published a Diff post about it: https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/10/29/special-category-photographic-film-in-ukraines-wiki-loves-monuments-2023-results-and-lessons-learnt/
just wanted to follow up on this topic -- thanks, Alex, for suggesting to work on a blog post :) and thank you you all (especially to Ymblanter for all the tips!) for support and information sharing З повагою / Best regards, antanana Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine Disclaimer: This letter is sent in my Wikimedia volunteer capacity, not as a Board member of Wikimedia Foundation пн, 17 квіт. 2023 р. о 17:02 Alex Stinson <astin...@wikimedia.org> пише: > @antanana have you considered cross posting this to > https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/glam.lists.wikimedia.org/ and > possibly creating a diff post? These lessons learned would be really > valuable for other community members working on other living and cultural > heritage projects. > > Cheers, > > Alex > > On Sat, Apr 15, 2023 at 5:01 PM attolippip <attolip...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hello there! >> >> I am sharing my reflections below as the organiser of the Photographic >> Film Special Nomination in Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine this year -- this >> was the first time we did something like this, and we have just announced >> the results on Friday: https://wlm.org.ua/film-results-2022/ (the blog >> is in Ukrainian, but you can see the pictures, and the years they were >> taken in are in the attribution). >> >> == Context == >> So, 2022 was especially challenging for us as the organisers, as we had >> to limit accepting participants' submissions only to pictures taken before >> February 24, 2022, when the russian army started a full-scale invasion of >> Ukraine, as we feared for the participants safety (believe me, even in >> peaceful times a stranger coming to your remote village to take pictures of >> buildings can be weird; during the active full-scale invasion the level of >> suspicion is tripled at least), and we also worried about encouraging their >> accidentally filming some military actions or objects. >> >> This does mean less quality (people might upload pictures from their >> archives they have not uploaded during previous years, as they know about >> the contest, but have no chance to upload newer pictures) and quantity (for >> obvious reasons of people who just learnt about the contest not being able >> to join, unless before February 24, 2022, they had a hobby of taking >> pictures of cultural monuments around them). And it is also challenging >> interest-wise -- unless you had something to upload -- you are out. We also >> realised that we have very limited resources to organise ourselves -- too >> many things and people to worry about, while taking care of lists or >> templates. So we needed a light version contest, but also to find something >> interesting to try to tap into new audiences we have not yet had >> time/resources to tap into. >> >> So, we decided to implement an idea a Ukrainian Wikimedian, Nataliia >> Lastovets, had -- to have a special category for scanned photographic film >> -- the Photographic Film Special Nomination -- with pictures (of course) >> taken before February 24, 2022, accepting files of cultural monuments >> created from scanned photographic films or scanned/photographed prints, >> made by a film camera originally. >> >> == Challenges and lessons learnt == >> First of all, if one aims at having a light version of the contest -- *this >> nomination is not an easy *one to organise :) We, of course, went >> lighter on the promotional part of this due to our own limited volunteer >> resources (and promotion is really important, and we should have done more >> there, of course), but we did have ads on social media (Facebook, >> Instagram), and did reach out to cool professional photographers on >> Instagram, telling them about the contest, and that if they are not >> interested in taking part, maybe they would agree to become jury members. >> >> We also had to figure out *how to check the uploads* -- our upload form >> was asking people to mark pictures as "photographic film" ones, and we had >> a separate category for them, but we still ended up with more than 600 >> pictures, and before giving them to the jury members, we had to check them. >> The WLX Jury Tool >> <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:WLX_Jury_Tool>we are using >> to rate pictures would not be useful for this, opening ~600 files to check >> the EXIFs and descriptions would be quite time consuming. So User:Ahonc had >> to create a script to get all the possibly useful data from the pictures in >> the category in one table: >> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ahonc/WLM-2022_UA/images/films >> >> With this, we just needed to check the uploads done by non-film cameras. >> Of course, we could not just dismiss those files, as a film print from 1990 >> could have been photographed with a modern non-film camera (or even a >> mobile), so we also looked at the user pages, sometimes people mention that >> they are professional photographers, and chances of their pictures being on >> a photographic film are higher. We also reached out to those users we knew >> -- some of them indeed mistakenly marked pictures for the nomination... >> Long story short -- it took us quite some time to remove pictures we were >> certain didn't belong. And when we had ~400, we started the first jury >> round. >> >> *More information is needed at the upload stage. *For the first round we >> asked them to select up to 50 entries out of ~400 that would go to the next >> round. They selected 95, and then they rated them with points (20 points >> was max, 1 point was minimum). We planned to award 10 best pictures, but we >> ended up with 23 entries to select from. If we had time and resources, we >> would have tried to organise an additional round, an online call or meetup, >> but this was just a bit too much to do, so, I just basically wrote to each >> author directly, listing pictures, and asking to provide for more details. >> And indeed, some of those pictures were not taken using a photographic >> film. That really helped to narrow the pool. >> >> What's more, the authors using photographic films, were able to provide >> quite detailed stories about their pictures, when they were taken, and in >> most cases technical information including camera models, what kind of film >> they used, lenses etc. It was quite impressive, to tell you the truth :) We >> ended up selecting 10 best pictures. But it seems that the upload form for >> this kind of content should include not only a checkbox for this special >> nomination, but also fields for camera model, lenses, film, year it was >> taken, additional information -- first, it will help the participants >> themselves to make sure they are not making an automatic mistake, and >> secondly, it will help