Foto Community User Group/Activities
The activities here described follows our Conduct code, Wikimedia Movement Interaction Principles, and our Agenda for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Increase of awareness activities
[edit]The lack of care in Brazil makes tangible, intangible, natural heritages disappears every single day.
One way to fight back this situation is the increase of knowledge about this heritages. And if we loose this fight, we may have a register of it, at least.
- Natural heritage
The anthropic intervention changed the physical environment as well in the living world; The ongoing accelerated extinction of species can be considered as one of the major resulting impacts.
Raising public awareness on the issues related to the environment and ecosystems is an important strategy to involve society in the discussions about the current crisis of biodiversity, and might be an important strategy to promote changes in the way we treat environmental issues.
The crescent process of urbanization, with people living in larger and densely populated cities, results in a progressive separation between humans and nature. One of the solutions to this problem is to reconnect people with the natural world, through actions designed having this purpose in mind, and also though the availability of information about the living world.
- Intangible heritage
Brazil is a continental country, having influences from different nations, having a reach, diverse, and low researched culture.
We have around 270 different languages, with more than 300 ethnicities living here, with little, or inexistent register of most of those, we can expand this lack of register to the dances, musics, rites, ... even from a non indigenous people.
There is a non written culture in the country that are rapidly vanishing due to governmental plans and lack of knowledge and care of the urban population, the one that runs the country.
Expeditions
[edit]Brazil is giant country with low access to Photograph, moreover, we have little infrastructure to receive travellers. As a result, we have little register in every aspect of massive portions of our nation. Going there, to register is a must. For that reason, one of our main activities are expeditions.
Photo walks
[edit]Photo walks can have an important paper to increase the local knowledge and create a bridge between humans and the surroundings, we can sometimes focus on Nature Heritage, sometimes focus on Tangible Heritage, and Intangible, even in big urban centres.
They are also a great way to outreach Wikimedia Commons, and also bring well register places.
A monthly event can generate a captive audience, a community around the photo walk, also bonding volunteers.
GLAM programmes
[edit]Different from Wiki Movement Brazil User Group, we have the potential to register objects/documents from GLAMs. Being able to photograph/scan and upload to Wikimedia Commons. For that reason, we have a different approach, and we will work with GLAMs that are not able to create their own registers. That being said, we also can work with the WUG, if demanded or necessary.
And Brazil is a third world country, and GLAMs are not prioritised, for that reason it is quite common to see thefts (i.e. São Paulo Museum of Art#Theft (2007), Museu da Chácara do Céu (2006)), fires (i.e. National Museum of Brazil#2018 fire, Instituto Butantan#2010 fire), floods (Museu Casa do Pontal (2016)) ...
And the new federal government (2019-) already cut 30% of the investments in universities (some light about this question), all the biggest universities in Brazil are public, and almost all the biggest museums are under a public university administration. They also cut scholarships [1], that maintain most of the museum researchers, and students, that make the museum engine keep going...
As a result, some museums will close, and digitalisation that was already costly for them, will be impossible to accomplish. In this catastrophic scenario, any digitalisation initiate could be the only register of items, so it is utterly important to have serious digitalisation projects running in Brazil, especially now.
Ecodrones
[edit]The goal of this activity is to present aerial records of Brazilian territory.
Landscapes, parks, buildings, squatter settlements, deforested areas, are some of the many points of interest of our group. Creating records of areas of interest, allowing studies, a better understanding of the area.
Videos
[edit]Videos are strong educational tools, and more and more, is becoming the main via of information. For that reason, we will make efforts to create videos in different fronts.
Tutorial videos
[edit]The idea is to create tutorial videos to decrease the barriers to contribute with the Wikimedia Movement.
Video Documentary Production
[edit]Video documentary production, seeking to document the natural, material and immaterial heritage of Brazil.
Video Documentary Workshops
[edit]Video workshops for locals, seeking to document the Brazilians Intangible and Tangible heritage. The idea is to provide the necessary knowledge to locals document themselves, giving their perspective of the heritage, an inside vision.
- Workshops
- Material and Immaterial heritage concepts
- Documentary productions
- Video Editing
Outreach
[edit]Gathering new photographers
[edit]Wikimedia Commons is little know by photographer here in Brazil, we will manage online and offline campaigns to attract and keep new photographers at the Movement. The idea is to being know in online groups, photo clubs, photo journey organizers, and also, in academic areas that produces relevant material, that could be shared.
Wiki photo contests
[edit]As part of our scope, we host or support some of the Wiki photo contests in Brazil.
We see this is as door to new comers, if properly managed. Having that in mind, prizes, when we are the host, always will have a direct impact on community, i.e., the first WLE that we organized, the prize was a participation on a expedition with us.
Observation: The WLM in Brazil will be managed by Wiki Movimento Brazil, we will give our support, when requested.