[Wikimedia-l] Staff Images

[Richard Symonds]

I'd say that yes, you want uniform pictures, with a uniform idea behind
them. For example, all professional, or all slightly informal, or all
crazy. It doesn't matter so much about tattoos, but they need to all have
the same feel or the page just feels off...

At the moment it does look a bit odd from an external perspective when one
staff member has a different style of profile picture to everyone else. If
Brandon's picture was a little more focussed on his face rather than his
arm, then I don't think anyone would have a huge problem - except that
you'd then probably need to change other staff portraits to be informal (or
allow staff to pick which ones they want to have), and the changing (and
the approval and monitoring of picture changes to ensure that no-one does
something stupid) could increase your workload. Who gets the final say in
whether a picture is appropriate? Do you need a staff photo policy? Can I
change other people's photos if I'm their friend? Could we change Sue's for
a laugh on April 1? What happens if a staff member has a photo taken
without a shirt on, or with a potentially offensive tattoo, or an NRA (or a
political) logo on their baseball cap or shirt? Do we want to run the risk
of alienating and upsetting people over such a small thing as a staff
photo? How often do donors (including major gifts) see the page? Will it
affect them?

There's nothing wrong with a bit of style and a few changes - even lively
changes - it's good to make staff appear more like 'normal people'. But it
needs a bit of thought behind the scenes to make sure that there's no
disruption as a result, and that everyone knows that they can change their
picture if they wish. That said, we've got a community with very exacting
standards, and even small changes can lead to forty emails on a mailing
list quite easily... which is a bit disruptive, regardless of whether the
changes are good or bad!

(I also realise that I have written three paragraphs about this issue,
which is about the same length as the reports I write at work...)

Yours etc.,


Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0992

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On 14 July 2013 23:37, Victor Grigas <vgrigas at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> This is all a style/composition question -
>
> Do we want to aim for uniform portraits on the staff page or not?
>
>
> On Jul 14, 2013, at 11:47 AM, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On 14 July 2013 00:44, Lucas Teles <salvadorense at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Is that [1] the photo? I was expecting something worse per the opening
> of
> >> this discussion. It seems to be fine for me (in a manly way of saying a
> >> photo of another man is fine), expect for the removal of Brandon's
> fingers.
> >> --Teles
> >>
> >>
> >> [1] -
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/File:Brandon_Harris_courage.jpg
> > Its not fine. Look at the colour blotching under the arm. I wouldn't
> expect
> > that from the 5DII even at ISO 640. Looks like its been pushed a bit too
> > far in post. That said looking at Matthew 's other photos the camera
> seems
> > to be struggling to get the light levels right when that EF 100mm f/2.8L
> > Macro lens is used. Not sure why though since thats a pretty good lens
> > camera combination. Perhaps if the WMF is going to insist on taking
> photos
> > of people indoors under ambient light they should get him a EF 85 mm
> f/1.2L
> > II.
> >
> > --
> > geni
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