Grants:Project/Rapid/Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton/Equipment for Matemateca digitalization

Digitalize and upload to Wikimedia Common all the available collection of Matemateca, the University of São Paulo Museum of Mathematics. (Estimated total: 200-300 objects.)

Project Plan

Activities

What content gaps will you be filling with the equipment?
With this equipment we will be able to start digitalizing the collection of Matemateca and open it via Wikimedia Commons.

Matemateca is the University of São Paulo Museum of Mathematics, under the coordination of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, housing objects of educational relevance to exploring Mathematics, that at this point are either non existent or limited on Commons. Directors of the Matemateca have had meetings with Wikimedia volunteers to discuss this initiative and are completely on board.

This GLAM project is part of an ongoing programme to open collections of the University of São Paulo, the most prestigious educational institution in Latin America, having over 60 collections on their campi. The programme started by the Museum of Veterinary Anatomy FMVZ USP opening high-valued images of its collection taken by a professional photographer. In contrast to that, Matemateca digital collection have a very low-valued pictures, and do not have a professional photographer to generate better ones. So the equipment that is being requested, through this grant, will allow us to digitalize the collection in better form, generating high-quality and high-valued images to the humankind.
What activities will you organize in the next 6 months to create content and use it on Wikimedia projects?
We expect to have fully accomplished the digitalization and upload of relevant objects from the Matemateca in a format that will be of the best interest for the community in the next six months. Some objects may be only taken picture of; some might need to be recorded on video, in order to show dynamic features. As mentioned above, there are around 200 to 300 objects of interest, some of which might need to be taken in different angles.

When the project with the Matemateca is done, we are planning workshops of basic and product photography, increasing the range of volunteers able to get involved with the programme. Because of the schedule, unfortunately we can not do it during the project.
How will the equipment be shared/tracked/cared for by members of your community?
In this first leg, it will be used mainly in this digitalization. So the track is simple. When it is not in use, it will be stored at Neuromat, a research institute in the same department, physically close to Matemateca, and have two Wikimedia volunteers, and a Wikipedian-in-residence working there.

Finished the digitalization, we will set a page on Meta so that interested volunteers may submit projects to request the use of this camera.
How long will the equipment be used, and by whom?
We expect the camera to be used for at least the next 5 years by members of the Wikimedia Movement in Brazil (this seems to be the mean life time of this equipment, under intense use). As mentioned above, the initial use will be exclusively related to the GLAM initiative with Matemateca.

As a photographer volunteer, my contributions are mostly about medium size objects, which is a skill that will be very relevant for the GLAM initiative. I have also been acknowledged as being good at photo retouching; I have worked on light and details on several pictures from the Museum of Veterinary Anatomy Glam. Some of my work is available below

My own work for Illustration Programme

MAV images, editions and retouches by me

5. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?

Two other museums at the University of São Paulo have indicated to want to take part of the project of opening the university collections, the Museum of Geosciences and the Museum of Education and Toys. The Museum of Geosciences alone has a collection of over 5,000 relevant objects. A future grant will be necessary for this museum.

For a better used of the money, WMF buying this equipment in USA and we managing to bring it to Brazil, would be preferable; directly importation will double the amount expended and the could take a certain amount of time.

On October 17, an email has been send having questions about this grant, including the issue above.

Impact

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets and feel free to add more:

Bring at least 200 QI in the next 6 months;
Bring at least 100 VI in the next 6 months;
Bring at least 20 FP in the next 6 months;
Generate at least 100 usable images for Wikipedia, Wikibooks or Wikiversity.

Resources

What resources do you have? Include information on who is organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding). I already have a Canon 10qd (film camera) and a Canon 100D with 50mm 1.8 II, 18-55 3.5-5.6 STM, 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS, EF 35-135mm f/4.0-5.6 USM, a very entry-level equipment (except for the film body). This personal equipment cannot handle 200 pieces. The Matemateca have some "studio" equipment, that will be provide to us in order to accomplish this digitalization.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list each expense and include a total amount.

Canon EOS 80D + Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art Lens for Canon (1,199.00 +799) = 1,998.00
Tax: Free
Shipping: Free*

Total: 1,998.00 USD

Endorsements

The digitalization of the Matemateca collection, as well as other museums at the University of Sao Paulo, is directly connected to the initative of the UG Wikimedia in Brazil of scientific dissemination via Wikimedia projects, that I have been leading at the University of Sao Paulo. Rodrigo is an independent volunteer, not associated to our group, who has been very active in supporting our group initiative. Our work has been systematically reported, on our page on meta and community outlets. This equipment that is being requested is necessary for spreading our work to the Matemateca and other cultural institutions. Joalpe (talk) 17:59, 28 October 2016 (UTC)
I support and wait with great interest the implementation of this project, which will undoubtedly be of great value for the illustration and study of Mathematics related subjects. The value asked for the equipment (if I well understood, about 3 thousand dollars) is not absurd for a professional camera, and I expect it to be of great utility in the years to come in future projects, some of them already drafted - hopefully with very intensive use. - Darwin ^Ahoy! 20:09, 30 October 2016 (UTC)
I believe in the potencial of Wikipedia to contribute to disseminate good quality scientific content around the world. Therefore, I think that digitalizing collection of Matemateca to Wikimedia Common is an important step to scientific diffusion, especially taking into consideration the users that would use the material for academic purposes. Mariliacarrera (talk) 17:18, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
Sturm (talk) 14:47, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
Ixocactus (talk) 04:09, 15 November 2016 (UTC) USP had great scientific collections to illustrate our entries.
Rodrigo Argenton is a highly-skilled photographer. With Rodrigo involved, this project will definitely produce some professional-quality results. I can't wait to see the end product! lNeverCry 08:42, 27 November 2016 (UTC)