I just tried to watch some presentation videos from Wikimania.
Some had very weak sound, some had no sound in the first minutes,
some only played the first minute and then stopped. I don't think
the Wikimania videos are unique in having such problems. Video is
new to Commons, and the expert contributors are more familiar with
still images.
How can we learn to make better videos? Are there some good
instructions? Perhaps a free instruction video (Wikibooks, but a
video instead of a book) on how to produce good videos is what we
need. In fact, the English Wikibooks has a title on "Video
Production", http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Video_Production but it
doesn't have a clear focus (pun not intended). It starts out with
discussing satellite TV and has long sections on file formats in
different operating systems.
There is a help page on Commons for converting video to the Ogg
Theora format, but that is only the last step in a long chain.
Given that video is new, how can we find and rate videos, nominate
"good/featured videos", and give advice on how to improve quality?
Is the Commons village pump enough for this? Commons has a
separate graphics village pump. Do we also need a separate video
village pump?
Current digital video cameras use hard disks or memory cards,
instead of tape cassettes. Many new models cost less than 300
euro (or dollars), some as little as 120 euro (memory card perhaps
not included). Some have a special "Youtube mode", and I guess
that kind of usage is what drives the price down. What models are
good, and what should one watch out for?
We can find free still photos on Flickr and copy them to Commons.
Is there somewhere we can find free videos and copy them? Yes, at
the Internet Archive. Somewhere else?
--
Lars Aronsson (lars(a)aronsson.se)
Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se
Dear Wikimedians,
We are happy to announce that the 2018 Picture of the Year
competition is now open. This is the thirteenth edition of POTY.
Wikimedia users are invited to vote for their favorite images featured
on Commons (FP) during the year 2018, to produce a single Picture of the Year.
Hundreds of images that have been rated Featured Pictures by the
international Wikimedia Commons community. From professional animal and plant
shots to breathtaking panoramas and historically relevant images, Commons
features pictures of all flavors.
For your convenience, we have sorted the images into topic categories. Two
rounds of voting will be held: In the first round, you can vote for as many
images as you like. The first round category winners and the top ten
overall will then make it to the final. In the final round, when a limited
number of images are left, you must decide on the one image that you want
to become the Picture of the Year.
Users must vote with an account meeting following requirements: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Picture_of_the_Year/2018/Rules
To see the candidate images just go to the POTY 2018 page on Wikimedia
Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Picture_of_the_Year/2018
Round ends on 17 February 2019, 23:59:59 [UTC].
Thanks,
POTY 2018 committee
I don't see declining camera sales as a threat to our future.
Yes cameras on smartphones have replaced or will replace cameras for most
people. But with all due respect, are we interested in pictures from most
people? Or do we prefer pictures from people who consider photography to be
one of their hobbies?
Of course there will be occasions when the only photo available is one
taken on a smartphone, but that brings up another trend, cameras on
smartphones are much much better now than they were twenty years ago..
Somewhere I have pictures I took on a camera watch 20 years ago, I very
much doubt any of them would be worth putting on Commons even if I could
find them. Modern smartphones and tablets have much better cameras than the
smartphones of a couple of digital generations ago, who knows how good
digital cameras on smartphones will be in the future.
~~~~
On Thu, 14 Feb 2019 at 12:00, <commons-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Send Commons-l mailing list submissions to
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> than "Re: Contents of Commons-l digest..."
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>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. threat to future (Gnangarra)
> 2. Re: threat to future (Lionel Allorge)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2019 21:51:11 +0800
> From: Gnangarra <gnangarra(a)gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Commons Discussion List <commons-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: [Commons-l] threat to future
> Message-ID:
> <CAD==kbJ5x+1aVAwSLm3rkwRFa65-HsFv6kHi=
> HL+kF9uPA7g5w(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Hi Everyone
>
> I read this
>
> https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/news/camera-market-has-collapsed-84-sinc…
> with
> interest and some trepidation.
>
> Reading this we face two issues;
>
> - the good issue in that the potential for more immediate smart phone
> uploads of events and the use of gps located photo needed will be be
> more
> readily addressed through the adaption and development of app
> technology.
> We should also see a rise in video contributions if we can get a
> consistent
> and widely available formats.
> - the bad issue will be a drop in the ability of contributors to provide
> high resolution quality images. With the immediacy benefits we'll have a
> fall in editing taking place with poor color, lighting, horizons.
>
>
> Interesting times ahead its something we should as a community consider for
> potential impacts and what moves may become necessary. When QI started it
> helped to promote the need for quality images even of the mundane. While
> this shift may not yet be a disaster its an issue we need to aware of,
> watch how it develops, and be prepared to adjust to.
