Photo Directory Team Rep Announcement Moved to October 4th

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your enthusiasm and participation in the recent vote for our new team representatives. We were excited to announce the results during WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. US Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/. tomorrow, but we’ve decided to take a little extra time to ensure everything is in place for a smooth transition.

We are currently reviewing some important legal details regarding the team leadership roles and countries of residence, and we also want to personally connect with the top candidates to confirm their willingness and availability to take on these responsibilities. This extra step ensures that our new reps are fully prepared to serve our community.

We’re looking forward to sharing the results during our next team meeting on October 4th, 2024. Your continued support and understanding are greatly appreciated, and we can’t wait to introduce the new team representatives soon!

Photo Directory Team Reps 2024: Submit your Votes!

In August, after 2.5 years of the current Photo Directory representatives holding their positions, the team opened up nominations for just the second time. The poll is now open and ready for your vote.

Where can I vote?
Right here!

https://poll.fm/14300333

You can vote for up to two people at the same time. Once you have submitted your vote, you won’t be able to vote again.

To see what team reps are responsible for, see the previous post calling for Photo Directory Team Rep nominations. For now the Photo Directory Team anticipates electing two or three team reps. Of course, team reps can decide to add additional people as team reps, during the course of the year.

This poll will be open until Friday, September 13, 2024, after which team reps will be selected based on the votes received. Stay tuned for that announcement post as well as the live announcement at WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. US Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/. in Portland!

#team-rep, #team-reps

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Call for Photo Directory Team Representatives

The Make WordPress Photo team is in need of two-to-three new Team Reps to assume this role. After 2+ years serving in this role and discussing our current availability at length, @katiejrichards, @topher1kenobe, and @mdburnette are ready to pass the proverbial torch.

What is a Team RepTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts.?

Ideally, all Make WordPress teams should have at least two representatives, allowing them to share responsibilities, divide tasks, and cover each other when needed.

Team Reps work with other teams across the project, share key updates across all contributor teams, and generally help to support the team as a whole.

  • Team Rep is an organizational role that is mostly administrative in nature; it is not a Lead role.
  • Letting go of the Team Rep title is not a loss of status, just a handing off of responsibilities.
  • Someone who is a leader in a team can lead whether they are doing the team rep job or not.

What to Expect in the Role?

Expectations vary from team to team, but here are some of what to expect:

  • Prepare meeting agenda by requesting updates from Photo Directory working groups
  • Conduct the team’s monthly meetings on the Make Photos SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel
  • Document meeting notes and share updates with other teams as necessary

Additional information can be found in the Photo Directory handbook.

What are our Next Steps?

  • Call for Nominations: Anyone can nominate a Photo Directory team rep! (Yes, you can nominate yourself!) The deadline for nominations is Friday, August 30th.
  • Voting for Team Reps: Nominees will be officially announced on Monday, September 2, and a poll for voting will be available the same day. It will stay open until Friday, September 13th. After that, the new team reps will be announced on Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/. at WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. US (and here on the Make Photos blog) on September 17!

Are YOU interested in contributing? Just provide a name in the comments section of this post.

Please nominate people for Photo Directory team rep in the comments of this post by Friday, August 30. Self-nominations are welcome.

Remember, a best practice before nominating someone is to check in with them first! If you are nominated, you do not have to say yes. Only people who respond positively to a nomination will be added to the poll, so please feel free to decline if you don’t feel that being team rep is the right fit for any reason.

If you have any questions, please do ask those in the comments!

X-post: Training Team Update – June 2024

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February Stats for the WordPress Photo Directory

February was a busy month for the Photo Directory with the week-long WordPress Photo Festival!

As always, our goal is to moderate photos as quickly as we can. Please do remember we are all volunteers and work through the list as we are able to in the event there is a backlog. (And during major WordPress events like WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Asia this month, there is sure to be an influx of photos.)

If you’d like to contribute photos to the directory, you can do that at WordPress.org/photos.

If you’d like to join the moderators team, you can do that at make.wordpress.org/photos/handbook/moderating-photos.

Current stats for the project as of today, March 2, 2024:

Number of photos: 15316
Pending Photos: 25
Rejected Photos: 3127
Photos Since the Last Meeting: 3027
Photos Rejected Since the Last Meeting: 906
Number of Contributors: 1750
Number of Moderators: 29

Top Contributors:
🥇 mbigul: 894 photos
🥈 topher1kenobe: 842 photos
🥉 shelob9: 451 photos
🏅 mdburnette: 436 photos
🏅 bhuwanroka: 405 photos
🏅 michelleames: 288 photos
🏅 jenniferbourn: 270 photos
🏅 sharankrishna: 249 photos
🏅 nilovelez: 200 photos
🏅 kafleg: 192 photos

Categories
Nature: 10285
Architecture: 3012
Food-Drink: 1503
Animals: 1274
Objects: 1271
Arts-Culture: 1051
Transportation: 941
Interiors: 428
Patterns: 328
People: 259
Technology: 257
Fashion: 137
Athletics: 35

Landscape: 9315
Portrait: 5700
Square: 301

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January Stats for the WordPress Photo Directory

2024 is starting off strong for the Photo Directory!

Our goal is to moderate photos as quickly as we can. And with our bigger team, we’ve been working through photos even faster. Please do remember we are all volunteers and work through the list as we are able to in the event there is a backlog. (And during photo events like WordPress Photo Festival 2024 where there is an influx of photography we will work as quickly as we can, but submitters need to be patient.)

If you’d like to contribute photos to the directory, you can do that at WordPress.org/photos.

If you’d like to join the moderators team, you can do that at make.wordpress.org/photos/handbook/moderating-photos.

