2025:Program/WikiPortraits: How You Can Participate as a Photographer, Editor or Affiliate
Session title: WikiPortraits: How You Can Participate as a Photographer, Editor or Affiliate
- Session type: Lecture
- Track: Community Engagement
- Language: en
đ„ Session recording: https://www.youtube.com/live/IIJaOtycCf0?feature=shared&t=4629 đ„
Since WikiPortraits was formed in early 2024, its photographers have uploaded over 20,000 photos, which have been used on over 20,000 articles across more than 150 language Wikipedias. These photos are used on articles that receive upwards of 100 million views per month â or over a billion views per year.
WikiPortraits has covered the Nobel Prizes, Venice Film Festival, Jaipur Literature Festival, Riddu RiÄÄu indigenous festival, SXSW, and many other significant cultural events. Dozens of volunteer photographers â both new and old to the wiki movement â have joined from Italy, France, Iran, New Zealand, Germany, Brazil, Canada, Austria, the United States, Dubai, Spain, and other countries.
Come learn how you can contribute and get a quick demo of Commons.Gallery.
Group photo after the presentation.
Description
Join WikiPortraits photographers to hear about a project which has uploaded 20,000 photos viewed over 100 million times per month across more than 20,000 articles across on 150+ language versions of Wikipedia. Learn how you can contribute!
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.
WikiPortraits helps provide credentials, badges, email aliases, and community!
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.
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. We can help guide Wikimedians through the process for their local events.
We will also give a demo Commons.Gallery, a software tool supported by Wikimedia Switzerland designed ro showcase photos from Wikimedia Commons.
This session will be helpful to people who want to become a WikiPortraits contributor, regional organizers who want to support local photographers with credentialing, 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.
Group photo after the presentation.
- How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 â 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
Resources
Speakers
- 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.
- 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 âMeasuring the Gender Gap.â 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.
- 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.