hey Jay,
thanks a lot for the heads up! Just one question: will the conversations
only be in English, or will you also be asking questions in mother tongue?
(or allow people to answer as they like). Combining the two, asking both to
answer in English and mother tongue, would give some interesting
opportunities when you want to roll something out on a more world wide level
- and it would allow people to more freely express what they feel without
having to translate in the mean while etc - which might limit them.
best,
lodewijk
2010/7/8 Jay Walsh <jwalsh(a)wikimedia.org>
Hi folks,
For those who might not know me - I manage communications for the
Foundation, here for my third Wikimania!
Some of you may be aware that the Wikimedia Foundation is undertaking a
small production here at Gdansk this year, largely to coincide with the
presence of so many of our project representatives from around the world.
The intention of this filming is to produce a bank of footage of our
project participants, and more specifically to produce a series of short
videos that will help show the faces and personalities behind our projects.
Much photography and video exists of our community, but this is the first
time we're working to produce something of significant, studio-style quality
that everyone will be able to use. We'll be asking some basic questions
about how the projects work, particularly Wikipedia, so we can have
interesting perspectives and practical knowledge - first hand from the
contributors - to use for a variety of purposes.
The final videos will be CCBYSA, of course, and the timing of their release
(late August, early Sept) should help us with some major upcoming
milestones, specifically the 10th anniversary of Wikipedia, our next major
fundraiser, and efforts to both bring in new editors and to provide a short,
simple, and very good video that portrays some of the people behind our
movement. We hope the videos can also be subtitled and localized by and for
chapters and other groups interested in supporting the Wikimedia projects.
Over the three days of Wikimania you might be approached by me or one of a
few staff or volunteers to share 10-15 mins of your time to tell us about
yourself and your involvement with the projects on camera. The questions
will be very simple - no special prep needed, just your honest answers and
enthusiasm.
This is of course 100% voluntary, and because we're filming just off-site
of the main venue (we've set up a small studio at the adjacent Maritime
Museum), it will only involve those who wish to be filmed. This isn't a
video project focussed on Wikimania specifically, rather on the people of
the projects, and why and how you participate. A few other visiting
video/media crews may be shooting Wikimania itself (besides the many
videographers amongst the contributors), but this project is completely
studio-based. Obviously if you are not comfortable having your likeness,
username/name, and nationality used in a public work like this, it probably
isn't something you would want to participate in. The final videos will be
hosted on Commons and other video sites.
Because we have limited time over three days, we won't be able to film
everyone, but we'll try to film as many as possible. We're trying to cover
a spectrum of people, projects, personalities, and nationalities. We'll
shoot mostly in English, but you'll be encouraged to add responses in native
or other languages as well.
Jelly Helm, who was working with the Foundation at last year's Wikimania as
well, will be back to oversee and direct this production alongside the
Foundation. We're also working with a small film crew from Hamburg who has
done some work on the topic of Wikimedia's projects before.
You can get a sense of the kind of production that we're envisioning by
seeing some of the earlier work Jelly has done with a non profit in the US
called Oregon Humanities:
http://www.youtube.com/user/oregonhumanities#
I'm really confident that the final videos and footage will be very good,
and highlight the people and passion of our projects. No one is better at
telling the story of why 'you' contribute than you - and without a doubt
(obviously!) Wikimedians know and speak about their movement better than
anyone else.
The filming will take place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday starting at about
11AM and running through 7 or 8 PM. If you'd like to participate you can
reach out to me off-list, or you'll probably meet or hear from me or some of
the other folks helping out with this project during Wikimania. Again, we
won't be able to film everyone, but we'll try to get lots. If this proves
successful we may try again next year as well - particularly for the big 10
year anniversary.
Please let me know if you have any questions! Thanks in advance for your
interest - hope to see you take part.
Best,
jay
--
Jay Walsh
Head of Communications
WikimediaFoundation.org
blog.wikimedia.org
+1 (415) 839 6885 x 609, @jansonw
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