Wikipedia:Wikipedia Takes The City
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikipedia Takes The City is a one-day scavenger hunt and free content photography contest conducted in a particular locale, where participants compete to take photographs of as many local sights as possible for Wikipedia articles where they are needed.
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[edit] Compiling a list
A list of articles needing photographs can be compiled from sources such as Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in Manhattan, and even by manually going through articles in subcategories of Category:Manhattan.
It can also be that some articles which do have photographs need more modern photographs, or photographs of specific things at the location.
The list should be broadly organized by neighborhood, with addresses and cross-streets included.
You should also solicit fellow Wikipedians for their own suggestions.
[edit] Instruction packets
The finalized list should be printed in an instruction packet to be given out on the morning of the event, with full instructions and a code number for each of the locations.
There were two different starting points (and collection points) in New York, and this could be done in other locales too if it was found convenient.
It is important that participants take a "context photograph" of an index card with the location code written on it (held up in front of the camera and the target location), before actual photographs of the target location. This helps reconstruct which photographs are of which location.
Participants should be encouraged to compete in teams of two or three members if they want to, which increases the fun factor. Still, they should share one camera/memory card, because this also helps reconstruction.
Scores can be tallied with a point system: in New York, there were 10 points for normal locations, 5 bonus points for locations that also had interior photographs, and 30 points for locations far from the city center.
[edit] Uploading
The photographs can be quickly uploaded and tagged on Wikimedia Commons using the Commonist program, and templates similar to {{WTM}}, {{WTMid}} and {{WTMtag}}. Then, they can be easily integrated into Wikipedia articles.
Before they are uploaded, the image files should be batch-renamed, with the event name, the team name, and a number signifying the order of the team's photographs in the filename. The number should be in the form of "001" rather than "1", so that the files are sorted correctly by alphabetic order.
The uploading can be held at a party in the evening, where scores are also tallied and prizes given to members of the winning teams.
[edit] Events
- Wikipedia Takes Manhattan — April 4, 2008 in New York City, USA
- Wikipedia Takes Nashville — May 24, 2008 in Nashville, USA
- Fotojacht 2008 — "Photohunt 2008" in the Netherlands or Belgium
- There has also been discussion about a fotókonteszt ("photocontest") in Hungary
- There has also been discussion abou a Wikipedia Takes Seoul or other project in South Korea
- There has also been discussion about a Wikipedia Takes Paris event in France
- A spin-off idea has been developed at Wikipedia takes the world 2008
- If you want advice on holding your own event, feel free to contact User:Pharos.
