How to ask for image donations

You are looking for a picture of a notable contemporary woman, but there is not one that is available under a free license. What if you contact her through social media or by email, and ask her to release a photo to use it in Wikipedia? You’d be amazed how willing people are to help and engage when you tell people you volunteer for Wikipedia!

You can use or adapt these drafts to ask the person to donate their photo.

 

 

MESSAGE 1

 

Hi PERSON NAME,

My name is YOUR NAME HERE. I am a volunteer for Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia). I saw you have an article on Wikipedia. Currently we are working on making more women visible on Wikipedia, as part of a #VisibleWikiWomen challenge. As you may know, Wikipedia has a huge gender gap – less than 20% of Wikipedia volunteers (people like me, who write articles, add pictures, etc.) are women, and we’re also missing a lot of important content about women. Women are represented in less than 25% of Wikipedia’s biographies. So, as a notable woman that I really admire, I would like to make sure that you are made fully visible on Wikipedia!

I noticed that the article about you on Wikipedia is missing a photo. Would you be willing to donate an image of you (OR YOUR WORK) to Wikipedia? I can see some pictures of you on social media and Google, but all have copyrights (meaning that someone owns them) so we cannot use them. On Wikipedia, information and pictures are published under an open Creative Commons license, that enable the free use of that content. Releasing a picture that you own the rights to under a Creative Commons license gives other people the right to share, use, and build upon your image, always crediting you for the original image.

Would you like to make a picture of you available on Wikipedia? I can guide you through this, if so. Let me know what you think!

 

If she says yes, go on with the next message.

 

 

MESSAGE 2

 

Great, thank you! First, can you choose an image that either you took yourself, or that you are in contact with the photographer who took it. Because I am not the owner of the photo, whoever took it will need to donate it under Creative Commons license themselves. But of course we’ve got your back, we will go through the process step by step and I help through the process.

First, please pick and send me an original picture you believe you own – ideally it is a photo you took yourself, or that someone has already given you the rights to it, or maybe a family member took it and they’ve given you the rights. Not something downloaded from your facebook or twitter or any social media platforms to maintain its quality and not detected as stolen or copyrighted on another website.

Please email it to me, and we’ll go from there!

 

When she’s sent you the image, you’ve confirmed it is a good one, and you have uploaded it to Commons, go on with the following message:

 

 

MESSAGE 3

 

Thanks! Looks good. I have uploaded it to Wikipedia on your behalf, however I need you to send a template to release its rights under Creative Commons license.

Here is where I’ve uploaded the picture to Wikimedia:

LINK TO IMAGE ON COMMONS

Please email the below text to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org, ideally from an email address that clearly identifies you:

 

Use this text if they are an individual who owns the image (e.g. they took the photo themselves)

 

I hereby affirm that I, MY NAME, am the creator and/or sole owner of the exclusive copyright of the media work: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FILENAMEHERE.JPG.

I agree to publish the above-mentioned work under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International.

I acknowledge that by doing so I grant anyone the right to use the work, even in a commercial product or otherwise, and to modify it according to their needs, provided that they abide by the terms of the license and any other applicable laws.

I am aware that this agreement is not limited to Wikipedia or related sites.

I am aware that the copyright holder always retains ownership of the copyright as well as the right to be attributed in accordance with the license chosen. Modifications others make to the work will not be claimed to have been made by the copyright holder.

I acknowledge that I cannot withdraw this agreement, and that the content may or may not be kept permanently on a Wikimedia project.

Signed,

MY NAME

DATE

 

 

You are done! Thanks so much for helping make more women visible online!

 

 

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