Commons-l January 2025

commons-l@lists.wikimedia.org

4 participants
6 discussions

Video skills and equipment
by Lars Aronsson 16 Apr '25

16 Apr '25

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

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Announcing Commons Walkabout
by Yaron Koren 27 Jan '25

27 Jan '25

Hi, It's my great pleasure to announce Commons Walkabout, a new site that lets you drill down and browse through the media files on Wikimedia Commons using the structured data tagged on each file: https://commonswalkabout.org/ The genesis of this project is that I just recently learned about structured data on Commons - I had heard the term before, but thought it meant people uploading public CSV files or something like that; but no, it's a way to tag files. It turns out that this is a source of frustration for Commons editors and users, because there is already a massive amount of data associated with the files, but very limited ways to query any of that data - which seems like a waste, and also means that it's hard to find anything specific on Commons, even more so if you don't speak English. Thinking about it, I realized that this was essentially the same problem that I, and another guy, Sahaj Khandelwal, had tried to solve for Wikidata, with the site Wikidata Walkabout. [1] There, too, it was a matter of building a user-friendly interface around SPARQL queries - in fact, the SPARQL queries for both sites are very similar, since Commons' structured data just uses Wikidata properties. I spent a few days modifying the code behind Wikidata Walkabout to be able to handle the Commons data, and the result is the site you now see. There are a few differences in the implementation: the most noticeable difference is that Commons Walkabout displays a thumbnail for each result, rather than just a name. The Commons query engine also requires a login, whereas Wikidata's doesn't, which meant a little bit of extra work on the back-end. Thanks to Brian Wolff for giving some pointers on how to get around this problem. I hope people enjoy it! Please note the language selection tool in the upper corner - this tool is meant to be usable in many languages. I look forward to hearing any questions or comments. And I hope this is a tool that will help improve the experience of Commons, which I think is one of the world's most remarkable resources. -Yaron [1] https://wikidatawalkabout.org/ -- WikiWorks · MediaWiki Consulting · http://wikiworks.com

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Welcome the Commons Android app's new maintainer, Ritika!
by Kaartic Sivaraam 22 Jan '25

22 Jan '25

Hello all! I just wanted to take the time to introduce you to the new maintainer of the Commons Android app, Ritika Pahwa! Ritika started contributing to the Commons App via GSoC 2023. She has been actively contributing to the Commons app ever since. She also helped as a mentor for GSoC 2024. She has demonstrated the necessary commitment to maintain the application. I'm excited to see how she takes forward the app and help us sustain and grow the community 🙂 On some reflection, it's hard to believe it's already been 2 years since I took up the role of maintainer. I hope I've managed to keep the community alive and helped sustain the app so far. It was wonderful contributing to the app that I've long admired all along and I hope to continue contributing to it whenever possible. Thank you for all your valuable support along the way! It wouldn't have been possible without it ❣️ Here's to a great future of the app! -- Sivaraam

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Four deletion nominations
by Jeffrey Beall 17 Jan '25

17 Jan '25

I invite Commons users to respond to four related deletion nominations. The four nominations involve four photographs of a mural. The artist died in 1980. The four files, with links to the deletion nominations, are here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:One_of_several_remarkable_murals_by… https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:One_of_several_remarkable_murals_by… https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:One_of_several_remarkable_murals_by… https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:One_of_several_remarkable_murals_by… Sincerely: User:Jeffrey Beall

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Deadline extended: Community Engagement Survey * Wiki GLAM, Culture and Heritage Conference!
by seehbe＠gmail.com 15 Jan '25

15 Jan '25

Hello �� The deadline has been extended to Friday, 17 January! I'm also happy to announce that Wikimedia Portugal and Wiki Editoras Lx are joining forces to submit a proposal to host in Lisbon this year! Read more here: https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/December_2024/Contents/… Share your thoughts on the Wiki GLAM Culture and Heritage Conference—what are your ideas and perspectives? We’d love to hear from you! English: https://forms.gle/TFUvsjT8F4xRuWfE7 Portuguese: https://forms.gle/KaXcdp5g1eS8HgAN7 Spanish: https://forms.gle/WUWkSfT5RDr3gnRN7 French: https://forms.gle/QhBdNFtiAQRdqUkKA Thank you! Connor https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Conbene www.seehbe.com

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Reminder: Survey Deadline! GLAM, Culture and Heritage Conference
by seehbe＠gmail.com 03 Jan '25

03 Jan '25

Hello, Olá! (*Apologies for cross posting!*) Happy 2025! There's still time to participate in the Engagement Survey for a Wiki GLAM Culture and Heritage Conference in 2025! We’d greatly appreciate a few minutes of your time to help identify community priorities, understand the needs, and determine focus areas. Deadline: 13 January English: https://forms.gle/TFUvsjT8F4xRuWfE7 Portuguese: https://forms.gle/KaXcdp5g1eS8HgAN7 Spanish: https://forms.gle/WUWkSfT5RDr3gnRN7 French: https://forms.gle/QhBdNFtiAQRdqUkKA Thanks in advance for your input. Best, Connor https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Conbene www.seehbe.com *P.s. there will be one more reminder email before the deadline.*

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Commons-l January 2025