September Photo Directory Update

September is over! Time for an update on all things Photos.

We’ve begun onboarding new members to the photo moderators team.

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, October 2, 2023:

Number of photos: 9536 (644 photos added since the last report)
Pending photos: 36
Rejected photos: 1486
Photos since the last meeting: 1333
Photos rejected since the last meeting: 198
Number of contributors: 1365 (83 more since the last report)

Top contributors
🥇 topher1kenobe: 804 photos
🥈 mdburnette: 424 photos
🥉 mbigul: 364 photos
🏅 shelob9: 354 photos
🏅 jenniferbourn: 270 photos
🏅 michelleames: 268 photos
🏅 chrisedwardsce: 175 photos
🏅 mburridge: 113 photos
🏅 roytanck: 107 photos
🏅 kafleg: 97 photos

Categories
NATURE (6365)
ARCHITECTURE(1909)
OBJECTS (897)
ANIMALS (887)
FOOD-DRINK (833)
ARTS-CULTURE (696)
TRANSPORTATION (643)
INTERIORS (300)
PATTERNS (275)
TECHNOLOGY (159)
PEOPLE (130)
FASHION (65)
ATHLETICS (24)

Landscape 6314
Portrait 2992
Square 231

August Photo Directory Update

It’s almost the end of August! Time for an update on all things Photos.

Contributor Days this year have gone really well. We’ve onboarded many photographers into what kinds of photo subjects are acceptable, how we evaluate photos for inclusion in the photos directory, and what makes a good photo in general.

We’ve also begun onboarding new members to the photo moderators team.

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, August 28, 2023:

Number of photos: 8892
Pending photos: 0
Rejected photos: 1385
Photos since the last meeting: 1170
Photos rejected since the last meeting: 283
Number of contributors: 1282

Top contributors:
🥇 @topher1kenobe: 791 photos
🥈 @mdburnette: 424 photos
🥉 @shelob9: 285 photos
🏅 @jenniferbourn: 270 photos
🏅 @michelleames: 243 photos
🏅 @mbigul: 239 photos
🏅 @chrisedwardsce: 175 photos
🏅 @mburridge: 113 photos
🏅 @roytanck: 106 photos
🏅 @javiercasares: 88 photos

Categories:
NATURE: (5907)
ARCHITECTURE: (1786)
OBJECTS: (869)
ANIMALS: (837)
FOOD-DRINK: (774)
ARTS-CULTURE: (659)
TRANSPORTATION: (618)
INTERIORS: (290)
PATTERNS: (267)
TECHNOLOGY: (150)
PEOPLE: (115)
FASHION: (61)
ATHLETICS: (23)

Landscape: 5995
Portrait: 2671
Square: 226

Recap of team meeting, June 2

Slack Log (Requires 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/. login to view. Set one up if you don’t have a Slack account.)

Welcome and links to documentation

Attendance: @katiejrichards, @topher1kenobe, @mdburnette, @kartiks16, @eboxnet, @meher, @krupalpanchal, @kafleg, @st810amaze

Welcome to the newcomers joining the Photos channel (Slack usernames): @roytanck@jillbinder@Melissa Ann Sorrells@krysal@Nav@Ryan Van de Kamp@gwallace@benlumia007@Nomad Skateboarding@Vagelis@Mira Padalia@Pratiksha@Ugyen@Jaed, @Krupal Panchal@Shuvo@chaion07@fuddin@david111780@tomeklach@Afshana Diya

Special thanks to all that joined us for this meeting, as it was held on a different day than usual to coincide with 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. Europe’s 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/. – where @topher1kenobe and @mdburnette were present!


Project milestones

This month, we have a few milestones to share since our last meeting on May 6th. It was another slower month, though some plans are in place to ramp up contribution. More on that in a minute.

But first, the numbers for this month.

As of this meeting, the directory includes over 2700 user-contributed photos, including passing numbers 2600 (Indian Banyan) and 2700 (beautiful pink flower)! Green, brown, and blue dominate the most popular colors, outpacing the next 7 most popular colors combined. This is likely because of the vast number of outdoor landscape photos contributed.

In addition, we’re nearing 300 individual contributors — clocking in at 293 as of this meeting! This continues to show us that, even with below-average submission counts, we’re still seeing a lot of new contributors. 🎉

Every month we’ll share some raw stats here as well. Here are a few stats for the month leading up to this meeting:

  • 300 photos were submitted in the last month
  • 61% have been approved
  • 32% are pending
  • 7% have been rejected for not meeting conditions to be published in the directory (insufficient photo quality or the inclusion of human faces being the most common reasons for rejection)

Current issues

➡️ Our largest issue at the moment continues to be our backlog of moderator applications. The current moderators and team reps have held additional discussions to clarify how moderators need to be vetted and the process by which this will happen.

