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1 00:00:11,086 --> 00:00:14,676 Wikimedia Commons (also known simply as Commons) 2 00:00:14,740 --> 00:00:17,986 is a project that collects images, sounds, videos 3 00:00:18,010 --> 00:00:22,196 and other educational and explanatory multimedia resources. 4 00:00:22,174 --> 00:00:26,249 The files hosted in Commons can be used freely, 5 00:00:26,305 --> 00:00:31,028 also for commercial purposes, if the terms of use are respected. 6 00:00:31,821 --> 00:00:35,200 A sister project of Wikipedia, Commons was born in 2004 7 00:00:35,236 --> 00:00:38,888 as a common repository for the several projects of the Wikimedia Foundation, 8 00:00:38,934 --> 00:00:42,153 and then evolved as an independent project with its own guidelines. 9 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:46,469 In Commons you can find pictures of places and landmarks. 10 00:00:46,919 --> 00:00:49,281 Animals, plants, minerals. 11 00:00:49,726 --> 00:00:53,281 Pictures of people, everyday objects, artworks. 12 00:00:53,470 --> 00:00:58,183 And again historical pictures and recordings, and scans of ancient books. 13 00:00:58,483 --> 00:01:01,021 Schemes, diagrams, graphs and maps, 14 00:01:01,335 --> 00:01:06,275 Video and audio recordings... and much more. 15 00:01:06,664 --> 00:01:10,650 In some cases the files are no longer protected by copyright, 16 00:01:10,774 --> 00:01:15,110 in other cases, the authors or the copyright holders gave the permission 17 00:01:15,123 --> 00:01:19,634 to use their materials under some simple conditions, 18 00:01:19,630 --> 00:01:24,442 such as attribution, or the release of derivative works under the same license. 19 00:01:24,745 --> 00:01:28,870 There are more than 7 million resources in Commons, freely downloadable 20 00:01:28,908 --> 00:01:34,731 that can be used for papers, web sites, posters, advertising, art works... 21 00:01:35,761 --> 00:01:39,050 The resources from Commons can be directly included 22 00:01:39,055 --> 00:01:43,766 in the pages of Wikipedia and any other Wikimedia project, 23 00:01:43,777 --> 00:01:47,438 consistent with the specific project guidelines, 24 00:01:47,476 --> 00:01:49,767 the expectations of the language community the use is aimed at, 25 00:01:49,777 --> 00:01:52,983 and the applicable law in the country of origin. 26 00:01:53,723 --> 00:01:57,300 Every file in Commons has its own wiki page. 27 00:01:57,567 --> 00:02:00,235 First comes the title, then the multimedia resource 28 00:02:00,223 --> 00:02:03,729 or its preview, as it happens for very big photographs. 29 00:02:04,007 --> 00:02:07,821 Then a description follows (often multilingual) 30 00:02:07,825 --> 00:02:12,856 and all the available information such as the source, the author, the date, the terms of use. 31 00:02:13,083 --> 00:02:17,044 The history of the file lists all the existing modifications. 32 00:02:17,058 --> 00:02:21,408 In fact, it's possible to modify and improve the files uploaded by other users. 33 00:02:21,795 --> 00:02:24,567 There's also a list of the pages in Commons 34 00:02:24,568 --> 00:02:26,995 and in the other projects of Wikimedia Foundation 35 00:02:27,004 --> 00:02:29,996 that link to or embed the resource. 36 00:02:30,275 --> 00:02:32,752 At the bottom, there are the categories 37 00:02:32,790 --> 00:02:35,502 under which the resource has been cataloged. 38 00:02:35,544 --> 00:02:38,209 The categories are standardized in English, 39 00:02:38,213 --> 00:02:41,927 but an approximate knowledge of the language is enough to handle them. 40 00:02:42,863 --> 00:02:45,245 How can you contribute to Commons? 41 00:02:45,278 --> 00:02:48,559 Those very fond of photography can upload their pictures, 42 00:02:48,659 --> 00:02:52,055 a good illustrator can add diagrams and animations, 43 00:02:52,054 --> 00:02:54,924 a musician can upload recordings of free music. 44 00:02:55,133 --> 00:02:58,899 Even movies and recordings of theatre plays can be uploaded, 45 00:02:58,926 --> 00:03:01,581 as long as they are free from copyright restrictions. 46 00:03:02,452 --> 00:03:07,264 In order to upload files on Commons, you have to be a registered user. 47 00:03:07,277 --> 00:03:11,832 The registration is for free, quick and unnecessary if... 48 00:03:11,887 --> 00:03:15,581 ...you are already a registered user of another Wikimedia Foundation project. 49 00:03:15,974 --> 00:03:19,324 It's allowed to upload only resources having a free format. 50 00:03:19,366 --> 00:03:23,448 As an example, the only allowed format for video is Ogg Theora. 51 00:03:23,529 --> 00:03:26,682 Several open-source format converters are available 52 00:03:26,622 --> 00:03:29,877 than can be freely downloaded and used. 53 00:03:30,249 --> 00:03:34,390 Every uploaded file must comply with: the law of the United States, 54 00:03:34,385 --> 00:03:37,322 where the Wikimedia Foundation legally resides; 55 00:03:37,322 --> 00:03:40,229 the law of the nation where the resource comes from; 56 00:03:40,283 --> 00:03:45,626 the law of the nation of the user, that is held responsible for the uploaded content. 