This announcement is also available online here:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/12/17/wikipedias-first-ever-annual-video-re…
Wikipedia: #Edit2014 is available online here:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_Edit_2014.webm and
http://youtu.be/ci0Pihl2zXY
*Wikipedia’s first-ever annual video reflects contributions from people
around the world*
Today, the Wikimedia Foundation released its first ever year in review
video, chronicling the celebration, pain, fear, resilience, and discovery
that came to characterize 2014. More than anything, it celebrates those who
come to Wikipedia to learn and understand the complexity of our world, and
those who edit and contribute information so that others might do the same.
In watching the video, you embark on a journey through the world and
Wikipedia, revisiting what you read and edited this year. From the FIFA
World Cup to the Indian general elections, and the Ice Bucket Challenge to
Ebola in West Africa, we follow threads of discovery through Wikipedia’s
vast constellation of knowledge, finding opportunities to contribute along
the way. We venture from Sochi to outer space in less than three minutes.
Wikipedia is among the most popular sites in the world, but the Wikimedia
Foundation (WMF) is a small non-profit. The video was put together on a
shoestring budget, and in less than two months, through the generous
collaboration and contributions of Wikimedians and Wikipedia supporters.
The Wikimedia Foundation’s storyteller and video producer, Victor Grigas
said, “We had to get creative to make this happen, we couldn’t just throw
money at it. This video was made with everyday tools: a computer, an
internet connection, lots of deep, patient thinking, research and
collaboration, and the free content that ordinary people uploaded to
Wikipedia.”
Every piece of imagery and video we use was uploaded by you. Wikimedia’s
commitment to open access and free information meant we could only use
freely licensed photos and videos when producing this video. While the
Foundation may have edited the video, contributions came from users around
the world.
You will see many amazing freely licensed images in the video — beautiful
photographs of monuments, recordings of major world events from citizen
journalists. At the same time, you will also see some grainy and dated
images — such as those used to illustrate West Africa’s struggle with the
deadly Ebola outbreak. The images used to illustrate that segment date back
to 1976, from an outbreak in Zaire. Although other, more recent freely
licensed images are available, most addressed things such as proper use of
personal protective equipment or laboratory facilities, rather than the
immediate impact on human lives.
With hundreds of millions of people relying on Wikipedia to learn and
understand more about the world around them, the instance of Ebola
highlights the immense need for freely licensed images of important world
events. We encourage people everywhere to freely license and share images
and photographs of the notable people, places, or historic events — and in
doing so, help make the sum of all knowledge available to everyone. You can
upload your pictures Wikimedia Commons (Wikipedia’s central media
repository) under a free license.
While Ebola’s treatment in this video underscores the continuing need for
people to contribute freely licensed images, it is also an inspiring true
story about collaboration. As the Ebola outbreak raged, devastating the
lives of people in numerous countries, Wikimedians looked for ways to
contribute. Together with Translators Without Borders and the medical
professionals at the WikiProject Med Foundation, volunteers translated the
article on Ebola into more than fifty languages, including numerous African
languages. In October, The New York Times reported that Wikipedia had
emerged as a trusted internet source for Ebola information.
Wikipedia reflects the world around us. With each new event, it changes and
grows, accommodating our human triumphs and losses. It is the largest
collaborative knowledge project in human history, and it is made possible
by even the tiniest of contributions from people around the world. Join us
in rediscovering 2014, and consider contributing to Wikipedia’s boundless
knowledge.
Together, we edit our common history.
Katherine Maher
Chief Communications Officer
Wikimedia Foundation
--
Juliet Barbara
Senior Communications Manager I Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street I San Francisco, CA 94105
jbarbara(a)wikimedia.org I +1 (512) 750-5677