2025:Program/10,000 WikiPortraits Later: Lessons from around the Globe

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Session title: 10,000 WikiPortraits Later: Lessons from around the Globe

Session type: Poster

Track: Partnerships

Language: en

Since WikiPortraits was formed in early 2024, its photographers have uploaded 10,000 photos, which have been used on over 10,000 articles across more than 150 language Wikipedias. These photos are used on articles that receive upwards of 100 million views per month — or over a billion views per year. WikiPortraits has covered the Nobel Prizes, Venice Film Festival, Jaipur Literature Festival, American Academy for the Advancement of the Sciences, SXSW, and many other significant cultural events. Dozens of volunteer photographers — both new and old to the wiki movement — have joined from Italy, France, Iran, New Zealand, Germany, Brazil, Canada, Austria, the United States, Dubai, Spain, and other countries. WikiPortraits has become a vibrant way to engage a cohort of new wikicontributors who are most comfortable with images, but then go on to contribute text as well. At this panel, a group of WikiPortraits contributors will discuss their experiences.

Description

Join WikiPortraits photographers for a panel and discussion on lessons learned from 10,000 WikiPortraits, including stories of victories, roadblocks, and learnings. WikiPortraits images are now viewed over 100 million times per month on almost 10,000 articles across more than 150 language versions of Wikipedia. WikiPortrait images now account for approximately one out of every 5,000 (and growing!) self-published files on Commons.

While WikiPortraits initially started as a small group of volunteers covering signature events around the world, it is now expanding and scaling to different events and a global network of photographers, both new and old to the wikimovement. Over the last year, WikiPortraits photo coverage has included scientists, oncologists, comic book artists, writers, peace activists, journalists, business executives, military heroes, and inventors. We have recruited college students, retirees, professional photographers, comedians, writers, and others to take photos.

And while WikiPortraits has been credentialed at the Venice Film Festival, Nobel Prizes, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Toronto International Film Festival, SXSW, Sundance Film Festival, and Broadway openings, it has also been denied by the Golden Globes and the Grace Hopper conference for female computer scientists.

The WikiPortraits organizers are also interested in discussing with the community many of the organizers' own internal debates. How should we measure impact? Should we prioritize high quality photos on the most viewed articles on all of Wikipedia; adding photos to existing biographical articles that have no photos; or catalyzing the creation of new articles from photos. Also a pressing question: how do you balance the big tent philosophy with keeping a quality bar for photography?

Next, we would like to ask other Commons photographers what software tools WikiPortraits should try to build for the larger community: galleries, streamlined uploading, collaborative uploading. We are also interested in talking with other Commons photographers who already have been taking photos about what they have learned in their own regions, to better pass to our new volunteers.

This session will be helpful to people who want to become a WikiPortraits contributor, regional organizers who want to support local photographers with credentialling, contributors who already have experience with photography and event coverages, editors interested in policy around getting existing photos cleared for Commons, and people who just like spirited discussions around the role of images on Wikipedia.

How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 – Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?

Our session asks the audience in an active discussion on how WikiPortraits should evaluate impact and prioritize its event coverage. Discussion points include how WikiPortraits has and should continue to expand its reach to maximize global coverage, particularly of underrepresented groups. We want to use the session to not only host these discussions, but to start new partnerships and collaborations with global Wikimedians who attend the session. As sending photographers to events can be resource intensive, we will also be discussing how WikiPortraits can minimize resource expenditure and make the project more sustainable as it grows as a global effort. We also want to engage the audience on the specific question of how you balance the big tent philosophy with keeping a quality bar for photography.

What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Everyone can participate in this session

Speakers

• Jenny8lee

I am one of the cofounders of WikiPortraits and work as the assignment editor and editor in chief. I have helped arrange the credentialling, the networks, and the volunteers.

I am an American journalist, author, and producer known for her work in print, television, and film. I have gained prominence for coverage of technology, culture, and society. I have worked as a reporter and editor for The New York Times for a decade, covering various beats including technology, culture, and Washington politics. I have also been a Wikimedia contributor for years, and also helped launch the WikiCred initiatives.

• Kevin Payravi

Kevin Payravi (User:SuperHamster) is a software engineer from the U.S., and has been editing Wikimedia projects since 2007. In addition to day-to-day editing, Kevin has developed a number of wiki tools and games, including Cite Unseen, View it!, and Indie Wiki Buddy, Commons Gallery, and WikiAsteroids. He also serves on the Board of Wikimedia DC and as an organizer for the Ohio Wikimedians User Group. Each year, he helps organize WikiConference North America and Wiki Loves Monuments in the United States.

• Pedro J Pacheco

Photographer and resident in Malaga, Spain, uploading photos to Commons since 2011 and closely related to the movement since 2015 being part until 2025 of the board of Wikimedia Spain. In photography, specializing in monument photography (WLM and other collaborative activities with Commons) and attending events to get quality portraits. You can find me as Pedro J Pacheco

• Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight

Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight is a prolific Wikipedia editor (since 2007) and admin (since 2009), as well as a fledgling WikiPortraits photographer (2025). She co-founded the annual in-person conference, WikiWomenSummit (est. Wikimania 2023), and the online content gender gap project, Women in Red (est. Wikimania 2015). Rosie serves as the Wikipedia Visiting Scholar at Northeastern University (Boston), where her work focuses on women writers, and as the Community Engagement Manager at the University of Queensland (Australia) on the Wikimedia research project “Measuring the Gender Gap.” Previously, she served on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees (2021-24). In 2016, Rosie was honored as Wikipedian of the Year; two years later, she was knighted partly because of her Wikipedia work. She makes her home in California, US.

• Andrew Lih

Andrew Lih has been a Wikipedia editor since 2003 and is an administrator on English Wikipedia and Wikidata. He is the author of the 2009 book The Wikipedia Revolution: How a bunch of nobodies created the world’s greatest encyclopedia. He is a passionate advocate of collaborative efforts between the cultural and heritage sector and the Wikimedia community. In the United States, he serves as Wikimedian at Large at the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum, education, and research complex. In 2022, he was named one of the first Wikimedia Laureate for his lifetime of work with the Wikimedia movement.