How to categorize people on Wikimedia Commons

Hi, I'm Vera and I've been helping Susan and the rest of the group out in getting around on Wikimedia Commons, the media database the Wikipedia projects relies upon. I've written here before about how to transfer files from Flickr, and how the OTRS system works, today I'm going to tackle categories. I thought this was a good idea since Susan requested everyone to send in portraits last week.

Just like Wikipedia, files and pages on Commons are categorized, but unlike articles where categories are often an after though, they form the back bone of this project. This because there is no text that can link to other articles, so you often have to rely on the categories to find what you are looking for.

Please note: categories aren't tags. When you've added a file to say “Atheists from the United States”, there is no need to also ad “Atheism” or “Atheist”. The trick is to add the lowest level category as possible. Categories have a structure, for example:

Like this there is a huge tree structure on Wikimedia Commons, making all people in the end categorized in a subcategory of Homo Sapiens, even Kent Hovind.

Aspects of a person that make it possible to put files about them in a category are, for example:

• Year of birth
•  [1989 births]
• Alma mate
•  For this there doesn’t seem to be a consensus for having either [Alumni of University of Florida] or [University of Florida Alumni], try either or look it up by going to the university’s category.
• Occupation
• [Economists from the United States], [Neuroscientists from the Netherlands], [Film directors from New York City]. Again, try to find the lowest level, [DemocraticParty (United States) politicians] is a subcategory of [Politicians from theUnited States]  and [Democrats from Florida] in turn is a subcategory of the former.
•  Place of birth/residence
•  [People of Los Angeles], [People of The Hague]Not all places have such a category. Sometimes from is used instead of of.

Of course, it isn't always possible to add, say, [Atheists from Istanbul] because it doesn't exists. You can also create the category yourself:

Creating categories

Creating a new category is similar to creating a new page, just be sure to start the title with “Category:”. If a category is added to a file that doesn't exist, it will show up read, just like a page would. When you click on it, you will see the option to create it in the top right corner.

For general category, like Stroopwafels at Wikimedia meetups, are usually 2 parent categories. In this case:

[[Category:Stroopwafels|Wikimedia meetups]]
[[Category:Food at Wikimedia meetups]]

to the page and safe.

The section I colored here is a way to sort the category in its parent category, allowing for instance to have Skepticism in the United States to be sorted under U in its parent category Skepticism by country 
.

Optionally you can link to the Wikipedia article about the category you've just created. This is done the same way any Wikipedia page links to the same article in another language:

[[it:Independent Investigations Group]]
[[en:Independent Investigations Group]]
[[en:Independent Investigations Group]]

 On Wikipedia you can link back to the category by Commonscat template at the bottom of the page:

 {{Commonscat|Categoryname}}

Will result in something like this:

If you've made a spelling error

You can always go back and edit a category in order to change its parent categories,  I added Obama to the category left-handed people only last year for instance. You can't change its name through a simple edit though. If you've made a spelling error in its name, create the correct one following the above steps and replace the content of the wrong category with:

 {{bad name|Category:New category name}}

 Don't forget to move all the files in the bad category to the new category.

Creating a category for one individual

As the list of possible categories a person can be put in can quickly grow, it is often easier to create a person-specific category.  The categories that would otherwise be added to every file would then be added to the category page. 2 thinks are specific about these categories than other: The category People by namehas to be added and you have to add the defaultsort template:

{{DEFAULTSORT:Surname, Firstname}}

The category Greta Christina, for instance, looks like this:

[[Category:People by name]]
[[Category:1961 births]]
[[Category:Reed College alumni]]
[[category:Skeptics from the United States]]
[[category:Atheists from the United States]]
[[category:Bloggers from the United States]]
[[Category:People from San Francisco, California]]
[[Category:LGBT activists from the United States]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christina, Greta}}

[[en:Greta Christina]]

Extra tools

There are some extra tools, gadgets they're called, I like to use when categorizing files. In order to activate them, go to Preferences > Gadgets

•  Cat-a-lot: A tool that helps with moving multiple files between categories or adding categories to search results.   [documentation] 
• HotCat: Easily add / remove / change a category on a page, with name suggestions.   [documentation / example] 

And I've changed my interface slightly by checking this option: 

• Place categories above content, but below image on file description pages. 

This way you don't have to scroll all the way down the page. I hope this was of help. If you have any question, you can contact me in our Facebook group or down in the comments. 

Guest article - OTRS on Wikimedia

The following is from one of the Guerrilla Skeptics on Wikipedia team, Vera de Kok, all the way from The Hague.  We are a team that has all different skill sets, which is why we need each other (and you).  Vera is the expert in all things Wikimedia Commons related.  She is very patient with us lowly text only editors (I'm #1 on the list) and helps explain licensing rules on Wikipedia, sometimes over and over (to me mainly).  Anyway, here she is explaining what OTRS is. 

Previous article from Vera about downloading from Flickr. 

