Commons:WikiPortraits/SXSW 2024

Start of documentation around the SXSW 2024 project. Possible outline:

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Overview

WikiPortraits is a project to enrich Wikimedia Commons with high-quality portrait photography through in-person outreach and event coverage. Photos include in-studio portraiture, as well as news-style coverage of speakers and red carpets events.

The annual South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas is a unique opportunity to capture notable individuals at scale, since it lasts 9 days and spans film, music and technology. Speakers and performers include a diverse range of notable individuals from entertainment, technology, academia and civil society — many with Wikipedia pages.

Supported by private donors and a $5,000 rapid grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, we assembled a team of experienced Wikimedia volunteers from the United States community and seasoned photographers to March 8-16, 2024 with the help of infrastructure of Goodside, a group of friends who organize affordable accommodation at film festivals and similar events.

The effort was two-fold: photographers obtained press credentials to cover the sprawling event over the course of more than a week, while we also created a dedicated WikiPortraits Studio space where film crews, conference speakers and local individuals could make appointments for photos sessions.

In all, more than 1,000(TBD) photos of more than 300 individuals were captured for Wikimedia Commons. The photographic project was the catalyst for the creation or enhancement of Wikidata items and Wikipedia articles.

We first conceived of the idea at SXSW 2023 when Maryana Iskander took part in a Wikipedia panel and drew a number of senior Wikimedians and Foundation staff to Austin. Conservations there around the level of brand activations by companies inspired us that the Wikimedia movement could have a similar presence.

Logistics

Scheduling

We had three main tools:

• Eventbrite (paid). We had a catchall Eventbrite registration where people could just RSVP their interest. This included SXSW attendees, as well as Austin locals. Then we would use that list to blast the availabilities on Calendly day-by-day, while updating any messaging around walk-ups. We don’t think we need a paid Eventbrite in the future, but it was what we were used to.

• Calendly (paid). We upgraded to a Pro account which allowed for two kinds of scheduling: one for film crews (one-to-one slots) and one for individuals (many-to-one slots).

• Luma (free). We used Luma, which is similar to Eventbrite, for speaker interest registration flow, because it allowed for more granular questions in email, such as whether they had a Wikipedia page. We would then text speakers the Calendly link to allow them to schedule ahead of the general public.

Film cast and crews were allowed to schedule their bookings advance, and were given priority. Speakers were also given priority (though perhaps should be given more priority). We then opened up individual slots day by day around the priority bookings. In reality, we could be more aggressive in allowing for walk-ups, as individuals flaked at up to 50% at times.

Physical Assets

• Banners. We printed three vertical banners for the studio space: intro to WikiPortraits, intro to Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia facts and figures. These were designed and laid out using Adobe Illustrator and uploaded online and then sent to a local FedEx for a one-day turnaround. They cost approximately $170 a piece, which was good for the speed and can be broken down for transport easily. These were based on the original en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Space banners.

• Business cards. We created business cards with QR codes, locations, and dates to distribute when our volunteers were out in the SXSW conference.

• Table tents. We worked with SXSW to create table tents cards with QR codes for the speaker green rooms to advertise WikiPortraits. Approximately 100 table tent cards were printed in color on cardstock and then hand-cut and assembled ourselves in one evening. Speakers had a separate registration flow than the general public.

• Signs. Also need signs for QR code for the releases, wifi, instructions on how to write name and email on white boards.

Photo Flow

• People schedule slots or walk in. Scheduling is good because it captures people’s emails and contact if you need to follow up later (spelling of name).
• Subjects use QR code and fill in the release form that explains CC-BY Share Alike. The releases were powered by Harbour in our case. This captures contact info and title if we need.
• Subjects out white board with name, email, etc. This is what the photographers use on first pass to name the photos. The Google doc with release forms capture info on back up. This is key when writing on board is misinterpreted by photographer (“Brett” looked like “Brexit” for example).
• First shot is mug shot with white board. Follow up shots are just stills.
• Photographer or someone else edits the photos and renames them with subject name. We find that putting all a photographers’ images into Google Drive and Dropbox SEPARATED BY DATE is good organizing strategy.
• Photographer or another volunteer uploads onto Wikimedia Commons with subject name in the file name. Caption and description in our case are often the same. Metadata can include wikidata item of “created during” event name.

Things to Buy

• White boards, medium, multiple. For subjects to hold during the shoot with their name.
• Wipes or paper towels. The erasers on the white boards are not strong enough so you need something else.
• Plastic sign holders for 8.5"x 11" sheets of paper. These can be very expensive in-store. So either order online ahead of time or do a price match on Office Match. This holds wifi? QR code, instructions.
• Small mirror for makeup.
• Miscellaneous office stuff. Masking tape, rubber bands, pens etc.
• Printer. One of our local folks had a color printer which proved very useful.

