This Entry is based on this google doc: Community Artists

While it is obvious that the members of the h2g2 community produce a lot of good text content, it should not be forgotten that most Edited Entries also have a picture attached to them. Where do these pictures come from?
While some pictures have been provided by the BBC most of them have been produced by members of the h2g2 community. Today there are two volunteer groups that supply pictures: the h2g2 Community Artists and the h2g2 Photographers.

Situation today

The group pages on h2g2 are at the moment only used for recruitment while the actual work has to be done somewhere else. It is not possible for anyone except the h2g2 Editors to add pictures to the site.

h2g2 Community Artists

The Community Artists make digital pictures for h2g2. This does not only include artwork for Edited Entries but also logos for clubs and societies, smileys and work for The Post.
Every artist chooses the Entry for which he or she wants to make a picture him/herself. Once a picture is taken by one of them the others will not do any pictures for the same Entry. Usually the Entries which are picked are just leaving Review or are still there, which shall assure that they have a picture once they appear on the Front Page. Sometimes the artists are also asked for pictures for particular Entries by the Editors or the writers themselves.
Once an artist thinks a picture is ready it is shown to the group and then improved if necessary. When the picture is finished the artist sends it to the Editors.

h2g2 Photographers

As the name already implies, the h2g2 Photographers take photos for guide Entries. They work in yahoo groups, where it is possible to upload pictures. The group has a list of old Entries with no pictures applied and on a regular basis the group editors pick some of these Entries, double check if there is really still no picture. Then each of the chosen Entries gets a folder on the group page and the members get a given time to hand in pictures – up to three for one Entry per person. When the time is over the whole group votes to choose the best picture for each Entry. It is not uncommon that nobody has any photos for some of the given topics and sometimes it is agreed that none of the submitted pictures for a topic are good enough to get into the Guide.

One of the group editors then copies the chosen picture to their computer and sends them to the h2g2 Editors by email, who have the final decision about whether a picture is appropriate or not.
All pictures have to be of a certain size that is decided by the h2g2 Editors. No people’s faces or brands are allowed to be visible and only minimal photo manipulation can be made.

There is no communication between the two Volunteer groups and although the possibility is not very big, it could always be that both are working on pictures for the same Entry without being aware of it.

The future

It has been widely agreed among the members of the Community Artists and the h2g2 Photographers, that both Volunteer groups should form a single group in the future.
The reason for this is that both groups are in fact doing the same thing at the moment, only the working processes are different. The right hand would finally know what the left hand is doing and collaborative work would be possible. A new option would also be photo manipulation.

New technology

It is absolutely essential that the Volunteers will be able to do their work on h2g2 in the future and don’t have to use other sites on the internet. Nobody should have to get accounts in various places just to be able to help h2g2.

What is needed is a restricted area for the volunteers to share their pictures, talk about them and attach them to Entries. Every member of the group should automatically have access to the restricted group area.

The pages needed for the new Community Artists group would be:

1) group homepage (introduction, member’s list, recruiting)

2) a list of Entries that are removed from PR and need pictures (supplied by the Volunteers working in PR) and a list of old Entries that should get pictures

3) a page to share pictures for Entries with a thread attached to every picture (this could look much like PR)

4) a page to share and talk about pictures for other projects (eg for The Post, banners for Clubs and Societies, smileys … )

5) on a second thought we could also need a separate forum to talk about upcoming projects

Only the group homepage should be visible to the public.
People who are not members of the group should also have no possibility to access conversations of the group via the PS of a member.

Cropping pictures on h2g2 would make things easier for people who don’t have the necessary software on their computer.

New work process

While the working process of the h2g2 photographers is ok, it also is time consuming and does not make sure that all chosen subjects get a picture. The better option seems to be to keep the process of the Community Artists, which means every Volunteer picks an Entry for which they want to make a picture (or more than one if needed). This topic should then be taken and not picked by anyone else. The picture should then be improved with the help of comments by other members of the group, or in the case of photos the best photo could be chosen from a few that have been submitted by a person.

If in the end no suitable picture is produced it will not go into the Guide.

We should maybe limit the number of picks one person can make at the same time, but that's something we will see as we go.

If a picture is unfinished or unsiutible and the artist shows no interest in doing further improvements it should be removed from the page, just as it is the case with Entries in PR.

