2010/7/8 Jay Walsh <jwalsh@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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