Commons:WikiProject ESPD media contest

This is WikiProject ESPD Media Contest, a WikiProject for focused collaboration among users to promote media of the Sun.

European Solar Physics Division

WikiProject ESPD media contest was a WikiProject associated with European Solar Physics Division (ESPD) and dedicated to promote the upload of high-quality media related to the Sun to Wikimedia Commons. The contest finished in March 2021.

To enter the contest, media had to be realistically useful for an educational purpose. Every calendar month between March 2020 and March 2021, the ESPD board chose a winning entry (see rules below).

Contest and rules

To enter the contest, media were uploaded to Commons using the category ESPD Media of the Month Contest to your file. In addition, there were a few more rules to follow:

• The image or media file you upload must be related to solar physics. Examples include images/videos of the Sun or simulations of the Sun, diagrams of physical processes taking place in the Sun, photos of solar observatories or instruments, etc. You will need to add your file to Category:Sun or, ideally, to a more specific subcategory of Sun.
• You must provide a clear description of what the work is about, and when applicable which instruments were used to capture the image.
• Your file must follow the usual Commons rules on allowable file types, copyright, must be useful for an educational purpose, and must not be a close derivative of an existing file on Commons.

While the contest was running, the ESPD board voted to select a winning entry every calendar month, with the file and author being advertised on its website and through its media presence. Winners were picked from all eligible files with Category:ESPD Media of the Month Contest, not just the files uploaded in the relevant calendar month. The 12 winners are categorised under a subcategory of Category:ESPD Media of the Month Winners.

Files uploaded by serving ESPD board members are ineligible to participate while the respective board member(s) are on the ESPD board (but can be considered when/if the member is no longer in the board).

New to Commons?

There are a number of excellent training materials to help you upload your files. Use the 'Upload file' button, just below the Wikimedia Commons icon. That will allow you to use the Upload Wizard. For further help on using this tool, see: Commons:Upload Wizard FAQ or take a look at a few videos here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What files can I submit?

You can submit images, movies, or diagrams that are of the Sun, or related to the Sun or Heliophysics (e.g. images of solar telescopes or observatories are also good). Files are limited to 100 MB.

Who can submit files to the contest?

Anyone can enter the contest. You don't need to be working at a research institute or university. You will need to create an account in Commons before you can upload files.

Can I submit work that is not my own?

Yes, but you need to get permission from the author, who needs to release the rights to the work (see Commons:OTRS#Licensing_images:_when_do_I_contact_OTRS?). Generally speaking, it is much slower and more complicated to submit work from others, so the recommended approach is for the author to upload the files. Note that in case of winning entries, it is the author who gets the credit, not the uploader.

Can I submit images from solar telescopes taken by others?

Yes, and this is encouraged. Solar observations are often done by teams. It is not always clear who was the person that "acquired" the image, and in some cases the person working with the data is not the person that acquired the image. As long as you have permission to use the data, and have yourself created the image or movie file from the observed data, it should be fine. Multiple authors can also be added, and if you are using data that were not created but acquired, reduced, or processed by others, it is a good idea to credit them in the description.

What categories must I use?

You need to use Category:ESPD Media of the Month Contest so that your entry is visible to the contest judges. In addition, you should use Category:Sun or one of its subcategories. If your file fits better under one of the subcategories of Sun, this is preferred per the Commons categorisation policy. Examples are Category:Chromosphere, Category:Solar_Dynamics_Observatory_images, Category:Solar_corona.

What license shall I use?

To upload a file to Commons you must use a free license. By default, this will be a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA) license, but other Creative Commons licenses are also available, such as Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY). Note that if you license your file with CC-BY-SA, others may not be able to post that file on Facebook, see meta:Legal/CC_BY-SA_on_Facebook.

Why is this competition on Commons, and why must I license my work freely?

The aim of this project is to help Commons build a high-quality database of solar images that can be used to educate and promote solar physics. Such a comprehensive database of solar physics images is currently lacking. Commons only accepts free content that is not restricted by copyright, so that it can be used by anyone, anytime, for any purpose.

Members

1. Tiago Pereira (Talk 💬)
2. Shaun Bloomfield (Talk 💬)

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