Philip Greenspun illustration project/Background
Illustrations (photographs, sketches, 3D models, diagrams, graphs, charts, maps) are a powerful tool in learning and teaching. What can take pages of text to explain may be understood in a single picture. A visual representation can inspire understanding of a novel concept far more quickly than the textual equivalent. Illustrations are also accessible to the nonliterate, unlike text, and can be more easily adapted for use in different languages and contexts. For these reasons it is clear that focusing on illustrations will further the Wikimedia Foundation’s mission to "develop educational content ...and to disseminate it effectively and globally".
The Wikimedia Foundation, via the Volunteer Coordinator, will
- Oversee the project
- Provide guidance to the project coordinator
- Facilitate communication to and from the donor regarding the project
- Advise on the payment method to be used
The project coordinator (Brianna Laugher, user:pfctdayelise) will
- Identify the "key illustrations" (here, mainly diagrams and sketches) that are needed to improve Wikimedia content (primarily, Wikipedia, Wikibooks and Wikiversity)
- Publicise the project within Wikimedia
- Facilitate specific editors to create specific illustrations (see How it works)
- Oversee the payment of editors for their work
- Report to the Wikimedia Foundation on the progress of the project, at specified intervals and on request.
It is recognised that this is the first project by the Wikimedia Foundation in paid content creation. Therefore the specifics of how the project progresses are recognised as an experiment, and open to adaption depending on the response of the Wikimedia community.