Metrics and impact

• GLAMorgan report for March 2024
• GLAMorous report - Live look at media usage in Wikimedia projects

Outline

• Overview of project development, based on Sundance experience
• Collaboration with Goodside, Hacks/Hackers, Wikiconference North America, new volunteers
• Funding sources: Rapid grant, individual donors
• Logistics - location, recruitment of photographers, event coverage planning, etc.
  • Banner: printed at Fedex. Not highest quality, but fast turnaround and reasonably priced.
  • Publicity: Eventbrite, business cards to hand out. Table tents with QR code.
  • Interaction with SXSW organizers, table tent cards in green room.
  • Scheduling: Done by Calendly (paid) in 15 minute chunks. Film teams first. Then individuals were allowed to schedule around with 10 individuals per chunk. But can likely can just do walkups for humans. They flake at > 50% even day of!
  • Releases, powered by Harbour. QR code
  • Whiteboards from Target (medium size, not the smallest). You need handwipes or paper towels, the “erasers” that come with the board do not work well enough.
  • Plastic sign holders for QR code

release

• • Uploading. Speed that people need.
• People
  • Photographer roster, equipment used
  • Support staff for housing, artwork, publicity materials
• Evaluation
  • What worked
  • Needs improvement
  • Lessons learned, ideas for next time
• Future work
  • Tool for displaying Commons category in an elegant way

Results

In all we uploaded over 600(?) photos of over 350(?) unique individuals to Wikimedia Commons. Of these over 300 were in-studio shots, including SXSW speakers and film crews. The most high trafficked shots included Megan Markle, Dev Patel, Conan O’Brien. We also made a special push to get diverse artists, including sending photographers to indigenous and Muslim entertainment panels.

Showcase of work

• Speakers

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Speakers_at_SXSW_2024

• Portraits

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:WikiPortraits_Studio_at_SXSW_2024

• Film Awards https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Film_awards_at_SXSW_2024

Followup and outreach

• Women Do News - Andrew has let them know about the project and showed preliminary results - Slack message link
• Wiki Covers Events
• GLAM Wiki Telegram group
• Commons Photographers Users Group
• National Geographic
• Precision Camera & Video
  • They run a booth in the middle of the Creative Expo showfloor, doing headshots. Andrew talked to their marketing manager about WikiPortraits, and she seemed open to collaborating on something next year. Maybe a sponsorship of theirs (they rent/sell equipment) or maybe talking about us working out of their main expo space a few hours a day?
• Hugging Face
• Upcoming film festivals?

Wikidata work

• Analysis of SXSW Wikidata presence - ontology, current state, completeness
  • Only SXSW 2016 had a year-specific entry in Wikidata, likely driven by need of large photo collection
  • SXSW 2024 created for WikiPortraits but more work was needed
• Determining desired ontology given the need in WikiPortraits and for Commons image metadata
  • Is SXSW one festival or several in one? Film, music, interactive, education, et al?
• Reforming the Wikidata model
  • Add details
• Creation of Wikidata items
  • Add details
• Reporting on new organization
  • Add details
  • Maybe use Listeria to generate report?
  • Maybe use Integraality to generate report?
• Use of new Wikidata organization in WikiPortraits work
  • Report best practices
  • Provide examples of use
  • Provide some WCQS or other searches to surface content based on Wikidata? Use: haswbstatement in a search?

Workspace

• Commons category - Category:South by Southwest 2024
• Cradle form for creating new people from SXSW - SXSW person

Photographer and uploader user story

Example photo of "Carina Mia Wong" that we want to upload and enrich

Workflow from photographer to the creation of relevant Wikidata item and enriched media file

Amy (fictional entity) is a photographer who has taken a number of photos of fairly notable people at a film festival. She is confident they pass the minimum Wikidata notability bar (being in a public database such as IMDB and meeting a structural need for identification in a Commons file). She wants to upload a file in a responsible manner, using the best practices for file names, and also integrating it into the Wikimedia ecosystem. She doesn't know a lot about Wikidata, and needs to learn a bit about "Structured data" for Commons. Here is a workflow that would work:

1. Take photo of a person "Carina Mia Wong," noting down her details such as full name, email, and social media handles, to make sure she can be identified later via online search.
2. Name the image file with a string that has the event name, the person depicted, and a date if possible.
3. Upload the file using Upload Wizard, adding the basic caption, description, and basic category, such as "South by Southwest 2024"
4. ⁠ Locate the photo on Commons at its file page - File:Carina_Mia_Wong_at_SXSW_March_2024_2.jpg
5. ⁠ ⁠⁠Look up the person's name on Wikidata.
   • Name is not found. There seems to be no presence of person on Wikimedia servers.
6. ⁠ ⁠⁠Google “Carina Mia Wong” to find she has IMDB, Instagram, making her directorial debut at SXSW, has Hollywood Reporter writeup.
   • Make sure the credentials found online match the person - email address or social media handle.
   • Person passes Wikidata notability bar. Less sure about Wikipedia, but let's just deal with Wikidata.
7. ⁠ ⁠⁠Fire up the Cradle tool to create a Wikidata item.
   • Fill in all the relevant fields of gender, occupation, IMDB ID, social, etc. Wikidata created.
   • After creation, note down and copy the Wikidata Q number (ie. Q124892123).
8. ⁠ ⁠⁠Go back to the Commons image page, then click on “Structured data” tab to prepare to add Wikidata Q number.
9. ⁠ ⁠⁠Where it says “Items portrayed in this file” and “depicts” paste in Q number (ie. Q124892123).
   • Save this by clicking “Publish changes”
10. ⁠ ⁠⁠Now with a connection between the Commons file and the Wikidata item, go back to the Q item in Wikidata.
    • Using the “View It!” script, you should see the thumbnail image of the person show up at the top of the Wikidata item. You should be able to click on the “+” sign in the thumbnail to add that image to the Wikidata item.
    • If you don’t use “View It!” you can also manually add a “image” statement to the Wikidata item.
11. ⁠ ⁠⁠We should now have a full record of this person in Wikidata, connected to the image, and ready for a Wikipedia article.
12. TODO - still needs work
    • Occupation - Need a more extensive list of occupations, ranked by popularity - Wikidata query - https://w.wiki/9Uvd
    • Gender - Always tricky. The current list is based on a query of the most used gender values used for people. We should add more. A Wikidata query to do an analysis - https://w.wiki/9Un2