Current stats for the project as of today, February 2, 2024:

NUMBER OF PHOTOS: 13,250
PENDING PHOTOS: 45
REJECTED PHOTOS: 2242
PHOTOS SINCE THE LAST MEETING: 888
PHOTOS REJECTED SINCE THE LAST MEETING: 212
NUMBER OF CONTRIBUTORS: 1647

Top Contributors:
🥇 mbigul: 845 photos
🥈 topher1kenobe: 841 photos
🥉 shelob9: 453 photos
🏅 mdburnette: 436 photos
🏅 bhuwanroka: 384 photos
🏅 michelleames: 287 photos
🏅 jenniferbourn: 270 photos
🏅 sharankrishna: 198 photos
🏅 kafleg: 191 photos
🏅 chrisedwardsce: 175 photos

Categories:
NATURE: 8934
ARCHITECTURE: 2605
FOOD-DRINK: 1271
ANIMALS: 1124
OBJECTS: 1087
ARTS-CULTURE: 891
TRANSPORTATION: 783
INTERIORS: 378
PATTERNS: 303
TECHNOLOGY: 215
PEOPLE: 207
FASHION: 103
ATHLETICS: 32

Landscape: 8258
Portrait: 4715
Square: 277

Alt Text for WordPress Photos

Our goal is for the WordPress Photo Directory to be as accessible as possible, making it easy for anyone using a screen reader to understand what each photo is, as well as providing good alt text for those using any photos on their own sites and projects.

Alt text provides a description of an image that is read aloud to anyone using a screen reader for any reason.

In the past, some photo contributors have provided descriptions that include feelings or feel more story-like. (Like “waking up on a beautiful morning” or “a great day for a cup of coffee.”) These are not descriptive and are not generally helpful for people relying on screen readers to describe a photo.

In order to help you provide better descriptions when you submit a photo to the directory, we’ve compiled some information to make it easier. (Many thanks to @alexstine and @joedolson for their expertise and input.)

I think we can all agree that there is alt text that’s too short, but are there times when something is too descriptive?

Alex Stine: Sometimes ALT Text can be too descriptive in that it can provide more information than what people could actually see in the image. The experience should be equal, not more or less.

Joe Dolson: There’s a balance to strike. For the purpose of the photo directory, some assumptions need to be made. First, the audience and the author do not have a common knowledge base. For alt text, that means that personal information or specific knowledge of the scene should be omitted. Alt text is highly contextual, and in this case the context is “share the photo with strangers who will use it for their own purposes.” So the alt text should be strictly kept to information that is visible in the image. There are exceptions, however; well-known landmarks can and should be named. If it’s a picture of the Statue of Liberty, it would be disingenuous to omit that information. That’s a judgment call for the submitter, since “well known” is not strictly definable.

Some people think that adding colors to a description isn’t necessary, and others argue that it is. Should submissions to the photo directory include colors? Are there times when it should vs. when it shouldn’t? (Like describing clothes, or a building.)

Alex Stine: I think descriptions of color are okay since you would visually get this detail when looking at an image. People without vision may not fully understand the concept of color if they haven’t had vision before. For people like myself, I have had vision, so I may still be able to get something from knowing the colors.

Joe Dolson: Descriptions don’t need a detailed description of colors, but prominent or dominant colors should be mentioned. Again, it’s a judgment call how much detail to add. But colors should absolutely be mentioned. There are several reasons: one is because screen reader users aren’t necessarily blind and/or may have once had color vision; a second is because color-blind users will benefit from being told what colors are in a picture; and the third is because the photo directory search queries alt texts, so this enables searching for color.

How in-depth should a description be? For example, is “German Shepherd puppy” a good enough description, or would “German Shepherd puppy sitting on a wooden floor looking at the camera” be better?

Alex Stine: In this case, the second description (“German Shepherd puppy sitting on a wooden floor looking at the camera”) would be better. It allows me to more accurately understand the scene.

Joe Dolson: Object, action, and environment are the three primary characteristics that should be conveyed in some way. Anything else is bonus, but ensuring that those three characteristics are communicated is a good way of making sure that the description is roughly equal to the image.

When is including the location of a photo important? Is “mountains” enough or is “mountains in the Himalayas” better?

Alex Stine: This could easily fall in the categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. of “too much information” as that information is not available to people with vision simply by looking at the image. Unless it is clear what the mountain range is by looking at it, this information should not be included in the description.

Joe Dolson: I think I addressed that above; essentially, it’s a question of how common this knowledge would be, or how significant. I will argue slightly with Alex on this because of the purpose of the photo directory – if somebody specifically is looking for pictures of the Himalayas, that should be possible. If the photo directory had any filtering or tagging, I’d say that information should be a tag, rather than an alt text, but, since it isn’t, I think that information should be available. But it’s only particularly important to include in cases where the image is of something that most people would actually recognize. A purposeful image of Mount Everest should probably say what it is. A pretty scene of some mountains that happen to be the Himalayas? Maybe not so relevant.

I want to also add that alternative text should be literal. You should describe what’s in the scene, and not make assumptions. Just to pick a random example:

https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/33465a66b7/

While it may or may not be valuable that this specifies Himalayas (I’d argue not, since there’s nothing distinct), the biggest weakness here is the word ‘Trekker’. It could also mean a Star Trek fan, and if a blind user included this expecting a person hiking with a backpack but it was actually a person in a Star Trek uniform…

Are there tools or resources that you would recommend for evaluating alt text quality and ensuring online content accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility)?

Alex Stine: Test with a screen reader, that’s the best way. I also like the Accessibility Checker pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party.

Joe Dolson: Alt text quality is heavily contextual. No tools required, just read the text and look at the image and decide whether it seems appropriate.

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