Learning patterns/Organising a photowalk for Wikimedia projects

Different Wikimedia affiliates and projects organise different Photography contests to enrich Wikimedia commons with particular images, but these contests limit with particular topics for example, Wiki Loves Monument- Which brings images related to monuments into commons and can further be added to Wikipedia articles. What happen when you organise an offline photo walk? This pattern will guide you in organising a Photowalk event. A photowalk is an opportunity to explore the heritage or place, exchange ideas and information and bring images under free licence.

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Organising a photowalk for Wikimedia projects

problemSteps to follow while organising a photowalk for Wikimedia Commons.

solutionStep by step that should be taken care while organising a photowalk, and how images from the photowalk improves an article in Wikipedia.

creator• Saileshpat

created on13 October, 2016

status:DRAFT

What problem does this solve?

Organising a Wikipedia offline event isn't quite easy, similar problems occur while organising a photo walk for Commons. Like offline editathons and conferences, many new people attend the photo walk event. Not everyone among participants is familiar with Wikipedia and Commons policies, and neither with CC licence.

What is the solution?

There might be various solutions to this problem, but recently I had conducted a photowalk for Wiki Loves Monuments, which helped in bringing 10 new Wikimedians, and 100+ new photographs into Commons. It helped in updating images of at least 10 articles in 3-4 different language Wikipedia.

How important photowalks are?

• It helps to spread awareness about Wikimedia movement and let people know how the image they see in Wikipedia articles were donated by people like them.
• It helps in getting images from different participants.
• Helps in updating images in articles of different language Wikipedias.
• Helps in forming a photographer community for your language Wikipedia.

Prework

Prework is one of the most important activity before organising any event, organising a photowalk is not difficult; If we have proper planning and team (If it's a group activity)

Photowalk route for WLM Bhubaneswar Select a theme for the photowalk, a specific topic which you think is important from Wikipedia point of view or not available in Wikipedia. If you're doing the activity in a group, then distribute the work among yourselves. Plan a proper route for photo walk, decide the starting and ending point so that participants won't be confused. Visit the proposed route walk before the event. Announce about photowalk in your local language Wikipedia, and send emails in the city mailing list or in the language mailing list. Do offline as well as online promotion for the event, create Google forms, and distribute it in various groups and social media platforms. If the photowalk is inside any monument or institution, take permission from the organisation. Plan proper timeline for the walk, when to start and when to end. Check weather condition of the event day and request participants to bring necessary things (Umbrella, Cap etc.) Sent an email with all details to the registered users before the event. The email should consist the following thing to help participants to better understand the event: About Wikipedia and Wikimedia Movement. About Wikimedia Commons. About the theme of the event. About CC licenses. You can also introduce you in the email and state why you're organizing this event.

During the event

Reach the venue 15 minutes before the event. Put Banners and posters near to you, so that participants can recognize the spot. Prepare yourself for an on spot registration for the participants those who haven't registered in the Google form. Briefly explain the theme of the photowalk to the participants and the importance of it in Wikipedia. Distribute booklets related to Commons to participants. Bring some water bottles with you to provide them to the participants. During the event you can introduce them: About Wikipedia and Wikimedia Movement. About Wikimedia Commons. About the theme of the event. About CC licenses. How to add images into Commons. How to categorize image etc.

Post-event

Post event is the most important step for every activity, without a post-event plan the activity might turn into a one-time activity. So, we should also consider the following things:

Participants from WLM Bhubaneswar heritage walk Immediately send emails to all participants within a day, thanking them for their participation. Send all details about uploading pictures into Commons to them. Send Wiki Loves in their userpage to encourage them. Add them to friend list or create a Whatsapp group or any other social media group where they can discuss the problem they are facing while uploading the image. Collect their usernames and correct the mistakes in their uploads. Plan another photowalk with the same participants to make it a follow-up activity.

My Learnings

• Never expect registered participants in Google form as the the exact number of participants.
• Proper timeline for starting and ending the event matters, or else you have to end the event in between according to participants convenience.
• For any heritage walk, photowalks at earliest time is more suitable to avoid distraction.
• Never demotivate participants- As Wikipedia says anyone can edit it- so anyone can participate the photowalk.
• Prepare yourself for a lot of questions related to the movement.

When to use

• Photowalks can be organized anytime, but to grab the attention of participants, we have to be very specific for the theme of the photowalk.
• I will suggest to organize it during any Wiki Loves competition, or any specific Wiki Takes project.

Endorsements

• Thank you for this great feedback! Papischou (talk) 18:10, 17 October 2016 (UTC)
• Endorse: A good one. It will serve as a guideline too. Regards, -- Tito Dutta (talk) 14:04, 19 October 2016 (UTC)
• The "photowalk" concept is very similar to the Semana i expedition to Desierto de los Leones.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Semana_i_Fall_2016_Wiki_Expedici%C3%B3n_(Desierto_de_los_Leones) We should note that this kind of event is best for small groups and/or areas which are dense with photographic opportunities; otherwise, you wind up with everyone taking pictures of the same thing. As far as education about the area, this is not a problem, but to get the maximum bang for Wikimedia, these events should be also be organized to get the most, and most varied content. If participants feel that they are just reinvening the wheel, or competing with others to get their photo on the Wikipedia page, the event can have opposite the intended effect. Thelmadatter (talk) 16:11, 2 January 2017 (UTC)
• endorse: --Kritzolina (talk) 13:52, 15 April 2017 (UTC)
• I would like to help guiding and assisting the participant and also involved towards various service which will help communicate with all. Ill show positive aspects of to the community, will share and care people who needs some assist. Identify issues and/or opportunities for collecting data. Explore organizational culture and help other follow the event privacy. 182.74.172.206 02:12, 16 April 2017 (UTC)
• I would like to help guiding and assisting the participant and also involved towards various service which will help communicate with all. Ill show positive aspects of to the community, will share and care people who needs some assist. Identify issues and/or opportunities for collecting data. Explore organizational culture and help other follow the event privacy. Mohamedudhuman05 (talk) 02:13, 16 April 2017 (UTC)