Wikidata talk:WikidataCon 2019/Organization/Feedback

The photography policy

Something new and unexpected at this Wikidatacon was the adoption of a new photography policy. First used at Wikimania 2019, the use of it at this event was announced here in early October, and I didn't spot it in time to object to it before attending the event (having objected to its use at Wikimania 2019). As a regular photographer of Wikimania events, and having never had a complaint about the photos I've uploaded to Wikimedia Commons after the events, I no longer felt safe to take photos at Wikidatacon - so I didn't take any, even though I'd volunteered to do so.

To be clear, this isn't a complaint, it is intended as constructive feedback about the policy. I think it's good to try different photography policies, particularly given the 'paparazzi' approach that has been seen at past Wikimedia events, but I don't think this is the right policy to use in the future. I want to see us positively encouraging photography at our events, including releasing those photographs freely on the Wikimedia projects, as these help our mission both directly (via the released photographs) and indirectly (by encouraging attendees to upload more photographs outside the event).

My specific feedback on the policy is as follows:

1. There needs to be a lanyard for 'photographs are OK' - the default is that you have to be asked for consent all of the time, even if you are happy to be photographed, which doesn't make sense.
2. The "intended use the image" line makes no sense in this context. If the photo is to be kept private, then this policy doesn't apply. I don't think that we want to encourage uploading of photographs to Facebook, given their unclear approach to copyright. Perhaps 'uploading to Commons' can be assumed to be the default here, given that this is what we want to encourage
3. The concept of 'consent' is unclear - what might be a 'clear indication' for one person is not for another person. The guidelines help somewhat, but not entirely.
4. Consent is not normally needed for photographs outside of the event - these rules are actually tighter than on the street.
5. Sitting in front of the audience and the camera seemed to be OK at the event - but this wasn't reflected in this policy. Consider if "their appearance is distinctive (e.g. hairstyle or particular clothing)", but they are sat at the front of the audience, or standing next to the stage, what do you do?
6. There needs to be a clear way to take down inappropriate photographs, but deleting them without discussion is not that. At the very least it should be discussed with the photographer, so that they can understand the issue and can modify their future photography accordingly. Ideally it would be put through the normal community deletion processes.
7. The overall tone of the policy is "do not take photographs" - this should be changed to "you are encouraged to take photos, but please bear in mind the following".

I hope that future Wikimedia events can use a different policy that takes the above points into consideration. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 19:40, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

Hello Mike, and thanks a lot for writing this detailed comment. As we are willing to improve the atmosphere of the Wikimedia conferences and the privacy of their participants, we are experimenting with this relatively new policy, but we're definitely open to improvements for next time. That's why your constructive suggestions are really helpful.

I think that appart from having more lanyards and clearer instructions, we need to collectively have a discussion about: what is a good picture of a Wikimedia event? Where is the limit between documentation/reporting and participants' privacy? How to document the run of an event and its atmosphere without overdoing it and providing (too) detailed content about single Wikimedians who would prefer to stay anonymous and unidentified?

Especially with Structured Data on Commons that will help structuring metadata and accelerate the process of quickly identify and list pictures (can't wait for the query "photos depicting Léa Lacroix looking at her phone with a grumpy face on the second day of an event organized by WMDE" ^^"), we need to reflect on our habits in the community. This will take time and certainly raise interesting questions. In the meantime, a policy, even if maybe too strict, helped us make sure that the participants would not be worried about having unnecessary pictures of them taken and published.

Thanks again for your feedback and see you next time, Lea Lacroix (WMDE) (talk) 08:17, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

@Lea Lacroix (WMDE): Thanks for listening and replying. While we have downtime from Wikimedia events, I've started meta:User:Mike Peel/Wikimedia event photography as a draft of a new policy that could be used for future events, I'd appreciate any comments or direct edits you can make there. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 18:55, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

@Lea Lacroix (WMDE): I have to park this issue now, but I'd appreciate it if you could take my thoughts/the draft into account with future events. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 18:09, 25 October 2022 (UTC)