57 00:03:46,104 --> 00:03:49,031 Then you have to check that you're not infringing 58 00:03:49,050 --> 00:03:52,175 laws about privacy and trademarks 59 00:03:52,195 --> 00:03:56,026 or the restrictions posed by some museums about the use of the art works. 60 00:03:56,557 --> 00:04:00,399 In case of material already published somewhere else under a non-free license, 61 00:04:00,448 --> 00:04:04,311 the authors or the copyright holders have to send an e-mail 62 00:04:04,364 --> 00:04:07,380 in which they identify themselves and declare their consent 63 00:04:07,416 --> 00:04:11,201 to the publication of their material under a free license. 64 00:04:12,002 --> 00:04:16,003 Like Wikipedia, Commons is a wiki, a site open to everybody 65 00:04:16,006 --> 00:04:18,714 and is managed by volunteer users from every corner of the world 66 00:04:18,767 --> 00:04:22,079 that work to identify and categorize the material, 67 00:04:22,123 --> 00:04:24,549 complete or translate the descriptions, 68 00:04:24,561 --> 00:04:27,484 create galleries and theme-specific pages, 69 00:04:27,484 --> 00:04:31,936 find and delete the resources having unsuitable sources or licences. 70 00:04:32,872 --> 00:04:35,303 Commons is a multilingual project: 71 00:04:35,364 --> 00:04:37,898 a single site hosts all the translated versions 72 00:04:37,909 --> 00:04:41,307 and the various linguistic communities share the same space. 73 00:04:41,581 --> 00:04:45,686 For an easier search of materials in Commons, 74 00:04:45,684 --> 00:04:49,139 other than categories, you can look at galleries, 75 00:04:49,190 --> 00:04:51,584 which are pages purposefully created 76 00:04:51,590 --> 00:04:54,682 to collect materials about a given topic. 77 00:04:54,964 --> 00:04:58,377 The discussions about content take place 78 00:04:58,408 --> 00:05:01,966 in the discussion page that every resource has, 79 00:05:02,016 --> 00:05:05,889 while general discussions about Commons take place in a dedicated page. 80 00:05:06,024 --> 00:05:08,918 The communication is mainly in English, 81 00:05:08,966 --> 00:05:12,569 but discussion pages in other languages are available as well. 82 00:05:12,853 --> 00:05:16,496 Should you have problems, there's a help desk 83 00:05:16,535 --> 00:05:20,048 and many help pages, available in several languages. 84 00:05:20,222 --> 00:05:23,240 For specific or particularly complex issues, 85 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,739 you can ask the administrators, who are volunteers 86 00:05:26,783 --> 00:05:29,486 that earned in time the trust of the community 87 00:05:29,508 --> 00:05:33,164 for their knowledge of the project, and are the only ones allowed 88 00:05:33,201 --> 00:05:35,647 to perform some delicate operations, 89 00:05:35,648 --> 00:05:38,603 such as the deletion of a resource. 90 00:05:39,690 --> 00:05:43,318 If you want to use a resource from Commons, always make sure 91 00:05:43,312 --> 00:05:46,334 to comply with the law of your own country. 92 00:05:46,476 --> 00:05:48,614 Commons cannot guarantee the lawfulness 93 00:05:48,683 --> 00:05:51,355 of the use of a resource in any context, 94 00:05:51,362 --> 00:05:54,260 nor its absolute accuracy and reliability. 95 00:05:54,307 --> 00:05:58,402 But it's incredible to see how much valid and useful material has been uploaded. 96 00:05:59,339 --> 00:06:03,755 More and more public archives, museums, libraries, private collections 97 00:06:03,774 --> 00:06:07,015 make small and big "donations" of materials 98 00:06:07,063 --> 00:06:10,003 that become a public good. 99 00:06:10,655 --> 00:06:14,854 Several professional photographers publish their work on Commons, 100 00:06:14,871 --> 00:06:18,240 proud of seeing their work being spread around the world. 101 00:06:18,413 --> 00:06:22,119 The same for illustrators that gave to Commons 102 00:06:22,123 --> 00:06:26,151 particularly effective and elegant schemes and diagrams. 103 00:06:26,496 --> 00:06:30,857 The community has several ways to acknowledge quality works: 104 00:06:30,867 --> 00:06:35,316 there's a contest to award the photograph of the year. 105 00:06:35,618 --> 00:06:38,555 Another selection picks the best pictures 106 00:06:38,559 --> 00:06:40,828 produced by Commons' users 107 00:06:40,841 --> 00:06:45,220 and another one awards the most effective pictures for a genre. 108 00:06:45,462 --> 00:06:49,511 A particularly interesting picture is chosen daily 109 00:06:49,532 --> 00:06:53,676 and the same happens for the other multimedia resources. 110 00:06:54,345 --> 00:06:56,682 You can support Commons in substance 111 00:06:56,766 --> 00:06:59,570 by making a donation to the Wikimedia Foundation, 112 00:06:59,599 --> 00:07:03,338 or you can choose to support (also with your 5x1000 [applicable in Italy]) 113 00:07:03,359 --> 00:07:06,715 Wikimedia Italia, a non-profit association 114 00:07:06,743 --> 00:07:08,757 that promotes in Italy 115 00:07:08,792 --> 00:07:11,826 Commons and the other projects of the Wikimedia Foundation.