with checking the uploads. That way people do not >> upload hordes of pictures, they (in a way) treasure them, and remember >> (sometimes) each frame, the weather it was taken in, angle, context, etc. >> >> *The jury has to have professional photographers, who themselves use >> photographic film*. It is sometimes more difficult to organise -- we >> expect them to be volunteers, and cost them working hours; it is not as if >> we provide them with a lot of professional fame or that the quality of our >> submissions is guaranteed. Finding these people is still possible, just... >> difficult. >> >> == Outcomes === >> We have determined the 10 best pictures as we planned. We also showcased >> 8 more pictures, sometimes adding up to a set. You can see them here: >> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2022_in_Ukraine#«Фотоплівка» >> >> We still have ~400 pictures we cannot be certain have been taken using >> photographic film, unfortunately. On the bright side -- we are now smarter >> as organisers, and if we decide to do it again, we would take into account >> our lessons learnt. And we would probably be better positioned to make more >> new and interesting mistakes :) >> >> Anyway, sorry for the long read, I just thought documenting our >> experience here, on the list, has some value for organisers to (maybe) come. >> >> See you all around! >> >> З повагою / Best regards, >> antanana >> Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine >> Wikimania 2023 Program Subcommittee >> Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023 Programme Committee >> >> Disclaimer: This letter is sent in my Wikimedia volunteer capacity, not >> as a Board member of Wikimedia Foundation >> >> >> нд, 18 вер. 2022 р. о 12:33 attolippip <attolip...@gmail.com> пише: >> >>> Thank you. Yes, we were thinking of creating a special nomination for >>> that kind of pictures -- we were thinking of scanned films, but you are >>> correct in pointing out that some can actually have only prints. Both >>> copyright issues and how to understand if a picture was taken on a film, >>> and not digitally, are a part of issues we are trying to figure out... >>> Reaching out to professional societies is a good idea for a start, thanks! >>> I am not sure how much (if anything) will come out of our efforts to have a >>> contest this year, but we shall see >>> >>> З повагою / Best regards, >>> antanana >>> Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine >>> >>> Disclaimer: This letter is sent in my Wikimedia volunteer capacity, not >>> as a Board member of Wikimedia Foundation >>> >>> >>> нд, 18 вер. 2022 р. о 10:27 Yaroslav Blanter <ymb...@gmail.com> пише: >>> >>>> Hi Nat, >>>> >>>> do you mean scanned films or scanned prints? >>>> >>>> The process was first to process the film, and then go on to make >>>> prints. In the former Soviet Union, for b/w prints, everything was made at >>>> home with a simple equipment; for color, unless you are professional, you >>>> would have to go to a shop. Btw colored photographs were usually for >>>> producing slides, and people did not make prints but rather projected them >>>> on the screen. Now, scanning film is difficult and requires special >>>> equipment, but scanning prints only requires a standard scanner. >>>> >>>> Most people stopped using film in around 2000. and thus they are not so >>>> old now (they would typically start taking pictures at 10-15, and, for >>>> example, I am 55 now and I still had 25 years of film experience). The >>>> problems are more that prints get lost or stayed behind as people are >>>> moving, and that after 30 years they are not exactly sure what they were >>>> filming. I would suggest a special nomination for scans of prints, if it >>>> still can be done this year (though you have to be extra careful to make >>>> sure people scan their own photographs). >>>> >>>> For professional photographers, this is a never-ending story but I >>>> would start with professional societies. >>>> >>>> Best >>>> Yaroslav >>>> >>>> On Sat, Sep 17, 2022 at 11:01 PM attolippip <attolip...@gmail.com> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> hello there! >>>>> has anyone tried locally to organise something around outreach to >>>>> photographers whose pictures were made on photographic films? >>>>> >>>>> we have not had such a campaign in Ukraine before, just individual >>>>> efforts, like when a Wikipedian convinced an old photographer to upload >>>>> his >>>>> pictures of lost heritage to Commons, they had to scan his films to do >>>>> that: https://www.wikilovesmonuments.org/photos-of-destroyed-heritage/ >>>>> >>>>> as this year (to make sure people are not roaming around taking >>>>> pictures for their own safety) for the Ukrainian part of the contest we >>>>> decided to accept only pictures taken before February 24, 2022, we thought >>>>> of maybe looking for ways to reach this audience -- photographers whose >>>>> pictures are on films, so most probably old enough... but maybe there are >>>>> some tips/things to be aware of when dealing with scanned films, and >>>>> somebody on the list has travelled down this path already, and can share >>>>> useful information? >>>>> >>>>> (sorry for crossposting, i have also asked about this on the telegram >>>>> channel) >>>>> >>>>> З повагою / Best regards, >>>>> antanana >>>>> Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine >>>>> >>>>> Disclaimer: This letter is sent in my Wikimedia volunteer capacity, >>>>> not as a Board member of Wikimedia Foundation >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Wiki Loves Monuments mailing list >>>>> To unsubscribe send an email to >>>>> wikilovesmonuments-le...@lists.wikimedia.org >>>>> http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Wiki Loves Monuments mailing list >>>> To unsubscribe send an email to >>>> wikilovesmonuments-le...@lists.wikimedia.org >>>> http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >> Wiki Loves Monuments mailing list >> To unsubscribe send an email to >> wikilovesmonuments-le...@lists.wikimedia.org >> http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org > > > > -- > Alex Stinson > Lead Program Strategist > Wikimedia Foundation > Twitter: @sadads > > Learn more about how the communities behind Wikipedia, Wikidata and other > Wikimedia projects create calls to action to invite new contributors > through campaigns: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Campaigns > _______________________________________________ > Wiki Loves Monuments mailing list > To unsubscribe send an email to > wikilovesmonuments-le...@lists.wikimedia.org > http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org
_______________________________________________ WikiLovesMonuments mailing list -- wikilovesmonuments@lists.wikimedia.org Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikilovesmonuments@lists.wikimedia.org/message/XIRGXN3PMMB2WUPNOTLEUHOCM2L4BLKD/ http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org
