Wikipedia:Wikiproject:Creators and Wikipedia
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A mural portraying Frida Kahlo -
Angel Playing Bagpipes, Ján Novák, 1940 -
Photographer using a DSLR camera
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Our goal is to encourage professionals in the visual arts to contribute their work to Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia.
Wikimedia Commons is an online library of images, graphics and videos, many of which illustrate the articles featured in Wikipedia. High-quality photos, videos, drawings, maps, and artworks enhance the readers' understanding of the subject matter. All the multimedia in the Commons were made available by individual users all over the world, as well as by many institutions, such as museums, archives and galleries.
Wikimedia Commons enables people all over the world to access – and reuse – millions of multimedia files, freely licensed and in the public domain. Besides Wikipedia, all files kept in the Commons are also free to legally reuse elsewhere, outside of Wikipedia. Media marked as the public domain and those under a CC BY or CC BY-SA license can be used by scientists and researchers, journalists, teachers, bloggers, application developers and artists. They may be lawfully used in Internet publications, books and research papers, for the creation of lesson plans, collages, t-shirt designs or gadgets with graphic prints, and other creative or educational purposes.
Images make a significant difference in the learning experience of users – an image can clarify a complex concept or provide visual context to an abstract idea. Illustrations are particularly valuable for visual learners, who prefer to process information through images rather than text alone. Multimedia content can help to engage people and provide a more immersive educational experience.
In October 2023, English Wikipedia alone contained over 6,735,165 articles on all branches of subjects, and the number of articles on Wikipedia increases by approximately 17,000 a month.
Whereas many popular articles have already been well illustrated by images uploaded by volunteers, cultural and scientific institutions, there are many thematic areas and branches of knowledge where more, or better-quality, multimedia are needed to illustrate the text itself. A few examples of these areas include: art of the 20th and 21st century, performative arts (theatre, music, performance and ephemeral art forms), documentation of contemporary events, photographs of notable people living in the 20th and 21st centuries, regional customs and traditions; intangible cultural heritage, folklore and ritual; activism and many others.
The work of visual artists can improve a wide range of articles in need of illustration and visual information. From ancient cave paintings to modern-day Instagram stories, we've always communicated our stories, feelings, and ideas through visuals. Our brains process visual information much faster than text, making it a fundamental mode of information intake and dissemination.
Your work can enrich articles in need of illustrations and visual information. 20th and 21st-century art, folklore and ritual, regional customs and traditions, science, intangible cultural heritage, theatre are example thematic areas of Wikipedia that could greatly benefit from more visual content.
All images on this page have been made available by the participating artists.
Participants of the project learn how to upload images to Wikimedia Commons, categorize them, how to find out about needed images, licensing, media types and quality, and other good practices. Each participating creative professional is invited to contribute a set of images, which are their own work (by uploading them directly, or via a VTR permission). Most images on this page have been made available by the participating artists.
At the project's conclusion we will create a concise handbook aimed at creative professionals, answering the questions that creators may have about Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, the ways they can contribute, and how to use existing resources. We're also collecting comments and feedback from each participating artist, which may help in further work to enhance Wikimedia projects in the future.
- Upload images and videos suited to Wikipedia
- Help edit articles that require specialist knowledge
- Offer your feedback and comments
- See images contributed so far in Wikimedia Commons
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Protests in Warsaw in December 2015 -
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The project is open and we invite anyone interested to participate! We are particularly keen to hear from visual artists, graphic artists, videographers, other creative professionals, as well as art scholars and critics who would like to know more about Wikipedia.
- Please add your name to the list of active participants.
We will also be happy to have some editors and members of the Wikimedia community on the team!
Scholars and writers specializing in modern and contemporary art can greatly help to fill the gaps in the contents of Wikipedia's articles in this field, as well as help provide descriptions of artworks already present in Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia. Art scholars can use their expertise to provide well-researched information that is still missing from Wikipedia, and as such often reserved to a narrow group of specialists. We believe that knowledge about modern and contemporary art is as important as the knowledge about classical art, and should be available in the global encyclopaedia!
- Please add your name to the list of active participants.
For this project, all participants can identify subjects that have not yet been covered in Wikipedia, or articles in need of expanding or updating. We will mostly be working on subjects related to art and culture.
- Edit the list of missing or incomplete articles in your language
Visual artists edit
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Art scholars edit
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Anyone interested in taking part is invited to participate in project video calls (in two languages: English and Polish), for training, skills exchange and discussion! The video calls are run by Marta Malina Moraczewska.
Video meetings in English edit
- Next video call in English: Thursday, March 23, 18:00 CET
Video meetings in Polish edit
- Next video call in Polish: Friday, March 24, 18:00 CET