How to improve the categorisation of uploads to Commons (with particular emphasis on ESEAP-related uploads) - a workshop[edit]

Abstract/description[edit]

Wikimedia Commons is a library of more than 100 million media files licensed for free use by anyone, not only on other Wikimedia projects, but also for any other (lawful) purpose. Everyone uploading a file to Commons is invited to categorise it, for a number of reasons. In particular, a carefully categorised file will be much easier for a person looking on Commons for a particular file (or type of file) to find, either by browsing or by a search.

There is, however, a major problem. Many of the contributors to Commons do not know very much about categorisation, and therefore do not categorise files very comprehensively. Indeed, a typical Commons file is categorised in no more than about three or four categories, which, in many if not most cases, is nowhere near enough.

This workshop will be moderated by a Wikimedia editor from Australia who has uploaded more than 10,000 files to Commons, all of them categorised. The moderator has also created hundreds and hundreds of new categories, and categorised and re-categorised many additional Commons files uploaded by other Wikimedia editors. A lot of the moderator’s Commons uploads have been published on other Wikimedia projects, and also elsewhere, such as on news and other websites, and in books, magazines, and even commercial advertisements. Some of his Commons files are downloaded, as part of Wikipedia articles, hundreds of thousands of times a month.

The topics covered in the workshop will include the following:

Why does Wikimedia Commons even exist, ie what is its purpose?
Why is it important to categorise Commons files fully and comprehensively?
The art of categorising, which will be practised by focusing on a number of actual Commons images of subjects in the ESEAP region
The art of creating new categories (and categorising the new categories) to cover new topics, including topics of new files that a Wikimedia editor is uploading to Commons

Relationship to ESEAP or to the theme[edit]

The workshop will tie in fully with the conference theme of collaborating beyond the horizon, especially between contributors to Wikimedia Commons resident in the ESEAP region.

It will also be of particular interest to Wikimedia editors from the host country, Malaysia.

Like only two other countries in the ESEAP region, namely Australia and China, Malaysia has a fully comprehensive ‘freedom of panorama’ law, which allows anyone to publish photographs of any building or other structure, including the interior of any structure, without infringing any copyright held by the designer of the structure.

For that reason, there is huge potential for images of Malaysian structures to be uploaded to Commons and then comprehensively categorised and used by others for just about any (lawful) purpose. Participants in the workshop will be shown, and be able to discuss, how best to carry out such categorisations.

Username/s[edit]

Moderator: Bahnfrend

Session type[edit]

Workshop

Duration[edit]

45 minutes

Session outcomes[edit]

By the end of the workshop, participants will have discussed the purposes of Commons and the importance of full and comprehensive categorisation of Commons files, and will have practised the categorisation of a selection of actual Commons files and the creation of new Commons categories. They will also be able to share with other Wikimedia editors in their home countries in the ESEAP region the noble and important art of categorising Commons files.