Multimedia:Meeting in Paris/Notes/Upload
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Workflow analysis
What's the current workflow related to this topic?
- ...
- ...
Major issues
What are the major issues related to this topic?
- Education about free licenses
- the current form tries to educate about free works at the same time the user is uploading
- => upload form is too complicated
- too much text => people don't read => useless in the end
- Commons is a separate project
- and presented as such
- The upload has to be done from Commons.
- It's then difficult to add the file to the actual page.
- 1 upload form for all users, whatever their experience etc.
- Upload workflow is too complicated (branches etc.)
- it's easy to get lost in the process
- Small core Commons community
- Too few admins, too little manpower to manage the incoming flow
- Users are required to provide perfect uploads (licensing information, categories, etc.)
- Upload form is too complicated
- Lack of user-friendliness (messages from bots, etc.); also linked to the little manpower; community interaction
- Repetitiveness
- when uploading similar pictures; the upload form is not designed for multiple uploads
- when preparing metadata beforehand and having to give all the info all over again
- Commons is user-focused, not participant-focused
- No prominent invitation to upload, only a link in the sidebar
- The home page of Commons is designed for people who want to use files, not contribute them
- Multilingualism
- difficult communication with the uploader to guide them
Tools and workarounds
What are the existing tools or workarounds used to circumvent these issues?
- Firefogg / transcode while uploading (Michael Dale)
- Add Media Wizard (Michael Dale)
- Upload API (Michael, Bryan TM)
- External upload tool developed for photo contests (Ryan Kaldari)
- Wikiportret (Hay Kranen): incentive + dedicated external website
- CommonsHelper (Magnus Manske)
- Push for Commons (Magnus Manske)
- Upload from flickr (Bryan TM)
- Auto-categorization (Multichill)
- ...
Other possible solutions
What other solutions could be used to circumvent these issues? (Be bold and creative)
- Auto-categorization (Duesentrieb)
- ...
Solutions analysis
What are the advantages and drawbacks of these solutions? (existing or not yet)
- Efficiency in solving the issue
- Drawbacks
- Feasibility
- ...
Prioritization
What issues should we focus on?
- ...
- ...
Notes taken from Google Wave
Critical issues:
- It is complicated
- Redundant, information can come from the file itself
- Too complicated
- Multiple user interfaces for different use cases
- Form is designed for single uploads
- Commons design is driven by the assumption and fear about copyright confusion
- Too easy to get lost in the upload process
- Need to educate about licensing
- 200.000 uploads per month vs. 100 active Commonists checking images
- If you upload an image wrong, you get harrassed by a bot giving you a crash course in world wide copyright
- Language issues are a barrier for both documentation and user-to-user assistance
- People on local projects do not understand the utility of uploading their images to commons (and are sometimes resistant)
Proposals and recommendations:
- Get rid of questions that do not make sense (PD questions in the "own work" section)
- (Andrew) To fix, make uploading a properly multi-stage process. FIRST, upload the image. THEN, say whether it's your own work or not. If it's their own work, don't give them a lecture on copyright law. If it isn't, use a series of simple questions and answers to determine whether it can be uploaded, and what its appropriate license is. At each point, try to avoid overloading the user.
- (Andrew) Use proper fields for structured data (dates, unexplained "Permission:" field, "Other versions".
- Fix the OTRS permissions approval process, it's strange and mysterious.
- "Quarantine" section for copyright clearance. lower barrier to upload images and let people check it.
- (Brion:) "Red label" warnings when using images that aren't fully cleared yet
- Combination of instant gratification + clear way to have people find and fix things after == wiki way
- If uploading from Wikipedia have it directly send to commons when you click the "own work" check box.
- (Ariel) This can be a problem when the photo is fair use because of the contents (eg image of a building where there is no freedom of parnorama in that country)
- Inline upload form via add media wizard on edit page [in progress - mdale]
- Integrate CommonSense deeper into the upload mechanism
- Upload file *first*, extract EXIF metadata, *then* ask for more details from user
- Copyright questions mainly for third-party sourced images, which usually come from web. URL source and any copy metadata in the file are excellent sources of info without bugging the user.
- World-wide PD calculator that interprets the place/date info to determine PD status of an image
- "Report copyright problem" button for one-click directing things to admin attention queue
- Add the ability to upload multiple files from a "batch" (sharing licensing and source information if appropriate, but not descriptions and other metadata).
- Add a new option for importing images cross-wiki rather than the fun image moving bots we use now.