[Foundation-l] Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 -- global?

[Tomasz Kozłowski]

Hello everyone,

As you may have heard, a little while ago some organizers of Wiki Loves 
Monuments 2011 came together in a rainy and cold Amsterdam to evaluate 
the 2011 edition, and kick off documentation for 2012. We would like to 
share some of the results of our meeting with you.

The first and most important information is:
* There is going to be a Wiki Loves Monuments in 2012 -- and if there is 
interest, we are going global!

We would like to get a feeling of in how many countries there would be 
people potentially interested in organizing a Wiki Loves Monuments 
nationally; but firstly, let us start with the basics.

Wiki Loves Monuments is a photo contest organized in 2010 and 2011 in, 
respectively, the Netherlands and in Europe. The contest asks the 
general audience to upload pictures of monumental/historical sites and 
buildings during September. It has a federal structure and is organised 
separately in every participating country by the local people who know 
how things work in their area; best photos from all countries are 
nominated for an international contest.

In 2011 this contest was very successful, with more than 165.000 photos 
of monuments in 18 participating countries submitted in total. This was 
possible thanks to the hard work of hundreds of volunteers in those 
countries who helped organise Wiki Loves Monuments in one way or 
another. The winning pictures have been published on 
<http://www.wikilovesmonuments.eu> and on Wikimedia Commons: 
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2011_winners>.

Besides the wonderful direct impact on the overall quality and coverage 
of heritage and culture topics, Wiki Loves Monuments is a fantastic 
opportunity to reach some of our important goals: we had a participation 
of over 4.000 new users who created the first ever community-driven 
contribution peak on Wikimedia Commons 
(<http://stats.wikimedia.org/reportcard/#new_editors_per_month>); we 
have also helped in establishing cooperation between Wikimedia groups & 
chapters and some of their local cultural institutions and organisations 
in several countries.

Would you be interested in organizing a Wiki Loves Monuments in 2012 in 
your country? Would you like to know more? Find all the details at 
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2012>. 
We have put together some information there for you -- and much more 
will follow soon.

We would also like you to join our public mailing list where everyone is 
welcome to ask any questions about the details on how to organise a Wiki 
Loves Monuments in your country. This is a place where many organizers 
of 2011 are already on and we will use that as our main channel for 
communications and information dispersion in 2012. Be bold and sign up 
for the list at 
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikilovesmonuments>.

So, please speak up if you're interested!

Best regards,
Lodewijk, Maarten & Tomasz (on behalf of so many others)