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Category: Wikimedia Commons

Let’s play! Photographers capture the art of fun for the Wiki Loves Africa photo contest

Children playing around a wrecked airplane. A toddler plays peek-a-boo. Teens play barefoot street soccer. Welcome to the wonder of Wiki Loves Africa, an annual themed photo contest which aims to re-balance the lack of visual representation and content that Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons hold about the continent. Over the last five years, Wiki Loves….

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Your weekly photo from the world’s free media repository: 2 August

This eharo mask was made by an unknown person in what is today Papua New Guinea. It was acquired by the Museum of Toulouse in 1882. According to its caption on Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository that holds much of the images, videos, and sounds used in Wikipedia articles, “the eharo masks were worn….

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Your weekly photo from the world’s free media repository: 26 July

This rock grotto is three kilometers south of the village of Olenevka, located on Crimea’s Tarkhankut Peninsula. The photographer uploaded it as part of Wiki Loves Earth 2017, a photo contest which aims to document the world’s natural heritage for future generations. Over 130,000 images were uploaded during the contest, a total which was winnowed….

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Smithsonian brings images of diverse figures from the history of US women’s suffrage to Wikimedia

The Smithsonian—one of the leading museums and research centers in the United States—has added over 200 images of women involved in the battle for women’s suffrage in the country to Wikimedia Commons, one of the world’s largest collections of freely licensed media. The donation helps advance the Smithsonian’s strategic plan, which calls for reaching one….

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Your weekly photo from the world’s free media repository: 19 July

The original Beetle, constructed by the German automaker Volkswagen, was in production from 1938 until 2003. Convertible Beetles were usually nicer than their roofed counterparts. According to Wikipedia, the Beetle convertible was “generally more lavishly equipped than the sedan with dual rear ashtrays, twin map pockets, a visor vanity mirror on the passenger side, rear….

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‘Bootcamp’ teaches India’s Wikimedia editors the intricacies of vector graphics

Have you ever tried zooming in on an image on your computer? Did you notice how the quality steadily got worse and worse? This is an unfortunate feature of “raster graphics,” the file formats that use a rectangular grid of pixels to make up an image, and present a particular problem for people making maps,….

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Your weekly photo from the world’s free media repository: 12 July

The Rubjerg Knude Lighthouse is located in Hjørring, Jutland, Denmark, on the North Sea. Construction on it began in 1899; it was lit for the first time in 1900 and its light was extinguished for the final time in 1968. Today, the lighthouse is threatened by heavy coastal erosion in the area, which are bringing….

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Your weekly photo from the world’s free photo repository: 5 July

A long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) in Labuk Bay, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia. According to Wikipedia, the long-tailed macaque is native to Southeast Asia. Its social groups are controlled by females, and any male children depart after undergoing puberty. While this macaque “has a long history alongside humans[,] they have been alternately seen as agricultural pests, sacred….

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Wikimedia Argentina and the National University of La Plata partner to promote free knowledge

Last month, Wikimedia Argentina (WMAR) and the National University of La Plata (UNLP) signed an agreement that will see them working together to produce, facilitate, and distribute free knowledge through Wikipedia. The agreement with UNLP, one of the premier universities in Argentina, is the first of its kind for WMAR, an independent chapter affiliate that….

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Wikimedia Argentina y la Universidad Nacional de La Plata firman convenio para promover el conocimiento libre

Wikimedia Argentina (WMAR) y la Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) firmaron el pasado 20 de marzo un convenio de cooperación para impulsar y promover políticas transversales de difusión y producción de conocimiento abierto. Es la primera alianza de estas características que WMAR formaliza con una institución de educación superior. “Este acuerdo facilitará en gran….

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