Submissions/Wiki Loves Monuments - Future Workshop

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Submit your cool ideas for the future of WLM!

This is an accepted submission for Wikimania 2013.

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Submission no.
2047
Subject no.
W1
Title of the submission
Wiki Loves Monuments - Future Workshop
Type of submission
Workshop
Author of the submission
Beat Estermann & Monica Mora
Country of origin
Switzerland & Panama
Affiliation
Beat Estermann: Bern University of Applied Sciences; Monica Mora: WLM international team
E-mail address
beat.estermann@bfh.ch; info@wikilovesmonuments.org
Username
Beat Estermann
Personal homepage or blog
Abstract

Over the past 3 years, the Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest has developed from a one-country activity into a global endeavor that every year in September brings Wikimedians, Wikipedians, and photo enthusiasts together in order to shoot great pictures illustrating Cultural Heritage and to make them available on Wikimedia Commons. In addition, the contest has proven to be a great opportunity to reach out to new contributors. - We are looking into the future: How to improve the retention of new contributors? And how to transform the photo contest when monuments lists in some countries start to get saturated?


Detailed proposal

Background:

Over the past 3 years, the Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest has developed from a one-country activity into a global endeavor that every year in September brings Wikimedians, Wikipedians, and photo enthusiasts together in order to shoot great pictures illustrating Cultural Heritage and to make them available on Wikimedia Commons.

The photo contest has also turned out to be an excellent tool for the community to reach out to new contributors. Anecdotal evidence shows that, by carrying out targeted outreach activities, the contest allows to effectively reach fractions of the population which hitherto have been largely under-represented within the Wikipedia community, such as older people. However, such concerted efforts to reach out to new contributors, and especially to retain them within the community thanks to follow-up activities, have been few and far between, leaving much potential unused.

Another challenge which the contest faces is that it won’t be long before we will have good pictures for virtually every official (protected) cultural object in some countries, thus reducing the usefulness of the contest with regard to the illustration of Wikipedia articles. In our “Future Workshop”, we would therefore like to invite the participants to focus their creative energy on two challenges:

  1. How can we make an even better use of Wiki Loves Monuments to gain new contributors and to retain them in the community?
  2. How do we transform the contest in the future, as the official lists of cultural properties get more and more saturated?

Objectives of the Workshop:

  • Present existing best practices with regard to the outreach to and the retention of new contributors in the context of the photo contest; brainstorm ideas for innovative approaches. (Documentation)
  • Present and discuss approaches aiming at the transformation of the photo contest, in order to ensure its sustainability while preserving its present focus on generating great pictures for the illustration of free knowledge and on reaching out to new contributors.

N.B. The “Future Workshop” is complementary to the Wiki Loves Monuments Panel.

Ideas for the future of WLM are gathered here.

Structure of the Workshop:

  • Introduction (5 minutes)
  • Presentation of 3-4 best practice examples (15 minutes)
  • Brainstorming in 4-6 groups about how to transform WLM in the future (e.g. photo contests about other themes; other activities related to cultural heritage) - Each group creates a poster containing: (25 minutes)
    • The proposed approach in a nutshell (one short sentence stating what it is all about)
    • The objectives
    • Why is it fun? - For new contributors? For existing Wikipedians?
    • Any other explanation, illustration, etc. the group wants to include
  • Poster presentation (20-30 minutes - 5 minutes for each group)
  • Wrap up and "rating" of the ideas by the participants (5 minutes)

Target Audience: Volunteers and staff members that have been involved in the organization of the Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest and people intending to do so; (future) participants of the photo contest; Wikipedians that have made use of pictures taken in the context of the contest or are intending to do so.


Track
  • Cultural and Educational Outreach
  • WikiCulture and Community
Length of presentation/talk
70-90 Minutes
Language of presentation/talk
English
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
possibly
Slides or further information (optional)
Special requests


Interested attendees

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  1. Daniel Mietchen (talk) 00:37, 30 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  2. SarahStierch (talk) 02:10, 3 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Multichill (talk) 13:58, 4 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  4. -- ♪Karthik♫ ♪Nadar♫ 15:18, 4 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Axel Pettersson (WMSE) (talk) 09:45, 6 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Atropine (talk) 13:39, 10 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  7. --Archeologo (talk) 14:10, 12 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  8. Mitchan14 (talk)
  9. Ovedc (talk) 09:16, 28 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  10. Benoit Rochon (talk) 02:34, 26 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  11. BlackBeast (talk) 03:55, 1 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  12. --Cornelia Trefflich (WMDE) (talk) 07:28, 1 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  13. Vera (talk) 20:32, 4 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  14. Poco a poco (talk) 09:47, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  15. Smuconlaw (talk) 10:53, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  16. Beko (talk) 09:53, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]