Photo permissions for Muggles: creating efficient processes with VRT
antanana
Wikimedia Ukraine
Myleen Hollero, CC BY-SA 3.0
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Ukrainian Wikipedia editor and admin, VRT agent,
member of Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine organising team, member of Wikimedia Ukraine
Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
Let’s see who is in the room first
Does everyone know what VRT means?
(Volunteer response team, formerly OTRS)
And, just in case, let’s clarify terminology:
In Memoriam…
Катерина Васильєва (photo), IrynaBoiko (WMUA) (black-and-white), CC BY-SA 4.0
There are moments when being a Wikipedian really sucks. Emotionally for me this happens when I am reaching out to families of Wikipedians (and other people) who passed away to get a permission for publishing their pictures under a free licence. People are mourning the loss, and here I am talking with them about copyright. And no, I cannot just take a picture from a Facebook page or sent via messenger…
Partially the problem is that we (as Wikipedians) are working on something that is poorly understood in the outside world (by muggles)
Partially the problem is that we (as Wikipedians) are working on something that is meant to be never finished and to be evergreen - the sum of all knowledge is also expanding
Partially the problem is that we (as Wikipedians) find a deadline or some strong emotions motivating - and a death of a notable person or a fellow Wikipedian would make us reprioritise what articles we are working on
You know, I do not randomly (or even systematically) write to people asking for their pictures. it requires time…
…and patience, to explain the magic, that yes, I really do need to understand who is the author and/or copyright holder, and a screenshot or a forwarded message are not enough, and I would need an email with a permission
Some time in late 2024 I read a post or an article about how a former prisoner of war felt uncomfortable with pictures taken of them after they were returned to Ukraine from Russia - and I thought about how I would feel if a picture of me was taken and widely shared after 3 years of not eating normally, not sleeping properly etc…
I am usually upset at my family members just sharing my pictures to the all-family chat without showing them to me first for approval…
I have reread the Wikimedia Foundation Board resolution from 2013 on media about living people, and it struck me that I do not think I was ever told to be kind to people portrayed in our projects
My usual process was - If I found a more or less suitable picture by a photographer who is willing to release it under a free licence - I would take it, no questions asked
Subjects of the articles themselves are not really needed for a copyright chain on our projects*
…well, unless we are talking about a selfie :)
By Self-portrait by the depicted Macaca nigra female. �See article. �Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36464057
See also [[w:Monkey selfie copyright dispute]]
[an article about a person one is working on] -> find a picture -> find its author (photographer) -> ask them for a permission
A normal (and efficient?) process would be:
a kind (and not as efficient?) process would be:
[an article about a person one is working on] -> find a contact for the subject of that article -> ask for a picture of them they themselves like -> find its author (photographer) -> ask them for a permission
So… as I don't have enough things to do in my life, I started a 100photowikidays challenge
…for 100 days in a row, write to notable people with missing, bad or outdated pictures of themselves, and ask them if there is a picture of themselves they would rather have. and then follow the “kind” process
In 100 days I:
With some quite drastic changes…
Настя Телікова / Nastya Telikova (facebook.com/telikova, instagram.com/telikova_photo), CC BY-SA 4.0
Yakudza, CC BY-SA 3.0
I also learnt that we are so magical that the way we do things is really not clear to non-Wikipedians*
*well, and for some Wikipedians who never got into that
We expect people:
I mean, this is quite unrealistic…
and that’s the reason we do not have hordes of people donating good quality pictures to Wikimedia Commons :)
Now, I understand that my “kind” way of getting pictures under a free licence is not really “efficient”
…but then, what’s the alternative? to wait for people themselves to upload somehow, get photos deleted, discover our instructions, and follow them to the letter? (status quo)
This has been the approach for the last 24 years… this, or spending money and time on going to events and taking pictures there
Not all notable people go to events; they might still not like a photo of them a wiki-photographer took… so humour me
contact a subject of the article
BTW, the most efficient VRT process would be -- not getting the picture to go via the VRT process at all… author/copyright holder can just change the licence on their website or a social media post - the licence review process is enough
Think about yourself or a loved one getting whatever image Wikipedians were able to find under a free licence. Wouldn’t you rather have some agency in which picture to choose to represent you or your loved ones?
Giving this permission is more unpaid work for photographers - so 1) upload the photo, 2) prepare an email with a permission text (and link to the uploaded photo), and 3) attach the photo - ask them just to send one email with these two attachments
embed the photo on-wiki -- and make sure to write an email or a message to both the photographer (for giving the permission) and to the subject of the article themselves. Include a link but also a screenshot of the article with the picture used (motivate them for future!)
step 1
step 2
step 3
step 4
A “kind” VRT process for muggles
check about rights (original file, copyright)
contact photographer
insert photo to Wikidata/Wikipedia
Just "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge” illustrated with good quality media
Thoughts? Concerns? Reflections?
And, by the way, a next level of efficiency for the VRT process might be contacting associations of writers, composers, artists, singers, publishers, etc… And giving them clear instructions and a “human contact” on how their members can get their pictures on Wikipedia (if they already have an article created about them)
The individual project I did was a zero budget initiative. It is scalable horizontally - with more people or more communities doing it proactively. Scaling for real would require some funds - to create a PR campaign (f. ex., getting notable people with good pictures obtained this way to share our message), on-wiki banner, some changes to the templates in the articles etc.
Asante sana! Thank you! Дякую!
Please find me here at Wikimania to talk about this topic (or any part of it) or reach out online :)
[[user:antanana]]
Q&A
Photo permissions for Muggles: creating efficient processes with VRT