Help Wikipedia with MPs photos
May 28th, 2008 at 10:06 am by David FarrarSimon Lyall, a NZ Wikipedia user, is working with others to improve NZ related articles.
One of their problems is they have very few photos of MPs, former and current. They don’t even have photos of John Key, Peter Dunne and Rodney Hide.
You see they need photos where the copyright holder will release them to Wikipedia under a license that can be used by Wikipedia and other projects. This includes permission for republication, distribution, derivative works and commercial use.
If any parliamentary people have photos they can release, can they contact Simon at simon at darkmere.gen.nz.
But the photos don’t have to be from the MPs themselves. Anyone who has taken a photo of an MP, owns the copyright and can licence it to Wikipedia.
For that matter, maybe a community minded newspaper could help out. The major dailies (or NZPA) must have stock photos they have taken of most MPs. Now sure media make money from licensing photos, but no one is ever going to want to pay for a head and shoulders photo of an MP, so why not help Wikipedia out (because I bet you all use it often) and see if you have photos they can use. Maybe not even current MPs, but ones of former MPs are also sought.
Tags: Wikipedia
May 28th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Wikipedia does indeed need help, when you have a look at this link it is obvious that the “official portrait” of the politician featured bears no resemblance to the actual person.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Clark
Vote:May 28th, 2008 at 11:06 am
How much “photoshopping” is allowed? I can think of a few MPs that a set of horns would suit.
Vote:May 28th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Bugger…link does not work
Vote:May 28th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Wikipedia’s rules regarding photographs are ridiculously restrictive. Myself and a colleague created an entry for a recently deceased author and obtained from his family a photograph which had also graced his book jackets. Some self-appointed ‘editor’ kept deleting the pic even though we provided copies of emails from the author’s son and ex-wife encouraging use of the photo (it was one of the few he’d approved for public use, being somewhat reclusive, so they didn’t want to substitute a family snapshot).
The final straw was when the Wikipedia ‘editor’ suggested that we take one ourselves. I recall my riposte linked his name, the word ‘necrophiliac’ and several other adjectives not suitable for a family blog, and I gave up.
Vote:May 28th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I wouldn’t have a clue who put up that picture of Helen Clark – It is interesting that someone would put a picture I took at Ratana up on her Wikipage – what a compliment to my photography. lol
Vote:May 28th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I actually contacted the National Party regarding using a photo of John Key from their flickr site. They were willing to allow commercial use of the photo. Should be plenty of opportunities during the election season to get close and take a photo of MPs.
Wikipedia’s rules are only restrictive in the sense that we want photographs to be unrestricted in their use.
Vote:May 28th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
NO MINISTER has some very good snaps of H, Clark which deserve wider publication in the interest of posterity.
Vote:May 28th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Thanks David for posting the link. While writing an article is fairly easy to do, getting photos of a person is something only a small number of people can help with.
We are not just after articles about current MPs. Photos of ex-MPs ( wikipedia will eventually have an article on almost all of them) are also sought.
Just about any photo is better than none, so if people have a photos from a party BBQ fundraiser 20 years back or an official event 40 years ago then they’ll be great. Contact me and I’ll be happy to help you though what is involved in releasing them.
Evilmonkey, Could you please email me the National party flickr contact? I talked to some people at National but they were unable to help.
Vote:May 29th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
How about some of those crackers at the old Generation XY site?
Vote:Or are they mostly pinched from NZPA/party sites?