Commons:Wiki Loves Public Art 2014/Communication strategy

This page describes the communication strategy of Wiki Loves Public Art 2014.

Why are we doing Wiki Loves Public Art?

In external communication we want to emphasize the following aspects of the WLPA contest:

1. To raise awareness of copyright laws for public artworks and free licenses.
2. To raise awareness of Wikimedia projects.
3. To raise awareness of how people – also those outside the Wikimedia community – can contribute to Wikimedia projects in this case by uploading pictures of public artworks to Wikimedia Commons.
4. To raise awareness of public artworks and listing them in a database.
5. To raise awareness of how GLAMs and Wikimedia can cooperate and build networks.

How are we communicating Wiki Loves Public Art?

As most of the contest is done locally, therefore also contacts with the press and other PR actions should also be handled locally.

• Press work
  • Assign one person to act as a press contact for inquiries of further information, such as interviews, regarding WLPA and about Wikimedia projects in general
  • Provide digital information flyers on the upload procedure, the rules, the stages of the contest in a non-technical language that can be used both in print and online.
  • Send out a press release about WLPA before its start, two weeks in as well as of the results of the contest at the end of. Use provided template and fill in with local information.
• Provide factsheet about why we are doing WLPA now, and what it is about; with information about the local event as well as about the international aspects of WLPA (e.g. what countries are participating, who are our partners, who is the jury, prizes and rules).
  • Identify journalists and bloggers that show interest in art and culture for outreach. Search databases to find newspapers and journals that have written about public art before.
  • Outreach activities can also be targeted to photo editors at selected media outlets.
  • Contact regional cultural heritage offices about using their press office to promote WLPA.
• Social Media
  • Tweet about resent developments and updates about Wiki Loves Public Art by using the hashtag #WikiLovesPublicArt. Add also links to the WLPA website in your language as well as to blog posts or news about WLPA.
  • Create a Facebook event page for WLPA under your Wikimedia chapter and invite people to the event. Keep the page updated with new content regularly and link to the WLPA website in your language as well as to blog posts or news about WLPA.
  • Search for influential photographers and photographer groups in your country that are on Twitter and Facebook and let them know about the contest (example list: http://wefollow.com/twitter/photography). Get them excited to promote the contest and / or to participate in the WLPA contest themselves. Encourage them to upload their own photos of public artworks to Commons in May under a free license.
  • Write blog posts about what the WLPA contest is and how it is progressing in your country.
  • Consider starting WLPA Pinterest account, Instagram page and/or a Tumblr blog for WLPA to share pictures that have been uploaded for the contest.
  • Keep the WLPA wikipages updated and promote the contest on your community’s discussion pages.