[Wikimedia-l] WG: Invitation to Chapters and Photographers for the European Parliament Project 2014

Fri Jan 3 16:22:13 UTC 2014

Happy New Year to Everyone!

After the holidays I'd like to make another approach to you and your
chapters about "Wikipedians in the European Parliament".

* have you already forwarded this invitation to your local community?

* has you chapter already decided about supporting volunteers participating
in this project?

* have you - if you are interested - already signed up for participation?

Please let me know!

Despite the holidays we already received a number of registrations from four
countries and chapter support from five chapters, not including those who
have informally announced their participation or support in
personal mails. I am especially proud to see a significant number of female
applications in this project!
Also the Commons project page has been translated in four different
languages - you may help as well: just click on "translate this page" on top
of the page.

The project has a lot of potential to increase the quality of our projects
which can now be evaluated using the lists that have been created in the
last days:

<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wikipedians_in_European_Parliame
nt/Lists_of_pictures>
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wikipedians_in_European_Parliamen
t/Lists_of_pictures

<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wikipedians_in_European_Parliame
nt/Lists_of_articles>
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wikipedians_in_European_Parliamen
t/Lists_of_articles

If you have any questions, please contact me or better - post them on
the talk page on Commons:

<https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commons_talk:Wikipedians_in
_European_Parliament&action=edit>
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commons_talk:Wikipedians_in_
European_Parliament&action=edit

Regards,

Olaf

Von: Olaf Kosinsky [mailto:olaf.kosinsky at gmail.com] 
Gesendet: Montag, 23. Dezember 2013 00:03
An: wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org
Betreff: Fwd: Invitation to Chapters and Photographers for the European
Parliament Project 2014

Dear Chapters,

this is a mail focused on chapters within the European Union but of course
support and participation of any chapter is welcome!

== Preamble ==

Some might have heard about the State Parliament Projects done in Germany
and Austria since 2009:

A bunch of Wikipedians and photographers meet politicians in the parliament,
shoot professional photos, discuss their Wikipedia articles etc. This way
hundreds of free licensed, high quality images have been made, Wikipedia
articles have been improved. In the latest project at Schwerin
(Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) we added videos, politicians give a short
introduction about themselves, their position and political focus in German
and in their mother tongue if different from German.

About 20 photographers were able to participate and processes how to work
with the parliament's administration, how to interact with the politicians,
how to efficiently take a lot of photos in a short time and with good
quality have been established.

== Next Level: European Parliament ==

Now we would like to take this to next level: After contacting the European
Parliament I was able to get their approval, the support by the parties and
a date!

Unfortunately the date is already in February, 3rd to 7th, as we have to use
the short time gap between budget deliberations and elections. MEPs only
travel to the EP when deliberations are ongoing but then they are also busy
with meetings, as soon as the election preperation starts there won't be any
time for our project within the next 6 months.

Anyway I am sure we can do that - the elections are also a great opportunity
to raise awareness on our material we have in Wikipedia and on Commons. It
is also an excellent opportunity to bring together volunteers in doing our
core work together, maybe we can transfer the idea of Parliament Projects to
other countries. Volunteers get the opportunity to learn from each other -
the EP is a very challenging project, having more than 700 MEPs to be
handled within a few days. And Wikipedia may improve its articles, also by
bringing together volunteers from different EU countries. Many MEPs have
their articles only in a few of the European languages, some not even in
their native language!

== Your Chapter Involved ==

We are looking forward to get volunteers from as many countries as possible
involved in this project. In order to be handle it we need approx. 35 people
to help. Obviously the german and austrian photographers are already waiting
for it, from past projects they already know what will go on. But there is
much more to it: We want your volunteers!

Imagine a project where we could bring together volunteers from all 24
language communities in the EU - that is what we are trying!

Therefore we ask you for a favour:

* please forward this invitation to your local community - you can point
them to our project page on Wikimedia Commons:

**
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wikipedians_in_European_Parliamen
t

* does your chapter provide travel support for those volunteers in your
country who want to participate? Please do so. Your chapter pays for the
transportation to / from Strasbourg and the accommodation (around 300 EUR
per person for all 6 nights), we take care of the rest (transportation hotel
- EP, catering etc.)

**
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wikipedians_in_European_Parliamen
t/Participation

* does your chapter have photographic equipment we might need? We could use
DSLRs, flash units, background systems, lenses...

**
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wikipedians_in_European_Parliamen
t/Equipment

* we would like to supply the volunteers with t-shirts or hoodies with
Wikipedia logo or similar - for a unified appearance and to make them
visible as volunteers and Wikimedians. Is your chapter (or the WMF?)
interested in providing 90 shirts / hoodies? (We planned 2 pc. per person as
they will be worn almost one week.)

**
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wikipedians_in_European_Parliamen
t/Marketing

* everyone who likes this project: state your support on the talk page of
our grant request to the WMF which should cover the general costs of the
project. By this grant request we make sure that each chapter only has to
handle local support and can stay within it's budgeted limits and area of
operation.

**
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Olaf_Kosinsky/Wikipedians_in_Euro
pean_Parliament

Thanks for your attention and your support! We are confident that even with
the short time given we will be able to run an awesome project which will
have an impact in so many areas - Wikipedia, Commons, our volunteers,
chapter collaboration, outreach, reader experience...

Regards,

Olaf Kosinsky