User:GFontenelle (WMF)/Digital representation of
Difference between digital file and a creative work shown/depicted in a file[edit]
The first step to understanding Structured Data on Commons and depicts is to recognize the difference between data about a creative work and data about a file showing that work, as described on Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons respectively.
To understand how this applies to Wikimedia Commons and media files, we should ask: What is the format of the original work? For this question, we have two different answers.
Digital surrogate of a 2D work[edit]
A two-dimensional creative work metadata should go on Wikidata. However, an image (photo or digitalization), once created without the frame, becomes a digital surrogate (or digital representation) of that work and its metadata should go on Wikimedia Commons.
For the surrogate, data such as copyright license (P275), copyright status (P6216), or even image captured with (P4082) are essential. See Commons:Structured data/Modeling/Copyright for more information about how to model copyright metadata on Wikimedia Commons.
The depicts statements should also be added, in this case, and they should describe the media file of creative work.
Photo of a 3D work[edit]
On a 3D work, the difference between the two types of metadata is clearer. The information about the object itself should live on Wikidata, while the data about the media file, the picture, should stay on Wikimedia Commons. Therefore, depicts metadata on Commons should vary according to the elements depicted and how they're being depicted on the media file.
The license, in this case, applies to the creator of the photo, not the creator of the object. However, if a creative work is depicted and it's not in the public domain or using an open license, it shouldn’t be on Wikimedia Commons (see Commons:Copyright rules).
