Wikipedia:WikiProject Images and Media

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WikiProject Images and Media

editResources

Some Wikipedians have formed a project to maintain Wikipedia's images and other media files, as well as other pages related to them. This page and its subpages can be used to focus the effort of Wikipedians to further improve and maintain this important part of the project.

The scope of this project is to improve and maintain all images and media files (essentially, all pages in the "File" namespace), to keep Wikipedia's policies and guidelines related to such files clear and understandable, and to assist users who have questions about images or media and their use. For more information on WikiProjects, please see Wikipedia:WikiProjects and Wikipedia:WikiProject best practices.

You can join the project by adding your name to the participants list. If you'd like, you can also add a userbox to your user page indicating that you are a part of the project, by adding {{User WikiProject Images & Media}} to your userpage.

Wikipedia policies: Image use policy, Copyrights, OTRS, Non-free content criteria, Criteria for speedy deletion

Official guidelines: Manual of Style: Images, Public domain guideline, Non-U.S. copyright guideline, Non-free use rationale guideline

How to: ...find images to use, ...request images for articles, ...request copyright permission, ...request free media, ...create graphics and illustrations, ...improve image quality, ...create graphs for articles, ...delete images, ...move images to Wikimedia Commons

Related WikiProjects: Media Restoration, Graphic Lab, Maps, Spoken Wikipedia, Copyright Cleanup, Wiki Makes Video, WikiTV

External links: Free image resources, Public domain image resources, Cornell University's copyright factsheet, and "Duration of Copyright" and "International Copyright Relations" from the U.S. Copyright Office

editTasks and tips

editNoticeboard

Here are some tasks you can do to improve image and media use on Wikipedia, and some tips on how best to do them.

Move free media to Commons

Many free images can be moved to Wikimedia Commons. An easy way to find them is by looking through Category:Copy to Wikimedia Commons.

  • Tip: The Move-to-Commons assistant is a toolserver app that can make this easier, and FileScripts is a javascript tool that makes it easier still.
  • Tip: Only free media can be transferred to Commons, and not all free media is eligible. For instance, a file is considered public domain (PD) here on the English Wikipedia if it is PD in the U.S., but Commons also requires that an image be PD in its country of origin.
  • Tip: Please do not transfer images that have unaddressed problems, such as a missing source or questionable license. First fix the image, and transfer it when you're sure it's in good shape. If the image is suspect, you may want to nominate it for deletion instead.
  • Tip: Be sure that the image at Commons has a valid description and categories, and that all important templates have transferred successfully. You can then click the "Check now" link on the Commons image to certify that the image has been manually reviewed.
Suggest better names for images

Many images have cryptic or unsuitable names and have been tagged with {{rename media}}. Each of these should be given a better name. These are found at Category:Incomplete file renaming requests.

  • Tip: There is currently no easy way to rename images, but it is expected that soon this will be easy to do. Until then, simply suggest a better name within the template, like {{rename media|BetterName.jpg}}, and a bot will eventually move the image.
  • Tip: If the image is free and should be transferred to Commons, it's easy to do both. Simply upload it to Commons under a new name, and tag the local image with {{Now Commons|NewName.jpg}}. A bot will replace all instances to the new name, and will nominate the local image for deletion once it is orphaned.
Review our best images and media

Our very best images and media on Wikipedia, as determined by common consensus, are honored with special significance.

Assist users with copyright questions

Copyright law is complicated and frequently misunderstood. Questions are at Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. Discussion on media copyright is also found at Wikipedia:Files for discussion and Category:Non-free content review requested.

Fix problems with non-free media

Non-free images and media must conform to our strict Wikipedia:Non-free content criteria in order to be used. Understanding these criteria is critical for any discussions of their use.

Fulfill image requests

In the sub-categories of Category:Wikipedia requested photographs are many requests for images. Pick a subject and reduce the number of requests.

  • Tip: Check article to see if images have been added since the request was made. You can also go through Category:Articles which may no longer need images and see if the {{reqphoto}} templates can simply be removed. ImageChecker can help find such pages quickly.
  • Tip: If you have an image of your own that matches a request, upload it! You can also search Wikimedia Commons for images, check pages of other languages of the article for useful images, or try other sources.
  • Tip: If you cannot find an image, you may still be able to expand the image request, or improve the parameters of the {{reqphoto}} template.

At the Graphic Lab, you can help improve existing images.

Nominate unsuitable media for deletion

Images which may not be suitable for use on Wikipedia can be listed at Wikipedia:Files for discussion for further discussion.

Administrative tasks

Some image maintenance can only be performed by administrators, primarily because they involve image and media deletion. Areas where administrators can use their extra tools to help include closing discussions at files for discussion, keeping the backlog in Category:Wikipedia files that may violate copyright and Category:Rescaled fairuse images more than 7 days old to a minimum, and deleting files now available on Commons.

  • Tip: The following categories may have administrative backlogs which need to be cleaned out.
Wikipedia files with unknown source – No backlog currently
Wikipedia files with unknown copyright status – No backlog currently
Wikipedia files missing permission – No backlog currently
Wikipedia files with no non-free use rationale – No backlog currently
Disputed non-free Wikipedia files – No backlog currently
Orphaned non-free use Wikipedia files – No backlog currently
Replaceable non-free use Wikipedia files – No backlog currently

Wikipedia files with a different name on Wikimedia Commons – 2 items

Wikipedia files with the same name on Wikimedia Commons – 3 items

Non-free files with orphaned versions more than 7 days old needing human review – No backlog currently

Requested RD1 redactions – 1 item



Here are some events related to images and media. They may be of interest to members of this project.

[2 April 2014] Submissions for Wikimania 2014 are open for attendees to sign up at wm2014:Submissions. Related to media production:

[5 June 2010] Admins: Huge numbers of files have been moved to Commons recently, and more are likely in the near future. Please take a look at the following categories and help by deleting the (now-redundant) images:


Today's featured picture

Fall of man

The fall of man is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. The doctrine of the Fall comes from a biblical interpretation of Genesis, chapters 1–3. At first, Adam and Eve lived with God in the Garden of Eden, but a serpent tempted them into eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden. After doing so, they became ashamed of their nakedness and God expelled them from the Garden to prevent them from eating the fruit of the tree of life and becoming immortal. The narrative of the Garden of Eden and the fall of humanity constitute a mythological tradition shared by all the Abrahamic religions. The fall of man has been depicted many times in art and literature. This 1828 oil-on-canvas painting, titled Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, by Thomas Cole (1801–1848), is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, United States.

Painting credit: Thomas Cole