Thank you Vera for all the work you do.

==========================

OTRS, no it’s not scary.

When you place media files on Wikipedia, they have to have a free license, because Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia . This is easy when you yourself have created the photograph, or when it has been published under the right CreativeCommons license on Flickr.

But sometimes images are send in by third parties, and that can raise some red flags; especially when those pictures have been published before on the web. For these kinds of situations we have the OTRS system. Which stands for Open-source Ticket Request System. This system processes e-mails that verify if the owner of the photographs really has agreed to the license agreement.

In order to process tickets quickly, the standard form should be used:

I hereby affirm that CHOOSE ONE: [I, (name here) am] OR [(copyright holder's name) is] the creator and/or sole owner of the exclusive copyright of [SPECIFY THE WORK HERE - describe the work to be released in detail, attach the work to the email, or give the URL of the work if online]

I agree to STANDARD CHOICE; SEE BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TYPE OF LICENSE: [publish that work under the free license "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0" (unported) and the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 (with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).]

I acknowledge that by doing so I grant anyone the right to use the work in a commercial product or otherwise, and to modify it according to their needs, provided that they abide by the terms of the license and any other applicable laws.

I am aware that this agreement is not limited to Wikipedia or related sites.

I am aware that I always retain copyright of my work, and retain the right to be attributed in accordance with the license chosen. Modifications others make to the work will not be claimed to have been made by me.

I am aware that the free license only concerns copyright, and I reserve the option to take action against anyone who uses this work in a libelous way, or in violation of personality rights, trademark restrictions, etc.

I acknowledge that I cannot withdraw this agreement, and that the work may or may not be kept permanently on a Wikimedia project.

[SENDER'S NAME AND DETAILS (to allow future verification of authenticity)]
[SENDER'S AUTHORITY (Are you the copyright-holder, director, appointed representative of, etc.)]
[DATE]

Translations of this form into other languages are also available here.

The standard license in a CreativeCommons-Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license. But you can choose one that is also on the list. Be sure to not forget the version number of the license, because forgetting that makes it invalid.

This has to be send to  permissions-commons@wikimedia.org. If the author of the photograph has not send the permission directly to this e-mail address but to you, you have to forward it along with a link to where the file is posted on Commons and by include headers. This is a bit tricky the first time, here are instructions on how to do that in some of the more popular e-mail clients:

• Yahoo
• Gmail
• Outlook express

If you use another e-mail client, try googling “[client name] + include full headers” and you will very likely find instructions. Once you have send the e-mail to the OTRS system, you may want to include the otrs pending-template on the file page to let patrollers know it’s already coming.

That’s it.

Uploading pictures from Flickr

The following comes from Vera de Kok who wrote instructions on uploading pictures from Flickr that other people have taken.

Your my first guest author Vera!

One other great way to get contemporary pictures onto Wikipedia is by looking for pictures on Flickr that have the right Creative Commons license. Under ‘Advanced search’ you can specify this:








Creative Commons is an alternative to regular copyright that lets the original author keep some of it rights but makes clear that he or she is OK with other people using his work. Because Wikipedia is an open encyclopedia that strives to be accessible in whatever shape or form. This means that commercial or modified use should be an option.

Being able to use the work commercial might seem a bit extreme. Keep in mind that the threshold for what can be considered commercial is very low. If you have a blog that has advertisement on it, that blog is commercial – even if it doesn’t run a profit. If you share content on Facebook: commercial because Facebook advertises. It also makes it possible for the content to be printed in books, still a cornerstone of many education systems.

Sometimes you can’t find a picture that has the right license. I haven’t shunned away from contacting Flickr users to ask if they might be ok with the publication of their photo on Wikipedia.

Here is my example letter:

Dear Mr/Madam. ******

I'm contacting you concerning this picture you made of *******

 http://www.flickr.com/example

I was wondering if you would be willing to donate this picture to the public domain so it can be used on *****s’ Wikipedia page. You can do this by going over to the picture, and under "'Owner settings" change "All Rights Reserved" to a Creative Commons "Attribution-ShareAlike" license. This will make it possible for any use of this picture as long as they credit you as its source and use the same license for their derivative work.

Please note that “any use” includes commercial use of your work. This is necessary because Wikipedia strives to be an open encyclopedia that can be published in whatever shape or form. Being printed in books and published on blogs that carry advertisements. I will fully understand if you object to this.

Your Flickr account will be credited as the source. Please drop me a note if you're OK with this.

Thanks in advance,

Your Name

You do need a Flickr account to contact other users. Keep in mind that you are asking people a favor so stay polite. In my experience it is easier to get amateur photographers to agree with publication than professionals.

If you have found an interesting picture, the best way to upload it onto Wikimedia Commons is to use the Flickr bot.



Instructions there are fairly easy to follow. Do read the instructions if you go over it for the first time. Getting your picture in the right category might be an issue, but that will be covered by another blog post.