When a picture is finished a group editor should attach it to the right Entry. The group editors should also be able to remove Pictures from review and manage the member list.

Pictures

Standard sizes for pictures have to be decided to assure continuity in the layouts of Entries. This size should be usable as portrait or landscape picture, to supply every Entry with an appropriate picture.
There is also the wish to allow pictures with transparent edges again.

Entries that really need it should get more than one picture to help the writer explain things. The outside links that are used at the moment often don't work anymore after a while.

Picture Library

All pictures have to be filed in a picture library as it has originally been done on h2g2. This allows people to find pictures easily and use them on their PS or unedited Entries. The old picture library should be improved in its filing system and show only a certain number of pictures per page to reduce the loading times.

Maybe it is also possible to add a search function to the library.

Writers submitting Pictures

In the future it should be possible for writers to submit their own pictures when an Entry is removed from PR and prepared for publication. These pictures also have to have the standard picture sizes. They also have to be checked for copyright issues (first of all searching for the picture on google) , quality, house rule breaks and everything else that could be a problem.

If a picture is not appropriate the writer should get a chance to correct this.

This could be done by the Volunteers in PR, possibly with the help of the Community Artists.

I do not think that this would make the CAs unnecessary because I don not expect most writers to submit pictures. And also: it can be done already by contacting the Editors. This would only make the process less complicated.

We have good hopes that it will be possible to crop pictures on h2g2 in the future, so writers could submit a picture of whatever size and then crop it in the process. If that works we can of course also build it into the Community Artist page.

There has to be a text telling the writer that we don’t accept pictures from google and he always needs the permission of the artist/photographer. Let him/her tick a box that says something like 'yes, I've read that and agree' like it's done with terms and conditions etc.

Rules for pictures

Apart from having the right size:

1) good quality (not blurred if they should not be for artistic reasons etc)

2) follow the house rules

3) no porn

4) copyright by the submitter, no google pictures etc

5) pictures have to fit to the relevant Entry

The Front Page

It is proposed to get a new feature on the FP. It should ensure that all new Entries get a place there and not just some that the Editors choose. If an Entry is ready it should automatically get on the FP and stay there for a while (like 7 days). It should be a scroll down list with the newest Entries on the top.

A sketch: at this place in the google doc there is a sketch. 6 Entries, 2 in a row, a scroll thingy at the right side

This concept proposes small thumbnail pictures for all Entries, they could *maybe* also be used in Entry lists like in the search function (like the avatar of a person that you can see in Barlesque in Forums). It should be a small part of the picture that is attached to the Entry. Such a thumbnail can be done within seconds and doesn't have to be great art. It should just make people want to read the Entry and add color.

Entries without a picture would get one of maybe 20-50 default thumbnails. Of course these default thumbnails would also have to be done by the CAs but it should not be a big deal. They should possibly all be abstract pictures so they fit to all kinds of Entries.

(Additionally to the newest Entries a showcase of the 'best' Entries on h2g2 was proposed, or also of Entries that have some relevance to current news stories etc, part of that could also be the communities favorite Entries which everyone can vote for in some way. Picking these Entries would be done by the Editors and if everything goes right the Artists would not have to be involved. Just wanted to mention it while talking about the Front Page.)

Arts Editor

To manage all this we'll need an Arts Editor (or better more than one). At the Photographers we already have group editors, it would be something like that but with additional responsibilities.

That's what an Arts Editor would do:

1) invite new members to the Community Artists

2) remove members who don't want to be part of the group anymore / broke rules / are inactive for too long without giving a reason

3) generally see that everything goes as it should at the CA group

4) move pictures and thumbnails to their Entries when they are finished and choose a background color for the Front Page New Entries list (if we decide we do it like this)

5) check pictures that are submitted by writers for quality and house rule breaks

6) manage the picture library

7) stay in contact with other volunteer groups

8) update the CAs group page that is visible to 'outsiders'

Maybe we will think of more things that have to be done later.

'broke rules' in 2) should mean submitting pictures that definitely don't belong there and were submitted to annoy others and behaving badly in the group forums.

Possible layout of group pages

To make it more easy to understand I made a sketch of what the layout of a group page could be.

First one of the pages where we actually talk about our work and produce pictures:

please see google document!

There should be a second page like that for banners, work for the Post, smileys etc

The thumbnail in this case would just be an automatically generated small version of the submitted picture.

Here the document shows another picture!