>
> Regards
>
> --
> Gnangarra.
> Noongarpedia: https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/nys/Main_Page
> WMAU: http://www.wikimedia.org.au/wiki/User:Gnangarra
> Photo Gallery: http://gnangarra.redbubble.com
> Out now: A.Gaynor, P. Newman and P. Jennings (eds.), *Never Again:
> Reflections on Environmental Responsibility after Roe 8*, UWAP, 2017.
> Order
> here
> <
> https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/never-again-reflections-on-environmental-r…
> >
> .
>
Hi Everyone
I read this
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/news/camera-market-has-collapsed-84-sinc…
with
interest and some trepidation.
Reading this we face two issues;
- the good issue in that the potential for more immediate smart phone
uploads of events and the use of gps located photo needed will be be more
readily addressed through the adaption and development of app technology.
We should also see a rise in video contributions if we can get a consistent
and widely available formats.
- the bad issue will be a drop in the ability of contributors to provide
high resolution quality images. With the immediacy benefits we'll have a
fall in editing taking place with poor color, lighting, horizons.
Interesting times ahead its something we should as a community consider for
potential impacts and what moves may become necessary. When QI started it
helped to promote the need for quality images even of the mundane. While
this shift may not yet be a disaster its an issue we need to aware of,
watch how it develops, and be prepared to adjust to.
Regards
--
Gnangarra.
Noongarpedia: https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/nys/Main_Page
WMAU: http://www.wikimedia.org.au/wiki/User:Gnangarra
Photo Gallery: http://gnangarra.redbubble.com
Out now: A.Gaynor, P. Newman and P. Jennings (eds.), *Never Again:
Reflections on Environmental Responsibility after Roe 8*, UWAP, 2017. Order
here
<https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/never-again-reflections-on-environmental-r…>
.
A few months ago I switched our TimedMediaHandler's config to support the
newer, more bandwidth-efficient VP9/Opus variant of WebM and to use these
preferably over the older VP8/Vorbis version when creating scaled,
playback-ready derivatives.
(This does not affect upload support -- you may continue to upload video
files in WebM VP9, WebM VP8, or Ogg Theora formats, with either Vorbis or
Opus audio.)
Conversions of existing files on Commons ran in the background for some
weeks, finishing in November. I'm now running a final pass for
high-resolution files and any files on other wikis that didn't get a
conversion yet, in preparation for removing the VP8 derivatives in the next
couple of weeks to free storage space.
This should have relatively little visible effect for users, unless someone
is relying on the particular derivative files with extensions like
".360p.webm"; the new versions are named like ".360p.vp9.webm".
Note that IE 11 users using the "WebM Media Foundation Components for IE
<https://www.webmproject.org/ie/>" will not be able to play back the new
VP9/Opus files natively, as this driver has never been updated for VP9 or
Opus. IE 11 users will receive low-resolution, slow JavaScript-based video
playback instead. If you find this is troublesome, the recommended solution
is to switch to any other browser.
Third-party MediaWiki + TimedMediaHandler users should be aware that the
defaults are changing, and in future the VP8-specific support and code
paths may be removed. TimedMediaHandler will probably change a lot in the
coming months with upcoming WebVTT subtitle format, a streamlined
videojs-based player, and hopefully more!
-- brion
Dear Wikimedia Commons Discussion List,
I'm writing to offer three preprint academic papers to the Wikimedia Commons archive, as my contribution.
In 2017 the writing system of a manuscript filed as MS408 was revealed to be the only known example of an extinct language known as proto-Romance, as it later evolved into the various modern Romance languages. As such, it has significant value to the field of Romance linguistics and is an important part of the heritage of Romance speaking countries.
Three draft papers are available to freely download from the preprint linguistics website LingBuzz:
The first paper explains the writing system and language: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003737
The second paper translates a pictorial map from the manuscript: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003808<http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003808>
The third paper focuses on volcanological details from the map: https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/004381
A more comprehensive paper has now been peer-reviewed and will be formally published in a journal in 2019.
Regards,
Dr. Gerard Cheshire,
University of Bristol.
https://bristol.academia.edu/GerardCheshire
Hello everyone,
The wait is over, Wiki Loves Love 2019 Commons contest starts today and
will run till 28th February 11:59 UTC.
The theme of the contest is festivals, celebrations, rituals and ceremonies
of love.
Help us document love in different cultures. For more information, check
out our Commons page:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Love_2019
Additionally, Team WLL requests your assistance for translation of banner
of Wiki Loves Love 2019. Please help us make it available in as many as
languages as possible.Thank you!
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Translate&group=Centra…
Best Regards and lots of love,
Rupika Sharma
Co-ordinator
Wiki Loves Love