We want to make sure folks are onboarded with all the tools and information they’ll need to hit the ground running. If you submitted an application to become a Photo Directory moderator, you should have heard from us and we’ll begin onboarding new moderators soon!

➡️ Also, we’ve discussed partnering with meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. organizers for Photo Directory promotion. A LearnWP workshop video and lesson plan exist for these meetups and we’re in talks with several organizers now. If you’re interested in sharing about the WordPress Photo Directory and would like to talk to us about it, please let us know in the #photos Slack channel!

➡️ Finally, a quick chat was had about ALT text for images at submission. No clear plan of action was decided based on this discussion, though all parties agree that this is an important and necessary addition.


Open discussion

Due to the participation in WCEU Contributor Day, open discussion was light this time around. The only issue surfaced this time was surrounding better discovery of one’s own submitted photos — like a “My Profile” or “My Photos” link. All authors currently have pages with their photos, but these are not easily accessed for finding your own contributions.

Two tickets were created by @topher1kenobe based on this conversation:


Next Meeting

You are welcome to join the team at any time! If you are new to the Photos team, please introduce yourself in the #photos channel before the meeting (or anytime!) and feel free to join us in the meeting and participate as you are able.


Photos Team Mission

The Photos team helps people use and contribute to the WordPress Photo Directory through creative commons licensed (CC0) photography that can be used without cost or attribution, for any purpose, via wordpress.org/photos.

Getting Involved

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join in, comment on posts, and participate in meetings and on projects.

  1. WordPress.org/photos
  2. WordPress Photo Directory team handbook
  3. Our Team Blog

#weekly-chat

Recap of team meeting, May 6

Slack Log (Requires 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/. login to view. Set one up if you don’t have a Slack account.)

Welcome and links to documentation

Attendance: @katiejrichards, @topher1kenobe, @mdburnette, @rmartinezduque, @meher, @femy, @courane01, @timohaver

Welcome to the newcomers joining the Photos channel (Slack usernames): @Jeanette Mullins @Allan Douglas @Heather Roy @Shubham @Passoniate @Femy

Project milestones

This month, we have a few milestones to share since our last meeting on April 1st. It was a slower month and, as you’ll see a bit later on, there was some discussion about why and what we can do to encourage more submissions.

But first, the numbers for this month.

As of this meeting, the directory includes over 2500 user-contributed photos, including passing numbers 2400 (Tortoise) and 2500 (Kekse, Weihnachtsbäckerei, Keksdosen, backen, Weihnachten, Süßes, Marmelade, Zuckerguss, Tradition)! Only 25+ currently pending moderation, so we’ll want to promote the directory and get some more submissions!

The last week also included the 231st individual contributor to the directory. This shows us that, even though the submission count wasn’t very high, there were a lot of new contributors. 🎉

Every week we’ll share some raw stats here as well. Here are a few stats for the month leading up to this meeting:

  • 151 photos were submitted in the last month
  • 76% have been approved
  • 17% are pending
  • 7% have been rejected for not meeting conditions to be published in the directory

Current issues

Our largest issue at the moment stems from our backlog of moderator applications. The current moderators and team reps have begun discussions to clarify how moderators need to be vetted and the process by which this will happen. This is quite possibly the first WordPress team that uses volunteer community moderators so we’ve been looking through Community Team documentation on how they’ve historically vetted and approved potential event organizers and adapted that process for the Photos team.

We want to make sure folks are onboarded with all the tools and information they’ll need to hit the ground running. If you submitted an application to become a Photo Directory moderator, we assure you that we will respond soon!


Also, there is an application to join the Photo Directory moderating team in the team handbook.

Open discussion

In contrast, photo submissions seem to have slowed down without any real reason we can determine. For example, our April 1st team meeting recap showed that 230 photos had been submitted in the week leading up to the meeting, where we only had 151 in the whole month leading up to this one. A lack of moderators would explain a backlog of pending photos, but it doesn’t explain low submission counts.

Some things that were discussed to potentially help with this were:

  • Running contests of some kind to boost submission counts
  • Looping in Marketing, Social, and Training teams to help promote the directory
  • Awarding .org contributor badges when users upload X number of photos
  • Call for meetups (Community team) to help promote or speak about the directory at events

We’ll look at these options over the next month—in addition to promotion surrounding the upcoming 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. Europe event—to see how we might bolster photo submissions from the community.

Finally, 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) concerns were discussed—primarily surrounding the lack of alt text attributes for directory photos. Although the team had discussed an additional field at time of submission for this text, ultimately it was not added to the submission form. Talks regarding this field will resume this month.

