Commons:Wiki Loves Monuments/Documentation/National jury process

Introduction

Wiki Loves Monuments consists of a series of national competitions and an international finale. Each national contest is allowed to nominate ten images for the international finale, typically resulting in a total pool of 250-500 photos for the international finale. This documentations provides an overview of guidelines and strategies that can be used in the national jury process.

Tasks & Process

Each national team should have a jury coordinator who is responsible for coordinating the jury processes. Ideally this person will be a different individual than the national coordinator for the country.

Responsibilities for juror coordinator typically include:

• Managing a timeline to ensure top photos are submitted to the international jury on-time
• Identifying and recruiting people to participate in the jury
• Scheduling online or in-person meetings for jury review (if needed)
• Importing photos and providing basic technical support for using the team's jury tool
• Maintain communication with the international jury coordinator

Timeline

Example timeline

• Begin August: agree on 'special awards' for this year
• Mid-August: Identify/seek suggestions for jurors
• Mid-September: Invite jury members
• 7 October: Complete pre-jury review and set up Montage
• 14 October: Complete 1st jury round
• 21 October: Complete 2nd jury round
• 28 October: Complete final jury round
• 31 October: Submit finalists to International Jury Coordinator
• mid-November: Announce National Winners
• late-November: Thank and notify jurors of winners

Timeline considerations

• Try to give each round 5 - 7 days for the judges to complete their review.
• Try to include a full weekend within each round, when possible (since many of the judges have full time jobs during the week).
• Round 3 can usually be shorter, but still aim for a weekend.

Criteria

International competition criteria

Judging criteria for the international competition are provided on the WLM blog. To reiterate, these are the explained criteria:

Technical quality

The first criterium is all about the quality of the picture itself. What is the sharpness and resolution of the picture, how do you make use of the light in the situation, did you have to go through particular trouble to make this picture as it is? Is the perspective not distorted, is the view realistic, etc. A good rule of thumb is that a winning picture should usually fulfill the Wikimedia Commons technical criteria for ‘featured picture’ status – which you can read more about here.

Originality

Of course also the original setting is considered. If your setting already exists thousands of times around the web, it is probably not the most original way of photographing the monument. After all this is a competition, and jury members are looking for that little “extra” that your image may contain.

Usefulness of the image on Wikipedia

One of the main goals of this competition, is to collect good photographs of the monuments to be used on Wikipedia. How well does your image keep that in mind? Does it represent the monument well, so that it can be used in an encyclopedic context? Is it not misrepresenting the monument, or are there very distracting details?

Discussion points for local criteria

• Almost no image will be perfect on all three criteria – and that is fine. A certain balance is what we’re looking for.!

Selecting jury members

Composition

• Ideally, a jury will consist of 7-9 members (There is a hard minimum of 3 members and more members are recommended, especially for contests with many photos).
• A mix of photography experts, heritage experts and Wikimedia experts (minimum of 3 members,
• Geographically balanced so that jury members come from different cities or regions of the country
• Balance in many other ways imaginable (while at the same time, one can never assure a balance in all aspects)
• The international jury members do not serve on a national jury for WLM

Practical considerations

• Jury members must be able to write and read in a shared language
• They must have the time to commit to judge a large number of photos over a period of 3 weeks in October
• Jury members should not judge contests in which they have entered photos.
• It would be helpful if jurors are willing to share their real name for the contest website.
• Jury work is in a volunteer capacity.

Additional tips

• It is good to invite a few jurors from previous years and some new jurors.
• Consider inviting jurors from local heritage partners. For example, European Commission, Europa Nostra and UNESCO have been happy to recommend one of their employees as juror.
• Photography experts can be sought among professional photographers, ideally with some experience in the heritage field.
• Jurors are invited for the duration of one year a time - to ensure a balance each year.

Voting mechanisms

A three-round system is designed to guarantee a ranked outcome, while giving all images a fair chance, and surfacing the best images. The final ranking should include some reasons why the jury has selected the top images over the others

Template texts

Call for suggestions jurors

Hi all,

I am working to to put together a good jury for Wiki Loves Monuments <insert country> <insert year>. It is a complicated and delicate process to come to a balanced jury, and I would like to outline the criteria here, and to ask for your input. I have agreed to take the lead on this process - but would definitely welcome your input, and help.

It is important to aim once again for a jury that as a whole is neutral and balanced in many ways. This means ideally:
* A mix of photography experts, heritage experts and Wikimedia experts
* Geographically balanced so that no two jury members come from the same city/region
* Balance in many other ways imaginable (while at the same time, one can never assure a balance in all aspects)

At the same time, there are some practical considerations:
* They must have the time to commit to judge <estimated number of photos> photos in three rounds over a period of 3 weeks in October
* While jury members can participate in a local competition, their photos cannot participate in the national finale
* It would be helpful if the juror would be willing to share their real name for our website.
* Jury work is in a volunteer capacity.

Do you know someone who would make a good juror, please contact me privately with the suggestion. At least let me know who the juror is, how I could contact him/her and why they would make a good jury member (and whether you have reason to believe they would accept the nomination, if asked). 

I will do my best to put together once again a qualified and diverse jury, with your help!

Thank you in advance! 

Best regards,

<insert name of coordinator>
jury coordinator, Wiki Loves Monuments <country> <year>

Invitation jury member

Invitation sent to candidate jury members:

Dear <insert name>,

I would like to reach out to you to invite you to take place in the jury of Wiki Loves Monuments for <country> <year>. As a <insert reason why this person would be a good jury member>, I think you would be a great addition to the jury!

We will select winners for the <country> competition and our top 10 photos will be submitted to the international competition.

Judging for <country> will take place in October and be completed in three stages. <provide description of your jury process -- for example: The first round (~ October 6-15)  involves judging a few thousand photos with a quick yes/no as to whether or not each photo should continue to the later rounds. Round 2 ( ~ October 16-23) is more refined, with each judge reviewing < 500 photos on a 1-5 scale. Finally, with Round 3 (~ October 24-29), judges rank the top few dozen photos to determine the top 10.)

There are a few practical constraints: all communication will take place in <local language>, photos submitted by you (if any) cannot participate in the international finale and you cannot both join a national jury and the international jury. I'm not sure if any of these constraints would form an objection to you.

All our judges will receive <gift> as thanks. If you'd like to participate, could you please let me know which rounds you are willing and available to participate in?

I hope that you're willing to consider joining the Wiki Loves Monuments jury. Please let me know at your earliest convenience.

Kind regards,

<insert name and username of coordinator>
jury coordinator, Wiki Loves Monuments <country> <year>