Wikimedia Commons for Fun and Profit

From Devwiki

Brianna Laugher

Wikimedia Commons is one of Wikimedia's fastest growing projects, gathering content and contributors from across the Wikimedia spectrum. But what changes in a wiki when the "basic unit of contribution" is a file upload rather than a text edit? This talk will take a look at some of the unique factors in its makeup, including technical innovations, quality initiatives and policy evolution. It will cover the relationships between Wikimedia Commons and the other Wikimedia projects, perennial disputes, special partnerships, and easy ways Wikimedia contributors can get involved. Finally we will consider what the future holds, and ways the community can adapt to meet those challenges.

This talk is a presentation of the current state of the Wikimedia Commons wiki and community, with a brief historical overview and survey of what the future holds. Wikimedia Commons is the central media repository for all the Wikimedia projects, as well as a free-content media project in its own right. As such it is usually the project Wikimedians are most likely to encounter after their "local wiki" such as Wikipedia.

Wikimedia Commons is growing fast. After hitting two million files in October 2007 it is likely to be nearing three million by the time of Wikimania (July 2008).