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Grants:PEG/WM CZ/Czech Municipalities Photographs/Report

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Project goal

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The goal of this project was to provide freely licensed photos of Czech municipalities, castles, nature reserves, rivers, creeks and other landmarks that were not available on Wikimedia projects at the time when the project started. For this project we obtained 2,500 USD (corresponding to 43,425 CZK) from Wikimedia Foundation.

Description of activities

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Several Czech Wikipedians went around the Czech Republic using various modes of transport (own cars, buses, trains) between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010. During their trips, they were taking images of selected targets that could be used for various purposes on Wikimedia projects. Obtained images were then uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, described, categorized and complemented with a GPS template showing the position of their photographer. Such images have a high value for Wikipedia and related projects because they present the current state of various objects and also they help to make better photo coverage of the Czech Republic.

We used the grant money to cover travel costs (bus tickets, train tickets or petrol), however, other expenses (for food or accommodation etc.) were not covered. Wikipedians usually used they own cameras, but several of them cooperated with Camera project after this grant project started.

Run

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Originally, we thought that this grant would be used by ~10 Wikipedians each of whom would make ~10 journeys. At the end, 10 Wikipedians participated in the project, however, our estimate of the number of trips they would make proved to be overrated due to time-consuming activities necessary after each trip (processing the images, uploading, describing, categorizing etc.). For this reason, most participants have made smaller number of journeys. Moreover, most of participants went on shorter distances than we originally thought. That is why we were not able to make use of all the grant money.

Main goal of this grant - number of photographed objects - was accomplished already in April 2010 (end of grant was 30th of June 2010) when we reached 400 objects and until the end of grant we managed to take photographs of another 163 objects.

Results

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A request for reallocation of remaining funds has been submitted by the grantee and approved by WMFon the discussion page of this grant report.

Remaining funds have been used or will be used for other approved mission-aligned activities. This use has been requested in writing and approved by WMF.

We set that this project will be a success if we got free photos of 400 new municipalities/landmarks (that will be 1000-1500 photos in total), or corresponding numbers while using proportionally less money.

Project status on June 30, 2010

 
Map showing the photographers' journeys as of June 30, 2010
  • Spent: 22,810 CZK = ~1,128 USD - we used 52.53% of amount
  • Total photos: 4,418 photos (the plan was to take between 1,000 and 1,500 photos) - ~353% of our plan
  • Total objects (villages, monuments, etc.): 563 (the goal was 400 objects) – ~141% of our plan
  • Average cost per one photo: 5.16 CZK = 0.255 USD

38 journeys were made by car, 20 by using public transport. From 563 total objects were: 457 settlements (villages, towns, town districts), 37 natural monuments or reservations, 4 geological locations and 25 historical objects (castles, ruins, palaces and churches standing not in the villages).

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All images taken for this grant are marked by the {{First year of the Czech Municipalities Photographs grant}} template and are available in a corresponding category on Wikimedia Commons.

The usage percentage of images taken is 22.40 % of all images, which means that 1468 images are used in articles in total. The usage percentage might seem to be low but we need to keep in mind that in most cases, only one picture (mostly the best one) of an object was used in the articles for illustrative purposes.

Evaluation

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We find this grant fairly successful, despite the fact, that only about a half of the money available was used. We have fulfilled all the main goals of this project and also we made the Czech Wikipedia community aware of the possibility of taking pictures of all the places around the Czech Republic so that this activity is not a matter of a small group of people any longer. We also believe that we have created a community of photographers who will continue with the same activity after this grant is over.

It is important that Wikimedia projects have a community of photographers who are willing to take pictures everywhere they appear. It is also important to work on improving their skills so that they are able to obtain better images. We tried to familiarize the participants with what we considered wrong in their pictures to give them an opportunity and a stimulus to work on their skills. Several participants of this project have also attended a photography workshop which was led by user:Packa and which was covered by another grant of the Wikimedia Foundation.

How to continue?

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An organization "Dukan Praha" took interest in supporting the project by an amount of 10,000 CZK (~470 USD) starting the beginning of the second half of 2010. We are therefore able to prolong the run of this project for another four to six months. We would also like to use the unspent funds for another run of the project after October 2010, because we believe that this grant has a high impact on Wikimedia projects and that the money we received are used effectively. We think that the unspent funds from the first year (20,615 CZK/~1,028 USD) will be enough for the next year's run.

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