Hello all,

Happy Wiki Loves Monuments month!

You may have already heard the exciting news that the US is participating in WLM this year, for the first time in 3 years! https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2016_in_the_...

The US campaign is organized around NRHP sites and National Monuments, with sub-campaigns for individual states, which include state and other local monuments, and are organized as state guides on Commons under the main US WLM campaign.

I have started putting together a guide for California: https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2016_in_ the_United_States/California

We have many NRHP sites here in the Bay Area, as well as a number of SF designated landmarks and monuments. And we also have a rich and fascinating history in the Bay Area and CA overall involving the use of photography for protection of our cultural heritage and natural wonders [1]. So I am proposing that in addition to participating in the photo contest we also work to improve Wikipedia's coverage of the monuments we have here and the history of photography in documenting/protecting them.

Want to help/participate? Here are some possible ways:

- Go photograph some monuments in the Bay area and upload them via the appropriate WLM upload wizard before the end of the month! - Look through your photo archive and see if you have previously photographed any monuments here in CA, or in other states (or participating countries, for that matter), that you would like to submit/upload - Improve/add to the CA WLM guide - Create a guide for a US state that does not have one yet - Help promote WLM US and/or WLM US/CA within your social networks - Let me know if you are interested in co-organizing, or attending, an edit-a-thon/upload event this month where we can upload photos together and also improve Wikipedia's coverage of the monuments in our fine state and their relationship with photography - We could also include a photo walk outing in this hypothetical event where we go on a walk together to photograph our local monuments! - And any other ideas you may have!

Please let me know if you are interested in helping to organize anything, or if you have any questions, or have any other ideas/pointers regarding WLM (this is my first time even participating in it).

And stay tuned for updates regarding a Bay Area WLM-related event that will hopefully materialize this month!

Cheers, niki

[1] For example, Ansel Adams and the influence of his photographs of Kings Canyon, CA in having the site designated as a National Park (as well as other parks: http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/people/artists/#adams; http://www.csmonitor.com/1981/0806/080660.html; http://anseladams.com/ansel-adams-the-role-of-the-artist-in-the-environmenta... )

Of course, one could argue that a national (or state) park is not a monument (which is a discussion worth having this month), but the notion of photographs influencing legislation that designates a site as culturally and socially significant enough to warrant protection is certainly relevant here.