GLAM/Newsletter/September 2013/Contents/Wiki Loves Monuments report
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The world's largest photography contest has struck again, but missed many countries
Wiki Loves Monuments' goal is to enrich Wikipedia and her sister projects with photos and articles about the worldwide cultural heritage. Volunteers from 52 areas and countries organized this year the fourth edition of this event. Thanks to all their work we managed to have more than 370,000 photos uploaded by participants. This number of uploads is higher than the 2012 edition and is a new record. The 2012 edition is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records.
- Random selection of photos
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Discovery Hut or Scott's Hut built (Antarctica) -
Church (Armenia) -
City Hall (Aruba) -
The Reunification Monument (Cameroon) -
Lin ruins (China) -
Hadrian's Arch (Jordan) -
Chyasaldewal (Krishna Temple) (Nepal) -
Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity (United Kingdom) -
El Águila (Uruguay)
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Results in numbers
In 2013 11,942 participants uploaded in 52 countries/areas more than 370,000 photos as part of Wiki Loves Monuments 2013. All together with the previous editions Wiki Loves Monuments made people upload more than 900,000 photos of monuments.
Statistics for each country:
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Results in statistics
Missing countries / half the world
In the 2013 edition of Wiki Loves Monuments 52 countries and areas participated in Wiki Loves Monuments. Large parts on the map are coloured red, but also large parts are white. The world has 195 international recognized independent states, but has also many dependent territories. Only less than a quarter of these countries and territories participated in Wiki Loves Monuments.
- The largest area that isn't covered is Africa. In a few countries Wiki Loves Monuments has been organized, but in most of them we have do not have any lists of cultural monuments on Wikipedia and no participation in the contest. Only in 7 of the 54 independent states Wiki Loves Monuments has been organized and we miss much of the African cultural heritage.
- With the 2013 edition the first Arab states discovered Wiki Loves Monuments and made their first steps in the contest. Only in 5 of the 22 states of that region Wiki Loves Monuments has been organized. But the interest in the contest is growing in the Arab world thanks to the first pioneers in 2013 who bridged the cultural gap.
- In 2013 the area of the Caucasus two of three countries started with Wiki Loves Monuments, including the area of Nagorno-Karabakh. Only Georgia did not participate.
- In Central Asia there is no participation at all and we do little know about their cultural heritage.
- In other parts of Asia the participation is fragile. Several countries indicated the wish to participate, but only a part of them were ready to do so. Especially the countries of southeast Asia are missing, while they do have a rich cultural history which deserves more attention.
- In Oceania none of the 14 countries and 13 territories participated (besides Hawaii as part of the United States contest). The whole cultural heritage of the island nations are missing.
- Besides the three largest countries, almost all the countries of North America (including the Caribbean region) are missing with their cultural heritage. From the 23 countries and more than 14 dependencies and other territories in North America, only 6 participated: Aruba, Canada, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama and the United States. The rich cultural heritage of this area asks to be mapped.
- In South America the participation began in 2012 with 3 countries and grew in 2013 to 6 participating countries out of the 12 countries and 3 dependencies on the continent. We also explored in 2013 Antarctica and the Falkland Islands. What do we know about the cultural heritage of Brazil and French Guiana?
- In Europe most countries have participated in Wiki Loves Monuments. The most empty part of this continent is in the southeastern part with the Balkans, Cyprus and Turkey. Other countries that are missing are Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland and most of the small states: Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City and Malta. Another point of attention are the areas of Greenland, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, the Faroe Islands and the Åland Islands.
- Around the world are a lot of other islands and dependencies with a small cultural heritage we have almost no knowledge of.
In the first four editions of Wiki Loves Monuments we focussed on the participation of those countries who were able to organize a local contest with lists of monuments, a jury and prizes. In all those countries all the volunteers did a great job and did a lot of work to make this event happen. But I think our responsibility goes beyond only the area where we live. The Wikimedia movement should focus in the coming years on all those other countries around the world to enable them to participate in one of the most simple way of participation (with uploading pictures). We should reach out to those who have more difficulties in participating and making it easier for them to join the world's movement of expansion of free knowledge.
What's next?
The judges of each country have until the end of the month October the time to select the 10 winning photos. In most countries a prize giving ceremony will be held where the winners get their prizes. In November the international jury will select out of those 520 photos the best 10 photos of Wiki Loves Monuments 2013.
As the 2013 contest broke the record of the 2012 edition in number of photos, the international team will submit the new record to the Guinness Book of Records.
In the rest of the year we work on writing articles about these monuments and translating existing lists of monuments to especially Spanish and/or English to enable the rest of the world to learn about these hidden heritage. Also we need to create new lists of monuments for other countries to get a better view on the world's heritage.
Already several users/teams indicated their interest to participate in a next edition of Wiki Loves Monuments. Users can already start with preparing Wiki Loves Monuments by searching for lists of monuments in undiscovered countries and/or contacting the local institutions who are responsible for keeping a list of their cultural heritage. The users from already participating countries can help the Global South otherwise only half the world is covered. The Wikimedia movement should actively support projects like Wiki Loves Monuments in participating, so that the world's cultural heritage fully gets covered and participation is enhanced.
More information
- Article about Wiki Loves Monuments in the English Wikipedia and other languages
- Website of the contest
- Category with all the uploaded images of Wiki Loves Monuments 2013
- Portal page on Commons
About Global South
- North–South divide - article on Wikipedia
- Global South at Meta
- WMF's New Global South Strategy at Wikimania 2013
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