Hi all,
For those who haven't been following the progress of the WLM competition to date, we
have a small group of dedicated volunteers and staff who are working hard to ensure that
the UK's first contribution to the world's largest photographic competition goes
without a hitch. The organizational site is at
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013_in_the_…
We also have a nice external competition website to attract competitors (many of whom will
not be Wiki savvy, and will be new contributors & editors) at
http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org.uk/
We are expecting this competition to be quite a big deal, and the staff at WMUK have been
busy making arrangement for publicity as well as helping out with the lists. We hope to
get press notices and image spreads in the Metro, which publishes in Bath, Birmingham,
Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool,
London, Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle and Sheffield, as well as in The Times (thanks
Stevie). The high-profile nature of the competition has been strengthened by the
agreement of Steve Cole ABIPP, Head of Photography at English Heritage, to join the
national judging panel (jury) (thanks Richard N.)
The WLM volunteers will do everything they can to make sure the English, Scottish, Welsh
and Northern Ireland lists are in a good state on the English Wikipedia before the start
of the national and international competitions - September 1st is just three weeks away
now. We are all very aware that the deadline is looming, and that a quite a lot of work
still remains to be done. Everyone is working as fast as they can and due to the rapidly
approaching deadline it appears that unfortunately a few errors have slipped through.
Really, we need more people to help out.
There is a particular need for editors who are experienced with bots or scripts to pitch
in now, not only to help fix some of the errors, but also to help put up the remainder of
the listed building data using the standard WLM templates. If you can help in any way,
please make yourself known to the WLM team, either via my talk page, or by adding your
name to
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013_in_the_….
If you can actively help now, you should also, please, sign up to the Wiki Loves
Monuments UK mailing list (link below), where you can obtain detailed information. You
can see the current status of the data uploads by going to
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013_in_the_….
You can see there, for example, that we still need someone to deal with the uploading of
almost all of the Scottish data. We can provide structured lists of data for those who can
help with this.
If you can't help with bot work, but are able to contribute by tidying up or
correcting the WP lists for your area, that would still be very much appreciated. You can
get to the lists by going via one of the following Wikipedia links:
Listed buildings in England
Listed buildings in Scotland
Listed buildings in Wales
Listed buildings in Northern Ireland
The best place to report systematic list errors, to ensure that the WLM volunteers see
them, is not on this email thread, but rather at the main WLM-UK help desk, which you can
find at
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013_in_the_…
Given the fact that the competition will be starting in just three weeks time (whether the
UK team is are ready or not!), I would ask that editors do not make any radical changes to
the Wikipedia lists at this stage which could inadvertently destroy the competition. In
particular, please do not make mass reverts, unless you are able to put everything back
correctly, and please do not remove or change the WLM template structure. This is
essential for the automated upload tool to work properly, and also for the WLM
international team to ensure that the data gets correctly harvested and copied into the
worldwide Wiki Monuments Database.
After the competition has finished, at the end of September, would be a good time for the
community to discuss - if desired - any possible template improvements to the way in which
the UK data is standardized and displayed.
Thanks for bearing with us and for helping out if you can.
Michael
WLM-UK mailing list:
http://lists.wikimedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/wlm2013-l Wiki Loves Monuments UK mailing
list