[Wiki Loves Monuments] Long term

(changing the title to give it its own thread) I think this discussion would indeed be best on the feedback page. But I will respond to some of the points already here. First off: I personally do not think this will be an ever lasting event. I think that a country can only organize Wiki Loves Monuments 3 or 4 times in a row without exhausting enthusiasm about it. I actually have the feeling next year (2013) might very well be the last year that we organize it on an international level. But I hope someone will proof me wrong! I agree with Yaroslav that a real life organization would be a possibility. We don't need that though. Actually, I think it would be a worse situation than what we're in right now. It would cause a lot of bureaucracy (conflict of interest: I would be one of the people who would have to review the bylaws in the Affiliations committee). An ongoing project on Commons to coordinate heritage projects would perhaps be a good idea. Commons isn't exactly suitable for it as it also involves a lot of other things - but it is probably better than the alternatives. Outreachwiki would drive us too far from the content side of things etc. I don't think it would be a priority of myself, but I can definitely see the added value. I do not think it could or should replace current efforts, but it should be complementary. Some people suggested over time that Wiki Loves Monuments is a GLAM project. Everyone who knows me, knows that I'm no fan of acronyms and especially not this one. If you would use the alternative 'cultural heritage institutions' (or if you prefer acronyms: CHI) it indeed fits the definition well. However, at the same time it is quite different from all the other initiatives that are ongoing in this field by Wikimedia. Wiki Loves Monuments is mostly public facing and not institution-facing. We're focused on participation by individuals, and while the institutions that provide the infrastructure (the lists) are critical - they are primarily a tool to reach that goal. That is why I usually consider it more a seperate thing from traditional cultural heritage initiatives in Wikimedia - but it has many interfaces. Every national Wiki Loves Monuments competition has probably one or several Cultural Heritage collaborations. In the Netherlands we collaborate with the Museum association (prize sponsor), National heritage board (providing the lists), a monument/heritage association (networking partner, outreach and prize sponsor), the Architecture museum (prize sponsor), Open Monument Days (networking partner and outreach) etc. In other countries you will likely see similar collaborations especially in the second/third year develop. Anyway - I definitely cheer upon Poli's great idea to have a cleanup project. I have been doing a bunch of that myself recently on some countries (India, Canada, Argentina) and I think it could use some help. I think Maarten sent recently an email about it (now WLM is over, what's next). Yaroslav, Polimerek: would you like to volunteer to set up such portal on Commons? Best, Lodewijk 2012/11/4 Jane Darnell <jane023(a)gmail.com>