Submissions/The Nightmare of Licensing: Image Patrolling Issues on The Hungarian Wikipedia

From Wikimania 2013 • Hong Kong

After careful consideration, the programme committee has decided not to accept the below submission at this time. Thank you to the author(s) for participating in the Wikimania 2013 programme submission, we hope to still see you at Wikimania this August.

Submission no.
5007
Subject no.
T3


Title of the submission
The Nightmare of Licencing: Image Patrolling Issues on The Hungarian Wikipedia
Type of submission
workshop
Author of the submission
Timea Baksa
Country of origin
Hungary
Affiliation
Wikimédia Hungary
E-mail address
teemeah.wikiposta@gmail.com
Username
User:Teemeah
Personal homepage or blog
Abstract

Image uploading and licencing for the average Hungarian user with the current system is close to a nightmare, as shown by experiences we have had in the past few years. The cleanup attempts of the image database of the Hungarian Wikipedia showed a stunning number of images violating copyright, mostly uploaded in good faith. Interaction with users showed that even established members of the community are either unaware of how licencing should be done or have issues determining what to upload despite the existence of detailed guidelines. The situation is worsened by the differences in US and Hungarian copyright laws. Uploading to Wikimedia Commons is disliked by the majority of established users. Solutions and lessons for other communities?

Detailed proposal

Image uploading and licencing for the average Hungarian user with the current system is close to a nightmare, as shown by experiences we have had in the past few years. The cleanup attempts of the image database of the Hungarian Wikipedia showed a stunning number of images violating copyright, mostly uploaded in good faith, resulting in the deletion of more than 6000 images and the correction of data given for at least another 6000, and cleanup has not finished yet.

Interaction with users showed that even established members of the community are either unaware of how licencing should be done or have issues determining what to upload despite the existence of detailed guidelines. The situation is worsened by the differences in US and Hungarian copyright laws. Uploading to Wikimedia Commons is disliked by the majority of established users, mainly because they think they lack local language support and find Commons admins rude and ruthless.

The current local upload form is unable to ensure that users fill in essentially required information and choose the right licence. The large number of copyright violating images shows that warning messages on top of the upload form have no effect, most probably they are never read. The Hungarian Wikipedia has less active users than a large wiki and only a couple of users do frequent image patrolling.

We have implemented a toolbar for image patrolling, to speed up the tagging of problematic images and notifying uploaders, but the toolbar is semi-automated only. Due to lack of knowledgeable users, implementing Twinkle or other automated toolbars used on the English Wikipedia is indefinitely postponed. Besides the Hungarian Wikipedia, other smaller Wikis might also have the same issues, thus a global technical solution would be better than a localized one. One such possible solution could be a universal yet locally configurable upload form that would direct users to Wikimedia Commons when uploading own images with acceptable free licences (a form similar to what Commons is using at the moment) and guiding users in uploading acceptable copyrighted images (for example fair use, where appropriate) to the local database.

I believe that this is an important issue that could be of interest to smaller Wikipedias as well as larger ones, as we hardly talk about the image copyright issues different local wikis might be facing with the different local legal systems in place. The workshop would aim at comparing how local wikis deal with the image upload issues, to learn from each other and share best practices besides proposing change at the foundation level.

Track
  • Technology and Infrastructure
Length of presentation/talk
60 Minutes
Language of presentation/talk
English
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
Yes, if scholarship is provided. Otherwise I have no means.
Slides or further information (optional)
Preferably a round table discussion with participants from multiple wikis, with live hands-on presentation of local solutions and practices using a laptop and a projector. Experiences and resolutions would be noted. It would be nice to have one of the developers or technical experts join to have some info on feasibility of the proposed global tool, or possible other technical solution proposals that might come up during discussion.
Special requests


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  1. The licensing problem needs to be solved for every region as a prerequisite for increasing editor engagement. Blue Rasberry (talk) 20:49, 1 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Important topic: looking forward to the presentation. Slashme (talk) 18:39, 7 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Daniel Mietchen (talk) 22:14, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Yes, a big issue across Wikimedia projects. Interested in hearing a new perspective. CT Cooper · talk 00:28, 29 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  5. GastelEtzwane (talk) 15:47, 4 May 2013 (UTC) From a different country, similar (but different) problems...[reply]
  6. LVilla (WMF) (talk) 05:47, 5 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  7. Add your username here.
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