Additionally, it was discussed that retroactively filling in alt text fields for photos already submitted could make a great 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/. activity. This is a great callout, though logistics around how that would practically work without granting moderator access to dozens of folks would be necessary.


Next Meeting

You are welcome to join the team at any time! If you are new to the Photos team, please introduce yourself in the #photos channel before the meeting (or anytime!) and feel free to join us in the meeting and participate as you are able.


Photos Team Mission

The Photos team helps people use and contribute to the WordPress Photo Directory through creative commons licensed (CC0) photography that can be used without cost or attribution, for any purpose, via wordpress.org/photos.

Getting Involved

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join in, comment on posts, and participate in meetings and on projects.

  1. WordPress.org/photos
  2. WordPress Photo Directory team handbook
  3. Our Team Blog

Recap of team meeting, April 1

Slack Log (Requires 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/. login to view. Set one up if you don’t have a Slack account.)

Welcome and links to documentation

Attendance: @katiejrichards, @topher1kenobe, @mdburnette, @angelasjin, @cagrimmett, @rmartinezduque

Welcome to the newcomers joining the Photos channel (Slack usernames): @Amit Patel, @Bhavesh Desai, @Himanshu Shekhar, @sagarladani, @Aezas Shekh, @aslammultani, @Brijesh Mandaliya, @Shusei, @Deval Talati, @Mayur Baroliya, @Bilal Ahmed, @Guillaume

Project milestones

With this being our first meeting, we don’t have “milestones since…”, rather overall milestones to share to kick us off. However our next meeting will include numbers since this meeting and will allow us to track how the directory is growing month-to-month.

As of this meeting, the directory includes over 2300 user-contributed photos, including passing numbers 2200 (Squirrel on a palm tree at dusk) and 2300 (Shadow phone) in the last week alone! With 75+ currently pending moderation, we’re well on our way to 2400 already.

The last week also included the 200th individual contributor to the directory, Hardik Thakkar. 🎉

Once again, our next meeting will feature some monthly numbers, but here are a few stats for the week leading up to this meeting:

  • 230 photos were submitted in the last week
  • 57% have been approved
  • 33% are pending
  • 10% have been rejected for not meeting conditions to be published in the directory

Current issues

➡️ One of the most recent challenges that the moderators have had to tackle is how to moderate photos that have already been uploaded by other authors/photographers to similar photo sharing sites like Pixabay, Unsplash, etc. Posting an image to another photo sharing site like Pixabay is not inherently a problem, as long as some considerations are made. We do need to consider whether there is a conflict between the license of the other photo site and CC0, which is the license the Photo Directory explicitly uses.

Moderators make every effort to verify sources. Please be aware that any photo found to exist on another site may take extra time to approve and publish.

Relatedly, another issue we’ve come up against when a photo has also been uploaded to another photo sharing site is determining who holds the copyright to the image. Unfortunately, we’ve found that many of these photos shared in multiple locations across the web are being submitted to the WordPress Photo Directory by someone who does not hold the copyright for the image. Photos submitted by users other than the original author will be rejected. As a reminder, one of the conditions the uploader agrees to when submitting a photo to the Photo Directory is “I have the copyright or other legal right to upload this image” as stated on the submission page.

One potential solution here might be to ask the uploader if the photo can be found on another photo site. This may, at least, streamline the approval process.

➡️ Also, there is an application to join the Photo Directory moderating team in the team handbook. The team reps are currently thinking through how to effectively onboard new moderators, since there isn’t a significant history of the WordPress project using volunteer moderators.

Open discussion

➡️ A ticket has been opened to add a checkbox to select ALL the checkboxes on the submission form, but this would be limited ONLY to people who already have a high number of approved photos. Potentially 30 or 40 is the starting number. By that time, they’ve checked those boxes a LOT, and know what they’re agreeing to.

➡️ Also, we’re still seeing the “silver” tag as color option. A ticket should be submitted to have it removed, if it isn’t already. (Silver was added haphazardly when colors were still able to be added manually. All colors are now selected from a list of possible options.)

➡️ The Social team is looking for ways to promote the directory and is looking for stories behind the photos. If you’ve uploaded a photo and have a story to share about its origins, reach out to @rmartinezduque in the #photos Slack channel.


Next Meeting

You are welcome to join the team at any time! If you are new to the Photos team, please introduce yourself in the #photos channel before the meeting (or anytime!) and feel free to join us in the meeting and participate as you are able.


Photos Team Mission

The Photos team helps people use and contribute to the WordPress Photo Directory through creative commons licensed (CC0) photography that can be used without cost or attribution, for any purpose, via wordpress.org/photos.

