Wiki Loves Love/communication release/2019/02/12

Universality of a Movement and of a Feeling

The Wikimedia community and its projects, among which stands Wikipedia, live and actualize thanks to its ongoing efforts of people who contribute to these projects; animated by a broad range range of motivation, as various as their profiles, while at the same time being connected by a common vision: that of a world where everybody can freely access this possibility to contribute and to the fruits of these combined actions.

Love, like Wikimedia projects, can be characterised by the diversity of forms it takes and inspirations that support it, while presenting universal dimensions: anyone can feel feel and live it, and its affection can extend to the whole mankind and even beyond.

Thus documenting love on Wikimedia projects and instill ever more love among its contributors turns out to be an especially relevant undertaking, all the more as it connects their common purpose of fullness.

Hence the Wiki Loves Love (WLL) project. Also named Wiki aime l’amour in French, ウィキは愛を愛して in Japanese, ਵਿਕੀ ਲਵਸ ਪਿਆਰ in Punjabi, and so on, as translated in many other languages on Wikidata. It's an international photo campaign aiming at documenting love testimonies across the diversity of societies, communities and beyond in the whole world. From monuments to ceremonies, from miscellaneous objects used as symbol of love to tender gestures, let's show to the world how love is expressed everywhere and in various ways.

The 2019 edition is essentially a Wikimedia Commons contest which will attain the valuable media - images and videos about different festivals and wedding ceremonies in cultures around the globe that can later support various Wikimedia projects. It will animate the broader Wikimedia community in improving its coverage on various cultures and new forms of heritage that haven’t otherwise been documented so far.

As for Wiki Loves Earth (WLE) and Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), proposed photos must match a theme, but WLL is not limited to lists of protected areas, love can arise anywhere!

So the focus is not on sites, whether of regional or national importance but on the widest variety of love testimonials possible. This means that most users will be able to find several pertaining subjects close to them, whether heritage sites or daily life event.

The 2019 edition theme focus on photos and videos which document in some way festivals, celebrations, ceremonies and rituals of love across the continents in different cultures and regions. For more ideas and inspiration, check list of festivals around the globe.

Extend Wikipedia with this Love!

In parallel with the photo contest occurs an quality improvement initiative of Wikipedia articles on the same theme, encouraging further to make good use of the illustrative material that provide pictures of the contest. As summed up by the WLL project page of Les sans pagEs on French Wikipedia, in 2019 the contest focus on festivals, celebrations, ceremonies and rituals of love. On Wikipedia, the goal is to use photo created during the contest and improve existing articles on this theme, linking it with the theme of women, feminism and gender. To also track the progress of this contribution campaign, it's possible to subscribe to the work-board of the effort. Similar projects are also ongoing in English, Indian and Italian communities, check the page list of wikipedian actions around Wiki Loves Love.

References and notes

Thanks and Acknowledgments

This text is partly based on content of wiki pages previously cited. To discover more contribution details, please consult the history of these pages.

A big thank to all members of the Wikimedia community which brought help and support, in particular to the whole international team which makes this project possible: عباد ديرانية, Akashsalla14, Alice, Chico, Fæ, Fitindia, Icem4k, Jamie Tubers, Jay Prakash, Kaizenify, KCVelaga, KCVelaga, MB-one, Nandhinikandhasamy, Nattes à chats, Natuur12, Poco a poco, Psychoslave, Rajeeb Dutta, Romaine, Satdeep Gill, Seddon, Sparrow (麻雀), Steinsplitter, Sumanth699, Sumita Roy Dutta, Sushma Sharma, Titodutta, Tiven2240, Wikilover90