Getting Involved

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join in, comment on posts, and participate in meetings and on projects.

  1. WordPress.org/photos
  2. WordPress Photo Directory team handbook
  3. Our Team Blog

Announcement: Photo Directory Team Reps 2022

Following the call for nominations and voting, we now have our new Team Representatives for the Make Photo Directory team for 2022

The WordPress Photo Directory is a new directory of free, WordPress community-powered, CC0-licensed photographs. Photo Directory Team members moderate photos, maintain and improve the directory site, and provide resources that enable photo contributors. Because the Photo Directory is brand new, our team reps will help build the foundation for Photo Directory’s exciting future. As such, it was decided that we start with three team reps. 

Without further ado, our Photo Directory Team Reps for 2022 are Marcus Burnette (@mdburnette), Katie Richards (@katiejrichards), and Topher DeRosia (@topher1kenobe)

Marcus Burnette

Marcus Burnette is a designer, web developer, amateur photographer, podcast host, and virtual event moderator. As part of the GoDaddy Pro Events and Community Team, Marcus is passionate about helping agencies and freelancers build eCommerce sites for clients with GoDaddy’s premium WordPress and WooCommerce platforms.

Katie Richards

Katie likes to say she came into WordPress backward by getting involved in the WordPress community first and using and contributing to open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. project second. She admits she is a type-A person who enjoys creating systems and structure and has decided to use those skills for the good of the open web in her daily work at Pantheon, and with the Diverse Speaker Training working group (#WPDiversity). When not at a computer, Katie enjoys reading (nothing self-improving), learning about architecture, and watching the sunset from her backyard.

Topher DeRosia

Topher has been a WordPress user since 2010, and has contributed to the project in coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., plugins, 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. organization, translation, MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. organization, documentation, and a variety of other things. His favorite type of photography is macro photography.

Please join me in congratulating Marcus, Katie, and Topher! 🎉


What are team reps? 

In the WordPress open source project, each team has one or two (or more!) representatives, abbreviated as “reps”. The Photo Directory Team is hoping to bring on at least two team reps who can commit to the role for a full calendar year.

As a reminder, it is not called “team lead” for a reason. Team reps are responsible for communicating on behalf of the group to the other contributor groups via weekly updates, as well as occasional chats. 

#team-reps

Photo Directory Team Reps 2022: Submit your Votes!

In February, the Photo Directory team opened up nominations for first time Photo Directory team reps for 2022. The poll is now open and ready for your vote.

Where can I vote?

Right here!

https://poll.fm/11062001

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 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 Tuesday, March 22, 2022, after which team reps will be selected based on the votes received. Stay tuned for that announcement post!

#team-rep, #team-reps

Photo Directory Team Rep Nominations for 2022

Welcome to the very first Photo Directory 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. nominations! The WordPress Photo Directory is a directory of free, WordPress community-powered, CC0-licensed photographs. Photo Directory Team members moderate photos, maintain and improve the directory site, and provide resources that enable photo contributors. In this first year, team reps will help build the foundation for Photo Directory’s exciting future.

The role

In the WordPress open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. project, each team has one or two (or more!) representatives, abbreviated as “reps”. The Photo Directory Team is hoping to bring on at least two team reps who can commit to the role for a full calendar year.

As a reminder, it is not called “team lead” for a reason. Team reps are responsible for communicating on behalf of the group to the other contributor groups via weekly updates, as well as occasional chats. 

This role does have a time commitment attached to it, at least one hour a week. The main tasks include:

  • Setting the time for Photo Directory team meetings/chats
  • Running those chats
  • Writing and posting recaps
  • Providing reports for quarterly updates
  • Helping to establish and build Photo Directory team practices, especially in this first year

How Photo Directory Team Rep elections work

Following the excellent example of fellow Make teams, the Photo Directory team is planning these steps:

  1. Call for Nominations: Anyone can nominate a Photo Directory team rep! The deadline is Friday, March 4.
  2. Voting for Team Reps: A poll for voting will be available on Tuesday, March 8, and will stay open until Tuesday, March 22. After that, the new team reps will be announced!

Call for Photo Directory Team Rep nominations!

Please nominate people for Photo Directory team rep in the comments of this post by Friday, March 4. Self-nominations are welcome.

If you would like to nominate someone in private, please reach out to @angelasjin.

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!

#team-reps

Welcome to Make Photos

Welcome to the Make WordPress Photos contributor site.

This is the Make site for the WordPress Photo Directory, a directory of free, publicly-contributed, CC0-licensed photographs.

Please be patient as we set up the project, processes, and procedures.

Also, join us in 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/. on the #photos channel for discussions of the project!